King Charles
The new Labour government's plans for the next year will be read out in a speech to Parliament by King Charles today.
The speech is expected to outline around 35 pieces of legislation that ministers plan to introduce over the coming months following Labour's victory in this month's general election.
As well as housing and planning, the government's policy programme is expected to include measures on illegal immigration, workers' rights, new energy companies, railway nationalisation, crime and punishment, budgetary regulation, mental health, online safety, democracy and empowerment, and education.
Housing and Planning
Labour promised in its election manifesto to ban Section 21 evictions “immediately” and criticised the previous Conservative government for failing to do so by failing to pass tenancy reform legislation before the election.
The government also promised to extend a set of building safety rules for social housing tenants, known as the “Awaab Laws”, to private rented tenants.
Moreover, the new government has vowed to put reform of England's town planning system at the centre of its speech, although it is not yet clear how much new law will be enacted in this area.
Fergus Charlton, partner in the town and city planning practice at law firm Micklemores, commented: “The new government has made it clear that town planning reform and housebuilding are key strategies. The focus on streamlining the town planning process, setting clear targets and freeing up new land for development looks to be a strong foundation for boosting housing supply and infrastructure development.”
“But rebranding the Green Belt to the Grey Belt will be controversial. There is a powerful lobby that sees the Green Belt as sacrosanct. For the rebranding to be effective, it needs to be compelling enough to make people forget what it was. Whether this happens will depend on the details of the policy. There will be little to be gained if 'very special circumstances' must still be shown for new development in Grey Belt areas to go ahead.”
Charlton said the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets for local authorities would also be very welcome.
He continued: “This top-down approach has historically been effective in encouraging local authorities to grant more building permission. Setting clear targets helps overcome the local opposition and NIMBY-ism that often blocks development. Reforming aspirational value payments under compulsory acquisition rules can make it cheaper for local authorities to acquire land for redevelopment and affordable housing by compensating landowners based on current market value rather than the future potential value pursuant to planning permission.”
And looking ahead to town planning reform and the Housebuilding Bill, Ellie Moody, CPRE's director of policy, campaigns and communications, commented: “We welcome Labour's ambition to build the homes we urgently need, but they should start by building 1.2 million new homes on brownfield sites where builds are possible in England alone.”
“The Green Belt is the countryside next to 30 million people in the UK and provides huge benefits for food security, physical and mental health and nature recovery. We need to maintain its protection within the policy framework.”
“New build homes in the Greenbelt are rarely truly affordable, creating car-dependent communities far from public transport and other vital infrastructure.
“We also need ambitious policy targets to build truly affordable social housing close to where people already live, work and go to school. The definition of 'affordable' housing must be changed to reflect local incomes rather than market rates.”
“The government should implement a strategic land-use framework that makes the most of limited land and protects the Green Belt for future generations.”
“We support Labor's focus on plan-led development and want to see ambitious net zero and environmental targets included in local plans.”
Labour warns it will miss housing target without emergency funding