Take 5: Forget the three "E's", this new Labour Government is all about the three "B's" – Build, Build, Build

Throughout its election campaign Labour promised to "grasp the nettle of planning reform". In the two weeks following the election, the new Government is showing the necessary ambition to deliver on those promises.

In the two weeks following the election, the new Government is showing the necessary ambition to deliver on those promises.

The new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government is none other than the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner. The appointment of such a central figure within the new Government signalled the Government's intent to unshackle the development sector. 

Planning reform also took centre stage in Rachel Reeve's first speech as Chancellor. Ms Reeves' promise to "..get Britain building again" signified a marked shift in the Government's perception of the planning system. The Chancellor's strategy for delivery economic growth is intrinsically linked to growth in the development sector. 

Within her speech the Chancellor signalled six initial steps necessary to build the infrastructure Britain requires, which ranged from the reform of the National Planning Policy Framework to the appointment of 300 additional planning officers.

Those initial steps have today been supplemented by the announcement within the King's Speech of a Planning and Infrastructure Bill which will seek to "accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing".

Rather than embark on a root and branch reform of the planning system, the Bill will instead focus on reforming discrete areas of the planning system. It is hoped that limiting the legislative reform to these key areas will deliver the changes necessary to deliver the development the Government, and its growth agenda, require.

The areas of reform include:

1.  Critical Infrastructure - The Bill will streamline the delivery process for critical infrastructure via the simplification of the consenting process for major infrastructure projects and adoption of new and relevant National Policy Statements.

National Policy Statements underpin the infrastructure planning regime and a better way of regularly updating them will be welcomed by the industry.  

However, a consequence of having a '2030 clean power mission' will be an increase in planning and DCO applications. Even streamlined systems can get logjammed, so resourcing will be key as well as remembering that much can be achieved nimbly and flexibly outside the DCO regime.

2.  Compulsory purchase compensation - The Bill will ensure compensation paid to landowners is fair but not excessive when the land is required to deliver important social and physical infrastructure and affordable housing.  

The previous Government amended the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 to remove hope value in certain circumstances. We await to see whether the new Government will simply extend the scope of the previous amendments or seek to take more radical action. 

Either way, any reduction in the compensation payable to landowners will likely make developments more viable and deliverable.

3. Decision Making - The Bill will seek to improve local decision making by modernising planning committees.

Very little is known about the nature or scope of the proposed reform to the "decision making" process and this proposal has not been previously trailed by Labour, but it has the potential to be a key, but also a highly contentious, area of reform. 

With the planning system becoming increasingly complex and susceptible to politically motivated decisions, will the Government make the bold step of introducing "experts" into the decision-making process?

4. Resourcing - The Bill will seek to improve the capacity of local planning authorities thereby improving performance and decision making.

The Government's commitment to increasing local planning authorities' capacity will be music to the ears of developers and planning officers alike. 

However, we wait to see where the additional funds required to deliver that capacity will come from – the public or private sector.

5.  Environment - The Bill may include changes which enable development to fund nature recovery where currently both are stalled.

This appears to be a nod to the well-documented nutrient neutrality -vs- housing impasse, with the Government underlining its commitment to the environment and promising legislation only where necessary and if positive environmental outcomes are achieved. 

This suggests that the Government is looking at an industry-led initiative rather than loosening the Habitats Regulations straightaway (as recently stress-tested in the Fry case). That the Government is looking to consult stakeholders over the summer 'to determine the best way forwards' reveals there is no obvious answer and many developers may question why they should pick up the bill when more could be required of water companies and agriculture.

Notwithstanding the Government's desire to deliver planning reform, the changes proposed by the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will not be realised instantly.  

To get off the starting blocks quickly, we expect immediate amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework. We may even see National Development Management Policies being introduced.

These would have the force of a Local Plan and even top trump a Local Plan where there is a conflict giving the new Government a vehicle to make meaningful change very quickly. Surprisingly, these have not been mentioned much so far but will no doubt feature in the flurry of planning activity over the coming weeks.