Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government has repeatedly made clear it wants to support housing developers over people in communities – going as far to say he would back “the builders not the blockers”. There is no better demonstration of this than plans to change the planning system put forward by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
In the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, Labour are proposing to take decision-making away from councillors on significant planning applications. Instead, only a very few applications would be considered by a Planning Committee.
It’s worth noting Labour’s reasoning that this will somehow ‘unblock’ the building of new housing is already flawed. An overwhelming majority of applications are already decided by unelected Council officers.
But there is a larger problem that goes to the heart of this Government’s approach to so many things affecting local communities. These changes will rob local people of their right to have their voice heard through their elected councillors. Labour seems to be perpetually afraid of letting communities freely express a view on how their local area will be shaped.
Planning applications considered in public at Planning Committees have many advantages. It allows residents the chance to articulate their arguments against a planning application, and gives the developer a chance to make their arguments to a wider audience. It provides legitimacy and creates trust that a decision has been properly made. It creates transparency through scrutiny and debate of applications in an open meeting. This in turn makes it harder for developers and lobbyists to influence the outcome of a planning decision.
Instead, the Government needs to tackle the problem of land-banking. This where developers get planning permission but don’t start building – increasing the value of the land they hold and forcing councils to grant more permissions. It also means they can control how many new build properties come on to the market keeping house prices high.
The Government needs to listen to councils up and down the country of different political persuasions that are calling for this proposal to be scrapped. The answer to fixing the planning system won’t be found by silencing communities and pushing the decision-making process into the dark.
P.S. – The more the Reform Party are exposed to scrutiny, the more it becomes clear they don’t have a coherent set of policies. For example, they expressed full-throated support for nationalising British Steel and called for the Government to have 50% ownership of utilities. Yet, after winning control of councils they have set out setting up ‘DOGE’ units designed to shrink Government spending. How can Reform support cutting the size of the Government while at the same time calling for the Government to take on billions of pounds in additional spending through public ownership of companies?
Nigel Farage simply jumps from one area to the next, telling people what they want to hear. Before the election when he was trying to win what he thinks are Conservative voters, he questioned why taxpayers’ money should be thrown at rescuing British Steel. Now he’s targeting what he thinks are Labour voters, he’s become Jeremy Corbyn.
