Labour Wins: What Next? – Place North West

With over 400 seats in parliament, Keir Starmer’s party has a clear manifesto mandate. So what can the built environment expect from our new government?

Starmer and future chancellor Rachel Reeves set out their first 100-day strategy in an interview with The Times earlier this week, promising:

New Housing Minister Angela Raynor to announce housing programme at the start of Government’s second week in office
In the third week, Raynor will advise local authorities to begin regularly reviewing green belt boundaries in a way that ensures they can meet their housing targets
Government to start recruiting 300 planning officers for local authorities
A “first choice” scheme will be introduced to give priority to new homes for a certain number of local residents before they go to foreign investors
The draft National Planning Policy Framework will be published by the end of July and will reintroduce housing targets

As we dig into Labour’s manifesto, here’s a look at what else has been promised. Most of the text below has been quoted from the manifesto itself.

HOUSING AND PLANNING

Build 1.5 million new homes during the next parliamentary term
Take decisive action to ensure planning authorities have up-to-date local plans
Funding more planning officers by increasing stamp duty paid by non-UK residents
Build new cities
Require all combined authorities and mayoral authorities to have a strategic plan for housing development in their areas, and give combined authorities new planning powers to make better use of grant funding
Improve the affordable housing program
Browse Right to Buy discounts
Reform the laws on compensation for forced expropriation to ensure that compensation is fair and not excessive
Updating the National Policy Planning Framework to Reintroduce Mandatory Housing Targets
Complete the sale of entire investments to foreign investors before they are realized
Introduction of a permanent and comprehensive mortgage guarantee programme for first-time buyers
Invest £6.6bn over the next parliament to make 5 million homes more energy efficient
In the case of the green belt, the first priority should be to encourage the transformation of post-industrial areas, but consideration should also be given to making lower quality green belt areas available for development.
Update NPPF to facilitate the construction of labs, digital infrastructure, data centers and gigafactories

TRANSPORT

Fix an additional 1 million potholes across England each year of the next Parliament, using money saved by delaying the construction of the A27 bypass
Accelerating the rollout of electric vehicle charging points
Transfer of railways to public use in the event of expiry or termination of existing contracts due to non-fulfilment of obligations
Introduction of a new entity – Great British Railways – which will focus on services, investment, day-to-day operations and improvements for passengers travelling by rail
Involve mayors in the service design process for their areas
Promoting and increasing the use of rail transport
Create a passenger guard
Lift the ban on municipalities having local bus services
Empower mayors to create integrated transport systems and promote active travel networks

INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Establishment of the Industrial Strategy Council
Creating a National Prosperity Fund with £7.3 billion over the next Parliament to support the clean energy mission and growth – including £1.8 billion to modernise ports and build supply chains, £1.5 billion for gigafactories, £2.5 billion to rebuild the steel industry and £500 million to support green energy production.
Development of a 10-year infrastructure strategy
Establishment of a National Authority for Infrastructure and Services Transformation, which will set strategic infrastructure priorities and oversee the implementation of these projects
Aim for full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030.
Modernization of the national transmission infrastructure
Require local development plans where local authorities work with employers, universities, industry and colleges to identify growth sectors in their area and deliver the programmes and infrastructure needed to make that happen

ENERGY

Establishment of Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean energy company, using funds generated from a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies – a total of £8.3 billion over the next parliament
Doubling onshore wind, tripling solar and quadrupling offshore wind by 2030
Invest in Carbon Capture and Storage
Invest in hydrogen and marine energy
Ensuring the UK has sufficient long-term energy supplies
Support the construction of new nuclear power plants such as Sizewell C and small modular nuclear reactors
Introduce a phased transition in the North Sea from oil and gas production – not by withdrawing existing licences, but by managing existing fields through their life cycle and then using existing offshore infrastructure to enable energy production and storage.

DEGENERATION

Provide councils with multi-year financial settlements instead of awarding them through continuous tendering
Deepening devolution arrangements with existing joint authorities and extending devolution to more areas
Empower mayors to create integrated transport systems and promote active travel networks

BUSINESS RATES

Replacing the current system with a new model that will level the playing field between brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers

NATURE

Create nine National River Walks, one in each region of England
Creation of three state forests in England
Plant millions of trees

PRISON AND HEALTH SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE

Build more prisons
Deliver new hospital program