Parties pitch on planning, homes and sustainability

With just two weeks to go until the general election, real estate professionals are scouring manifestos for clarity on which party would provide the most reassuring win from the perspective of the built environment. There’s little in it – a snap poll ran by EG on LinkedIn asking which of the three main parties’ manifestos best represented the interests of the real estate industry saw Labour edging ahead of the Conservatives with 46% to 44%, and the Liberal Democrats on 9%. But there is everything to play for. Alison Dowsett, managing director of planning and policy at Berkeley Group, said the election has come “at the right moment for an under-pressure housing industry”, pointing to “meaningful commitments that could rekindle housing delivery in the coming months and years”. Turning ambition into action will be a challenge for whichever party is in power on 5 July, but Dowsett said a “vital first step is to make homebuilding a true national priority, cutting across all departments and policy silos”. She added: “Housing should be redefined as key national infrastructure and championed as a vital driver for growth and social good.” With planning also a battleground for the parties, the British Property Federation said this week that it advocates “evolution rather than revolution” in any changes to the existing system. The organisation said investors have been deterred by “an air of uncertainty hanging over our planning system for many years now”, stemming from a lack of resource and a “seemingly constant” round of consultations and proposals for change. “While some say we need a radical reform of the planning system, we believe that the objective is best achieved by improving the current system, rather than ripping it up and starting again,” said Claire Dutch, head of UK real estate practice at Ashurst and chair of the BPF planning committee. Notable shift Labour has vowed to replace England’s business rates system and change planning laws to speed up development. Leader Sir Keir Starmer pledged to make planning changes to “forge ahead” with infrastructure, and make major projects “faster and cheaper by slashing red tape”. Under a Labour government, the national planning policy would be updated to speed up development for laboratories, digital infrastructure and gigafactories, with the restoration of mandatory housing targets as part of the party’s bid to develop 1.5m homes during its first five years in power. Simon Peacock, head of regions at JLL, said it was “heartening to see Labour grab the bull by the horns and be so bold in its commitments to level up the UK’s economy”. He said a “concerted investment programme in the right amount, and quality, of planners” will help ease the load on the planning system, and that businesses are prepared to pay a higher premium to ensure the resources are there. Peacock also praised Labour’s commitment to devolution to boost investment confidence. “The Labour Party has an uphill battle to show voters it has the appetite, and the necessary plans, to drive regional growth, spur investment and address our deep-rooted productivity issues, but this manifesto will settle some nerves,” he added. Lizzy Galbraith, political economist at Abrdn, noted that Labour’s housing target is “very ambitious – even with planning reform – so it will be interesting to see if such a target will be made mandatory”. She added that an enhanced role for the private sector in the financing and delivery of infrastructure projects, compared with their plans a few years ago, was a “notable shift” in the party’s strategy. “Labour has shifted to a vision in which the state aims to direct investments towards high-value projects and restore investor confidence through a combination of clearer planning documents, fewer fiscal events and, in some cases, joint financing,” Galbraith said. “Labour believes it can rectify the current challenges of fluctuating government policies and inconsistency, which have previously undermined private investor trust.” Helping hand The Conservative Party has promised to abolish legacy EU “nutrient neutrality” rules to unlock 100,000 homes with local consent, as part of its manifesto pledge to deliver 1.6m homes in England in the next parliament. The Tories also vowed to fast-track development on brownfield sites, as well as advocating the creation of locally led development corporations in partnership with the private sector and institutional investors. The Tories pledged to scrap stamp duty for the majority of first-time buyers by making permanent the increase to the threshold to £425,000, from £300,000, and also promised to revive the Help to Buy scheme, to offer first-time buyers an equity loan of up to 20% towards the cost of a new-build home. Industry figures welcomed the latter commitment to return to the Help to Buy model, but expressed disappointment that the manifesto’s policies were not more ambitious. Paul Rickard, managing director at Pocket Living, said: “While we obviously welcome the commitment to reintroducing a Help to Buy scheme, increasing the stamp duty threshold to £425,000 for first-time buyers and delivering 1.6m new homes, we were hoping for a suite of bolder and more ambitious policies to tackle the root cause of the housing crisis – the shortage of supply. “Our planning system needs urgent intervention and resourcing, especially with regard to streamlining the process for unlocking small brownfield sites. Our SME housebuilders have never been fewer in number than they are today.” Justin Young, chief executive at the RICS, said: “We welcome any initiative that helps first-time buyers, but demand-side solutions must be combined with workable supply-side solutions. To begin improving affordability levels the UK must build more housing; there is currently a shortfall of 4.3m homes in the UK by some estimates.” Use it or lose it The Liberal Democrat Party has said it would increase the building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK, including 150,000 social homes, through 10 new garden cities and community-led development of cities and towns. No-fault evictions would be banned, making three-year tenancies the default, and a national register of licensed landlords would be created. The party would abolish residential leaseholds and cap ground rents to a nominal fee. Local councils would be able to set their own planning fees and introduce “use-it-or-lose-it” planning permission for developers that refuse to build. Melanie Leech, chief executive at the British Property Federation, said: “It is good to see the Liberal Democrats support an ambitious housing target. In taking that target to another level, however, it is important that they harness the ability of emerging sectors such as build-to-rent and older people’s housing to bring forward new housing supply, and to enable faster build-out rates, especially in development such as new towns, which the party explicitly commits to.” Aidan Van de Weyer, senior planner at Lanpro Services, said: “From a planning perspective, the top lines in the Lib Dem manifesto are really positive. The delivery target of 380,000 homes a year is welcome – but ambitious. As we know from recent experience, meeting housing targets is always controversial. The greater the housing target, the greater the controversy.” He added: “The Lib Dems have come up with a concrete proposal for solving the resourcing problems of local authorities: allow councils to set their own fees for planning applications. The impact of this will vary depending on how much freedom is given to councils. But with substantial freedoms allowed, this risks creating a two-tier planning service: wealthy, attractive areas get well-resourced planning teams, while quality in less affluent areas drops as councils compete to bring in development – perpetuating the rich/poor divide which already impacts far too much in our planning system.” Reform UK promises planning overhaul, less red tape and high street revival Former CLS chief executive Richard Tice has laid out Reform UK’s manifesto, promising planning reforms, the abolition of business rates for high street-based SMEs and inheritance tax for estates under £2m, the slashing of red tape and incentivising modular construction. Tice, who also runs real estate investment firm Quidnet, is chairman of Reform UK, alongside leader Nigel Farage. Launching what the pair called “Our contract with you”, Reform UK said it was the “common-sense choice” for the UK, claiming that both Labour and Conservative governments had made the UK worse off. Property pledges in the manifesto include eliminating stamp duty on purchases of £750,000 or less, and cutting it to 2% on purchases in the £750,000-£1.5m bracket and to 4% on purchases above that threshold. The party believes this would “substantially boost” economic activity and housebuilding. It also wants to abolish inheritance tax on estates of £2m or less. Other tax changes pledged include reducing corporation tax to 20% and abolishing business rates for high street-based SMEs, while creating a 4% online delivery tax for large multinationals – a move it believes would create a fairer playing field for high streets. The planning system would also be reformed under Reform, with new housing on brownfield sites and infrastructure projects fast-tracked, with a particular focus on coastal regeneration areas, Wales, the North and the Midlands. On housing, Reform promises to “ensure that people can own their own home by unleashing housebuilding across the country”. It wants to scrap section 24 for landlords – meaning they would no longer have to pay tax on gross rental income – abolish the Renters’ Reform Bill and incentivise the use of modular construction. Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the National Federation of Builders, said: “On the surface, there are sensible suggestions; however, some of the policies put forward follow the old failed, politically expedient approaches we are currently fighting against, such as brownfield-first. There is also a major issue regarding net zero before industry has spent billions readying itself, so scrapping it may cause financial black holes for British businesses.” Samantha McClary Photos: Keir Starmer © Stuart Wallace/ShutterstockRishi Sunak © Denis Balibouse/POOL/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockEd Davey © Dinendra Haria/LNP/Shutterstock