Architectural Bulletins
Election 2024: What’s been pledged on the built environment?
Planning and building are hot topics ahead of this year’s general election. With polling day just around the corner, it’s crucial for those of us working in the sector to understand what politicians are saying on the built environment.
Planning Portal has examined the three main parties’ manifestos to provide a comprehensive overview of what’s been promised. We’ve simplified the waffle into clear explainers, helping you stay up to speed with the debate and make an informed decision on 4 July.
Labour
Labour’s manifesto places a huge focus on housing. They have pledged to deliver ‘the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation.’ They intend to build 1.5 million new homes over the first term of government.
To achieve this, they plan to ‘immediately’ update the National Policy Planning Framework to reinstate ‘mandatory house building targets’. They have also stated their intention to ‘update’ regulations to ensure new developments are obligated to provide affordable homes.
They will ‘support’ councils and housing associations in building affordable housing and will update the 'Affordable Homes Programme’ to ensure it delivers ‘more homes from existing funding.’
Another key pledge is their ambition to build a ‘new generation’ of towns nationally. Labour asserts that housing needs in England cannot be met without ‘planning for growth on a larger than local scale’. To facilitate this, they will introduce new mechanisms for ‘cross-boundary strategic planning’ and require all ‘Combined and Mayoral Authorities to plan strategically for housing growth in their areas.’ Labour will also grant Combined Authorities ‘new planning powers and greater flexibility in using grant funding.’
They plan to reform compulsory purchase compensation rules to ‘improve land assembly’, speed up site delivery, and deliver housing, infrastructure, amenity, and transport benefits. This includes removing ‘hope value’ by ensuring landowners receive fair compensation. rather than inflated prices based on the prospect of planning permission. In essence, it’s a move to combat land banking.
National infrastructure
Labour pledge to establish a 'National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority' to set strategic infrastructure aims nationally and oversee these projects. The Authority will aim to bring about projects more quickly and cheaply, reducing ‘red tape’, however details on how they will do this are somewhat limited in the manifesto.
They plan to update railway infrastructure with particular focus on the north, and, in a surprisingly under-publicised pledge, they have also expressed their desire to renationalizing the railways as ‘contracts with operators expire or are broken through failure’ to meet service level agreements. These national railways would be responsible for investment, day-to-day operational delivery and innovation and improvements for passengers, working alongside publicly-owned rail operators in Wales and Scotland.
Planning authorities and resourcing
Labour's manifesto promises ‘tough action’ to ensure planning authorities have ‘up-to-date’ local plans. They aim to reform and strengthen these in favour of ‘sustainable development.’
Their manifesto outlines a desire to fund 300 additional planning officers, financed by increasing the rate of the stamp duty surcharge paid by non-UK residents.
While they commit to ensuring local communities continue to shape housebuilding in their area, Labour differ from the Conservatives in stating they will ‘not hesitate’ to use ‘intervention powers’ to build housing where necessary.
The ‘grey belt’
Although their manifesto outlines a ‘brownfield first’ approach to development, prioritizing and fast-tracking approval for urban brownfield regeneration, Labour acknowledges that brownfield stock alone is ‘insufficient’ to meet current housebuilding requirements. If elected, they will consider freeing up ‘grey belt’ areas – DEFINITION - for development, with the condition that any development involving released greenbelt land must meet unspecified ‘golden rules.’
Further to this, Labour emphasises a commitment to ‘preserving’ the greenbelt and criticize the current government's ‘haphazard’ release of the greenbelt areas for speculative housebuilding. Labour promises a more ‘strategic’ approach, allowing the release of greenbelt land to build homes ‘in the right places.’
The environment
Although not taking as clear a stance as the Tories, the controversial topic of Nutrient Neutrality is not completely ignored in Labour's manifesto, which states they will implement ‘solutions’ to unlock the building of homes affected by nutrient neutrality without ‘weakening’ environmental protections.
As part of a series of environmental policies, Labour commit to a invest £6.6 billion in a 'Warm Homes', to upgrade every home that needs it to EPC standard C within a decade.
Building on existing support, Labour’s 'Warm Homes Plan' will offer grants and low-interest loans to support both owners and renters in investing in insulation, solar panels, and low carbon heating, thereby reducing energy bills.
You can find out more about the current schemes and grants available to help you save energy in your home, by visiting our Sustainability Hub1.
Labour’s manifesto supports the transition to electric vehicles (EV), accelerating the rollout of charge points and committing to restore the previous phase-out date for new cars with internal combustion engines to 2030.
They plan to standardise information to make purchasing electric vehicles easier.
Great British Energy
Labour's proposed 'Energy Independence Act' aims to establish several key climate policies, most notably the creation of a new publicly owned green energy company, 'Great British Energy’, which they claim will be funded by £8.3 billion over the next parliament, and ‘cut bills for good’.
To deliver this, their manifesto outlines ambitions to work with the private sector to double onshore wind capabilities, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind by 2030, as well as providing long-term energy storage and optimised grid connection.
They also intend to ensure the long-term security of the nuclear sector by extending the lifetime of existing plants, completing Hinkley Point C, and investing in future nuclear schemes.
Buying and renting
Labour also plans to support first-time buyers with mortgage measures, although when compared with the Tory manifesto, details on this are sparse. They aim to work with local authorities to give first-time buyers the first chance to buy homes and prevent entire developments from being sold off to international investors before houses are built. Additionally, they will introduce a permanent, comprehensive ‘mortgage guarantee’ scheme to support first-time buyers struggling to save for a large deposit, resulting in lower mortgage costs.
Labour is committed to supporting renters by prioritising the building of new social rented homes and in stark contrast to the Conservatives intend to review existing 'right to buy' discounts, to keep more social housing available.
You can read the full Labour Manifesto here.2
For more in-depth analysis of the manifesto, visit RTPI’s ‘The Planner’ Magazine3.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats have committed to properly funding local planning departments and giving local authorities the power to end right to buy schemes to preserve social housing stock. This initiative includes implementing 'use-it-or-lose-it' penalties to encourage developers to build faster and combat controversial land-banking practices. Additionally, they propose allowing councils to buy land for housing based on current use value rather than hope value, by reforming the Land Compensation Act 1961.
The party pledges to increase general funding to local authorities with multi-year settlements, aiming to boost the supply of social housing and improve local planning more generally. They’ve taken a firm stand to discourage the use of second homes nationally, proposing the creation of a new planning class for second homes and short-term lets, empowering local authorities to increase council tax by up to 500% on second homes where they see fit and introducing a stamp duty surcharge for overseas residents purchasing such properties.
Housing targets
More modestly than the ambitions of Labour or the Conservatives, the Lib Dems have set a target of building 380,000 new homes annually, including 150,000 social homes, whilst ‘ensuring’ new developments are accompanied by appropriate infrastructure. They aim to expand neighbourhood planning across England to build the homes ‘people need’, while ensuring community engagement.
The party proposes a new ‘Rent to Own’ model for social housing, allowing tenants to gain an increasing stake in the property through rent payments, owning it outright after 30 years.
The Liberal Democrats plan to trial 'Community Land Auctions' to ensure local communities benefit from new developments, with funds helping towards vital local services. They also plan to encourage development on brownfield sites with financial incentives, ensuring that affordable and social housing is included in these projects.
Clean energy
In keeping with their legacy, the Liberal Democrats have ambitious aims on the environment. They propose to help conserve energy usage and make homes warmer and cheaper to heat through a ten-year ‘emergency upgrade’ program – the ‘Home Energy Upgrade Program’ - rolling out free insulation and heat pumps for low-income households. They pledge to ensure all new homes are ‘zero-carbon’ and plan to expand incentives for householders to install solar panels and include with a guaranteed price for electricity sold back to the grid.
Their manifesto references a ‘Net Zero Delivery Authority’, which they would establish to coordinate government efforts and help to give more powers to local authorities for net-zero ambitions.
Additionally, their manifesto supports transition to electric vehicles, with ambitions to roll out more charging points nationally including on residential streets, providing ultra-fast charging at service stations. Additionally they proposes reducing VAT on public charging to 5% and requiring all charging points to be accessible with a bank card.
The party also wants to remove restrictions on new solar and wind power projects, with particular support for tidal power. They pledge to maintain the fracking ban and ban new coal mines and emphasise that clean energy innovation will be supported with upgrades to the grid, as well as an increase in local grid capacity.
Environmental protections
The Lid Dems want to strengthen existing net biodiversity regulations and empower nature recovery by identifying and classifying a new 'Wild Belt.' New developments should result in significant net gain for biodiversity, with up to 100% net gain for large developments.
To fund much of their environmental ambitions, the Liberal Democrats propose a one-off windfall tax on the ‘super-profits’ of oil and gas producers and traders.
The manifesto outlines the party’s ambition to nationalise water companies, in a bid to tackle ongoing pollution, and replace current water regulatory bodies with a new, tougher one. They have also committed to planting ‘60 million’ trees a year to restore habitats.
The Liberal Democrats plan to build ten new garden cities and encourage the use of rural exception sites to expand rural housing.
You can read the full Liberal Democrats Manifesto here4.
For further analysis, The RTPI’s ‘The Planner’ Magazine have provided a comprehensive, planning-focused dive into the manifesto, which you can access here.5
Conservatives
The tory manifesto states a commitment to delivering 1.6 million new homes, with the caveat that these are ‘in the right places, while protecting our countryside.’
‘Streamline’ planning
Several parts of their manifesto reference a desire to ‘speed up’ and ‘streamline’ the current planning system in a bid to support their ambitious housebuilding targets.
The conservatives have stated they will ‘support local and smaller builders’ by requiring councils to set aside land specifically for them, by lifting Section 106 ‘burdens’ on smaller sites, while ruling out Labour’s proposed ‘community right to appeal.’
The Conservatives also say they will ‘speed up’ the consenting process around Nationally Significant Infrastructure (NSIPs) to ‘speed up the average time it takes to sign off major infrastructure projects from four years to one.’
They have pledged impressive investment in railway infrastructure, including £4.7 billion for smaller cities, towns, and rural areas in the North and Midlands, and emphasising a desire to deliver a plan for ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’, funded by an additional £12 billion on top of HS2.
They state, ‘We will spend £36 billion of HS2 savings on transport projects that will benefit more people, in more places, more quickly. Every penny saved in the North or Midlands will be spent there. Savings from our new plan for Euston, which will see 10,000 new homes built, have freed up £6.5 billion for transport across the rest of the country.’
Environmental policy
Throughout their manifesto, the Conservatives consistently emphasise their ‘cast-iron commitment to protect the greenbelt,’ emphasising their aims to develop brownfield land for housebuilding, whilst also making a point of setting themselves apart from Labour’s ‘grey belt’ stance.
Again, the Tories pledge to ‘speed up’ approvals for brownfield development by providing a ‘fast track route through the planning system for new homes on previously developed land in the 20 largest cities.’ Additionally, they reinforce the idea that there will be no ‘top down’ requirements from government for local councils to remove greenbelt protections.
Whilst seemingly passionate about protecting the Green Belt, the Conservatives appear keen to minimise other current standards for environmental protection.
Their manifesto consistently underlined a desire to remove or lessen the ‘burden’ of existing environmental levies on both households and builders, whilst staunchly ruling out any further green levies.
Following previous attempts during the last government, which was defeated in the House of Lords last September, The Conservatives have again pledged to ‘abolish’ nutrient neutrality regulations to ‘unblock’ 100,000 homes. Their manifesto explains that they would replace current regulations with ‘one-off mitigation fees’ for developers to offset pollution.
The ‘London Plan’
The Conservatives seem keen to tackle the housing crisis by encouraging as much inner-city development as possible, with their manifesto outlining ambitions to see central London as densely populated as cities like Paris and Barcelona. They assert that the ‘London Plan’ will deliver more ‘family’ homes, and that if elected they would ‘force’ the mayor of London to prioritise building on brownfield sites.
Their manifesto specifically mentions plans to regenerate Euston, Old Oak Common, and Thamesmead. To achieve this, they propose ‘locally-led’ urban development corporations in partnership with the private sector to deliver new urban regeneration in areas such as Leeds, Liverpool, and York, following through with the 2050 Cambridge plan.
Clean energy
The Conservatives have pledged to invest £6 billion in energy efficiency over the next three years. Their manifesto includes funding an energy efficiency voucher scheme, open to every household in England, to support the installation of energy efficiency measures and solar panels, helping families lower their bills.
These proposals build on existing sustainability grants and funding measures, includes schemes like the Green Deal and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, more details of which can be found on our Sustainability Hub.6
Buying and renting
In terms of house buying, the Conservatives have pledged to renew the Affordable Homes Programme. A worthy portion of their manifesto is dedicated to explaining their proposed support for first-time buyers, introducing a new ‘help to buy’ scheme, and raising the stamp duty tax threshold to exclude them. They propose a ‘5% deposit scheme [for first-time buyers] on interest terms they can afford,’ partially funded by housebuilders.
They’ve also committed to continuing the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. They intend to protect ‘Right to Buy’, in contrast to both Labour and the Lib Dems, as well as implementing stricter controls around social housing and giving private landlords further eviction powers.
They have suggested providing some protection for renters, stating ‘We will pass a Renters Reform Bill that will deliver fairness in the rental market for landlords and renters alike,’ but do not address ‘no-fault’ evictions. They have lightly touched on the second homes and holiday lets, albeit with less emphasis than the other two main parties, saying, ‘We will ensure councils have the powers they need to manage the uncontrolled growth of holiday lets, which can cause nuisance to local residents and a hollowing out of communities.’
Regarding temporary accommodation, which recently made the headlines as taking a significant portion of local authority core budgets7, they have committed to delivering their commitments under the ‘Local Authority Housing Fund’ and reviewing the quality of temporary accommodation.
You can read the full Conservative Manifesto here8.
For a detailed planning-focused analysis of the manifesto, check out the comprehensive review provided by RTPI’s ‘The Planner’ Magazine, available here9.
- https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/sustainability-and-planning/sustainability-schemes-and-grants/green-deal
- https://labour.org.uk/change/
- https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2024/06/13/manifesto-labour-promises-restore-mandatory-housing-targets-10-year-infrastructure
- https://www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto
- https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2024/06/10/manifesto-lib-dems-promise-fund-local-planning-departments-build-10-garden-cities-and
- https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/sustainability-and-planning/sustainability-schemes-and-grants/green-deal
- https://www.localgov.co.uk/Quarter-of-councils-spending-5-of-budgets-on-temporary-accommodation/60540
- https://manifesto.conservatives.com/#lp-pom-text-87
- https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2024/06/12/manifesto-conservatives-pledge-deliver-16-million-homes-fast-track-permissions-building