Election Watch: What the Lib Dem Manifesto says about Planning
Welcome to Manifesto Week! All three of the main political parties in England are expected to launch their manifestos this week.
As promised, I will spend some time setting out the key planning related pledges in each.
The Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto first and as such are first in the hot seat. The next post is likely to focus on the Conservatives, with Labour's manifesto not expected until later in the week.
I have divided the relevant policy pledges into key topics and hope to be able to use the same ones across all three posts (to aid comparison). As per usual, I am steering clear of the 100% environmental focused topics but have included some of the more planning adjacent ones*.
I am also avoiding policy pledges (such as ending the right to buy, or leasehold reform) which related to wider property reform. I am sure that my property colleagues will pick up on those in due course.
The full Liberal Democrat Manifesto can be found here.
Housing
- Increasing building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK,
including 150,000 social homes a year, through new garden cities and
community-led development of cities and towns - Building ten new garden cities.
- Encouraging the use of rural exception sites to expand rural housing.
- Encouraging development of existing brownfield sites with financial incentives and ensuring that affordable and social housing is included in these projects.
- Allowing councils to buy land for housing based on current use value rather than on a hope-value basis by reforming the Land Compensation Act 1961.
- Give communities more control over the number of second homes and short-term lets in their areas by allowing them to increase council tax by up to 500% where homes are being bought as second homes, with a stamp duty surcharge on overseas residents purchasing such properties; and creating a new planning class for these properties
Commercial Development & Infrastructure
Very little indeed on commercial development. However, the following pledges were made on infrastructure:
- Delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail to connect cities across the North of England.
- Reviewing the Conservatives’ cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 to see if it can still be delivered in a way that provides value for money, including by encouraging private investment, or if an alternative is viable.
- Working with local authorities to implement light rail schemes for trams and tram-trains where these are appropriate solutions to public transport requirements.
- Establishing a ten-year plan for rail electrification to increase the number of passenger journeys covered by electric trains, investing in other zero-carbon technologies including batteries, and ensuring all new rail lines are electrified as standard.
Planning-Related Environmental Pledges
- Embracing nature-based solutions to tackle the problem of sewage dumping.
- Make planning work for our natural environment and ensure that developers pay their fair share by:
- Ensuring new developments result in significant net gain for biodiversity, with up to a 100% net gain for large developments.
- Introducing a strategic Land and Sea Use Framework to effectively balance competing demands on our land and oceans.
- Empowering Local Nature Recovery Strategies to identify a new Wild Belt for nature’s recovery
- Make homes warmer and cheaper to heat with a ten-year emergency upgrade programme, starting with free insulation and heat pumps for those on low incomes, and ensure that all new homes are zero-carbon.
- Drive a rooftop solar revolution by expanding incentives for households to install solar panels, including a guaranteed fair price for electricity sold back into the grid.
- Invest in renewable power so that 90% of the UK’s electricity is generated from renewables by 2030
- Removing the Conservatives’ unnecessary restrictions on new solar and wind power and supporting investment and innovation in tidal and wave power in particular.
- Building the grid infrastructure required, facilitated by a strategic Land and Sea Use Framework.
- Investing in energy storage, including green hydrogen, pumped storage and battery capability
The Planning System & Local Government
- Tackle the funding crisis facing local authorities, including by providing multi-year settlements, boosting the supply of social housing, and forging a long-term, cross-party agreement on social care.
- Properly funding local planning departments to improve planning outcomes and ensure housing is not built in areas of high flood risk without adequate mitigation, by allowing local authorities to set their own fees.
- Introduce a strategic Land and Sea Use Framework to effectively balance competing demands
- Trialling Community Land Auctions to ensure that local communities receive a fair share of the benefits of new development in their areas and to help fund vital local services.
- Introducing ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ planning permission for developers who refuse to build.
- Expanding Neighbourhood Planning across England.
- Ensure that all development has appropriate infrastructure, services and amenities in place, integrating infrastructure and public service delivery into the planning process.
Commentary
I am not usually prone to gambling, but I think it is a pretty safe bet to assume that there will be a significant amount of consensus amongst the three main parties manifestos - when it comes to planning, at least.
From what we have seen of the campaigns so far; it seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that:
- We need to deliver more houses;
- That local planning authorities need more resources; and
- That nature markets, Net Zero, and renewable energy are a core part of the country's future.
The key differences between the parties are likely to be around how they intend to address them.
For the Liberal Democrats, at least part of the answer seems to be using tools that are already on the statute book or ideas that have already been partially tested.
Community Land Auctions, the changes to Hope Value; and the legislative underpinnings for ‘use-it or lose-it’ planning permissions are all in the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023.
Last year, DLUHC consulted on a proposal to introduce a new use class and associated permitted development rights for short term lets, which could provide a framework for the Lib Dems second homes policy.
Neighbourhood planning, garden cities and a focus on brownfield development are all familiar paths to for politicians to take when discussing housing. Getting them all to add up to 380,000 new homes a year, however, may be a challenge.
Bonus points should, however, be awarded for managing to completely avoid all mentions of the Green Belt.
We did however, get the promise of a new ‘Wild Belt’ for nature recovery, which sounds significantly more exciting…. I wonder if we could use leopard print hatching for it on the designations plan….
*so apologies to readers of our Environmental Update as there may be some repetition.
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Expanding Neighbourhood Planning across England.
Building ten new garden cities.
Allowing councils to buy land for housing based on current use value rather than on a hope-value basis by reforming the Land Compensation Act 1961.
Properly funding local planning departments to improve planning outcomes and ensure housing is not built in areas of high flood risk without adequate mitigation, by allowing local authorities to set their own fees.
Encouraging the use of rural exception sites to expand rural housing.
Trialling Community Land Auctions to ensure that local communities receive a fair share of the benefits of new development in their areas and to help fund vital local services.
Encouraging development of existing brownfield sites with financial incentives and ensuring that affordable and social housing is included in these projects.
Introducing ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ planning permission for developers who refuse to build.”
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