Last week’s election result marked the Labour Party’s first electoral victory since 2005 and a monumental moment for the UK. Given the size of the majority, Labour has a clear mandate to deliver on the promises for change outlined in its manifesto. Here we look at some of the key manifesto pledges that will be of particular interest to RIBA’s members.
Two of Labour’s manifesto commitments were to build 1.5 million new homes and to immediately update the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). These policies show that Labour is keen to move quickly to build more homes and speed up planning.
These pledges are welcome, but the devil will be in the detail on how they are implemented. Nonetheless, the construction and housing industries have welcomed an impetus to put housing and planning reforms at the heart of its agenda.
What are Labour's commitments to new housing?
The Labour government has pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes in England over the next five-year Parliament. It is hoping to achieve delivery at scale through methods including new towns and large-scale developments, where there are inevitably long programmes of work to go from RIBA work stage 0 to 7. This will require local authorities to strategically plan for housing growth in their areas and a taskforce will be created to accelerate stalled schemes.
While Labour supports a brownfield-first approach to housing delivery, and is promising a new fast-track route through planning for homes on previously-developed land, there is still a need to think about further ways to deliver high-quality homes and places.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who has been named the new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, will be writing to planning authorities to review green belt boundaries and instructing them to prioritise brownfield land along with a new “grey belt”. This would be lower quality land and include neglected areas within existing green belt. The government says examples might include poor-quality wastelands and disused car parks that could readily be developed for housing.
New planning policies within 100 days
Labour has said that the NPPF will strengthen the presumption in favour of sustainable development and that planning obligations will be strengthened to ensure that new developments provide more affordable homes. However, details on how they will achieve this remains unclear.
While the new government is seeking to restore mandatory local housing targets, this must not be to the detriment of quality. Its manifesto highlighted that exemplary development should be the norm, not the exception, and pledged to take steps to ensure we are “building more high-quality, well-designed and sustainable homes and creating places” – echoing RIBA’s calls and work in this area.
Tom Bell, Senior Associate at Ridge and RIBA Wessex Regional Chair adds “The ‘Building Better, Beautiful Building Commission’ and subsequent ‘Living with Beauty’ Report proposed a new planning and development framework, with the establishment of an arms-length body, Office for Place, to implement the recommendations. In recent years we have seen the introduction of the National Model Design Guide and Design Codes, and although Angela Rayner announced a ‘New Town Code’ while Shadow Minister at UKREiiF in Leeds, further details of ‘beauty’, at all scales of development, remain to be seen.”
How will local authority resource be enhanced?
Currently, planning departments are in a dire state. RIBA’s own Future Trends research shows that delays in processing planning applications are causing project delays. 22% of projects were abandoned in the first three months of 2023, a substantial increase from 7% in 2021. In addition, 47% of projects experienced delays of six months or more in 2023, compared to 30% in 2021. Adequately resourced planning departments, equipped with qualified design expertise, are crucial for fostering higher quality, more sustainable housing developments.
Labour has committed to support local authorities by funding additional planning officers. This will be through an increase in the rate of stamp duty surcharge paid by non-UK residents, helping to fund the appointment of 300 new planning officers.
National planning consultant Lichfields was quick to point out that with more than 300 local authorities in England alone, we will need to know how they might be deployed or targeted before we can draw conclusions about their likely impact.
On the subject of resource, Tom said that “an increase in planning resource will be welcomed across the development sector, but we need highly skilled professionals within local authorities. The number of architects working within local authorities has diminished over the last decade, parallel to greater public dissatisfaction and outcry on the quality of homes being built in the UK.”
A boost for social and affordable housing
The Labour government has committed to deliver ‘the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation’. For members working with developers and housing associations this is great news, though there is little detail on how this will be achieved.
More points of interest for architects
The industry is keen to hear more on the Warm Homes Plan, which proposes to offer grants and low interest loans for insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating. While a step in the right direction, the plan falls short of a comprehensive nationwide National Retrofit Strategy. RIBA will be championing this and the importance of a whole house retrofit approach, ensuring competent, experienced and co-ordinated discussions occur so that in resolving one issue, there is no inadvertent detriment elsewhere.
Read more about how can architects use a whole-house approach to retrofit?
Labour has also committed to improving building safety through regulation, but it is unclear exactly how. Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy we have been working to make buildings as safe as they can be, including successfully campaigning for all new residential buildings over 18-metres to require a second staircase. But there is still work to be done. This must include a full review of Approved Document B (ADB).
The Labour government has now been in place for one week, so there are likely many more announcements to come. We continue to work with the government and parliament to champion architects, and to deliver better buildings, stronger communities, and higher environmental standards. Positively, many of the themes and high-level policies align with RIBA thinking. However, many of the ideas are still light on policy detail. We will work with new government to create a more sustainable, safe and inclusive built environment for all.
Thanks to Tom Bell, Senior Associate at Ridge and RIBA Wessex Regional Chair.
Text by Neal Morris and the RIBA Practice and Policy Teams. Send us your feedback and ideas.
There are a number of policy items referenced that cross-over with several of the RIBA Core Curriculum topics.
As part of the flexible RIBA CPD programme, professional features count as microlearning. See further information on the updated RIBA CPD core curriculum and on fulfilling your CPD requirements as a RIBA Chartered Member.
