Developers, NOW is the time to get going!

This week I am laying off our Councillor friends and their Planning Departments as I believe everyone needs a little break from being shouted at by me! 

So, with that in mind, I am talking to all developers and land promoters. It doesn’t matter whether you do housing, logistics, factories, commercial, care homes, solar farms, wind farms, BESS sites or anything else that require planning permission. You need to pay attention NOW and listen CAREFULLY. 

We have a unique set of circumstances that is of great benefit to us as an industry and we don’t know quite how long this is going to last. 

Let me explain: for the first time in a generation we have a Prime Minister, a Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Housing Secretary, a Housing Minister an Environment Secretary and an Energy Minister who are ALL pro-growth. They are all quite hard line with enormous targets (and no, this is not a debate on whether it is deliverable, it is targets to aim for). They have passed legislation and will be passing more legislation to help us in the industry. Housing targets are up, they are taking a tough line on Councils to make Local Plans to facilitate the employment and industrial land in addition to the housing and infrastructure and they are very clear on their targets for renewable energy sources with the moratorium on onshore wind farms being scrapped on day one.  

They are also introducing the biggest reforms in Local Government for more than half a century and they are planning to devolve powers to these strategic planning areas to drive forward development with a very clear task: “you are here to facilitate growth – not hinder it”. 

Now for the bad news. (There is always a catch). I don’t need to tell you that the ambitious Labour Government has made a lot of, shall we say, “unpopular” decisions quite quickly and their approval ratings are not looking great. There is of course a possibility that the difficult decisions (a bit of a gable at times) could come good and get popular support and they may win the next General Election… but on the current trajectory, they will be out on their ear after the next General Election. 

These things are a bit tricky to predict. What is however easy to predict is what will happen if the Labour Government is replaced by a Conservative and/or Reform Government. We have seen what Gove and the Conservatives did in December 2023 by removing targets and taking a soft line on Local Plan making and their wishy-washy approach to renewables. It is not difficult to imagine them standing on a Trump-style populist agenda at the next election that will be very sceptical about development and growth.

So, you basically have four years until the next General Election, four years of certainty and a Government that’s got our backs. The time is NOW. Get your plans ready and get them in. We’re here to help you navigate it all! 

Until next week,

Henry