What Kier has said about housing and planning today

As we come towards the end of the third day of Labour Conference, it’s worth having a quick butchers’ at Keir’s speech today, which touched upon topics surrounding healthcare, energy, and housing. But I know why you’re here - I’ll cut straight to the housing!

Housing and planning have been big themes in this years conference, and during his speech Keir raised the roof with his commitments to ‘get Britain building again’. After a brief dusting a glitter from a protester, he told conference that “today we launch a new plan … a signal of our determination to fight the blockers, who hold a veto over British aspiration.”

So, he’s certainly not beating around the bush. Labour is serious about planning reform, and Keir is willing to stake his reputation on it. He describes Labour’s imminent ‘decade of power’ and the sweeping reforms that will come with it, including (not mentioned explicitly in this speech) a devolution of powers and funding to local authorities, who he describes as having a better view of their communities than those ‘sitting behind the tall walls of Westminster’.

But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean more power for local authorities to block the development of housing that is so desperately needed. Instead, towns and cities under this plan would be handed Whitehall department-style funding settlements for housing investment, with which they could build their own affordable housing, remediate brownfield land, and regenerate areas in need of a new lick of paint. He also talked about being ‘sensible’ about the green belt. He reminded the conference that Labour was serious about protecting the environment, but that local authorities abusing the system to prevent (for example) car parks from being developed into homes would come to an end.

Perhaps we really are about to enter a new era, ‘a new age of national renewal’. If Starmer decides to walk-the-walk, it will be - in his own words - “shovels in the ground and cranes in the sky”.