Home Insights Labour’s Manifesto Review: A Summary of Proposals for Places & Development

Labour’s Manifesto Review: A Summary of Proposals for Places & Development

As the new Labour government settles in, regeneration and housing practitioners are undoubtedly eager to see what Labour’s manifesto commitments will mean for places and communities. Below, our own Malavika Krishnan summarises the manifesto’s proposals by various built environment themes as a resource for our peers and other practitioners.

Jump to manifesto content summaries by theme

Jump to planned policy updates as per the King’s Speech

Manifesto content summaries by theme

Housing

  • Building 1.5 million homes: Labour has committed to building 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament. This will involve mandatory housing targets and significant planning system reform to ensure that new builds meet higher standards and sustainability targets.
  • First-time buyer support: Labour’s proposed “Freedom to Buy” scheme would extend the mortgage guarantee program to help first-time buyers who can afford mortgage repayments but struggle with deposits. The policy would also give first-time buyers priority on new build developments to prevent them from being sold to international investors first​.
  • Leasehold reforms: Labour plans to end the leasehold system by banning new leasehold flats and ensuring commonhold is the default tenure for apartment blocks. They also aim to tackle unregulated ground rents and maintenance charges and address the issue of “fleecehold” private housing estates​.
  • New towns and urban regeneration: Labour proposes building a new generation of New Towns and supporting urban extensions and regeneration projects. This is part of their broader strategy to create large-scale new communities across England​.
  • Social and affordable housing: The manifesto promises the largest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. Labour also intends to review and potentially reduce the right-to-buy discounts introduced in 2012 to better protect existing affordable housing stock​.
  • Environmental considerations: New housing developments will be designed to increase climate resilience and promote nature recovery. Labour also plans to implement solutions to unlock homebuilding affected by nutrient neutrality without weakening environmental protections​.

Towns and cities

  • New Towns Development: Labour plans to build a series of new towns, reminiscent of the post-World War II efforts, aiming to create 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament. These new towns will emphasize high standards for design, quality, affordable housing, green spaces, and infrastructure​. The “New Towns Code” would include a “gold standard target” of 40% affordable homes, including a mix of social and council homes, robust design codes that fit in with nearby areas, high-density housing with useful links to town and city centres, and access to nature and parks. Labour pledges to select locations for a series of new towns by the end of the year to create large-scale new communities across England.
  • Investment in Cities and Regions: The manifesto proposes to empower Combined Authorities with new planning powers and flexibilities, allowing them to make better use of grant funding for local development.
  • Civil Service Decentralisation: Labour plans to transfer 50,000 civil service jobs out of London, potentially saving £200 million annually and moving more agency and public body headquarters out of the capital​.

The manifesto does not specify exact towns or cities that might benefit from funding but highlights a commitment to rebalance economic prosperity across regions, ensuring that every part of the country can thrive. This includes both urban centres and smaller towns, with particular attention to areas outside of London and the Southeast.

Devolution

  • Strategic, cross-boundary planning: All combined and mayoral authorities will be required to strategically plan for housing growth in their areas, with new planning powers, freedoms, and flexibilities to make better use of grand funding. Local and devolved authorities will be given more financial and administrative autonomy, along with new fiscal powers to generate their revenue, ensuring long-term financial certainty for local government investments​.
  • More widespread devolution: Councils outside of existing combined authorities or devolution deals will be asked to prepare for devolution and “begin preparatory work to join together on sensible economic geographies and take on a new suite of powers through our enhanced devolution framework to benefit their residents”.
  • Local growth plan: All combined authorities and counties with devolution deals will have a “statutory obligation” to develop a “Local Growth Plan” to define economic clusters and plans to “build on their local advantages” through their devolved powers.
  • Regional economic clusters: Labour will create a statutory obligation for all combined authorities and counties with devolution deals to develop a Local Growth Plan. Local Growth Plans should set out their plans to build on their local advantages, address the key binding constraints of their local economies and utilise the powers devolved from central government to support local growth. Labour aims to set up regional clusters of connected industries to boost local economies and create high-paying jobs, supported by a coordinated economic strategy that integrates cities, towns, and regions​.
  • “Turbocharging” metro mayors: Giving mayors new powers over strategic planning and control of housing budgets.
    • Sub-regional housing strategy “linked” up to jobs and infrastructure.
    • Planning
    • Creating new publicly owned bus routes/ transport
    • Adult education budgets and employment support
    • Energy

Green & grey belt land

  • Brownfield First Approach: The party is committed to a “brownfield first” approach, prioritising the development of previously used land and fast-tracking approvals for urban brownfield sites. Alongside brownfield development, Labour emphasises the regeneration of urban areas to revitalise neglected neighbourhoods and promote sustainable, mixed-use developments that include housing, infrastructure, and community facilities​.
  • Grey belt second: Labour also plans to preserve the green belt while taking a more strategic approach to its designation and release​. The release of lower quality ‘grey belt’ land will be prioritised, and they will introduce ‘golden rules’ to ensure development benefits communities and nature. The plan finds over 11,000 potential grey belt sites, which could deliver around 100,000 to 200,000 new homes.
  • Affordable housing on green belt: If development on green belt land is considered necessary, Labour plans to ensure that a sizeable part (50% or more) of the new housing is affordable. This policy aims to address the affordability crisis by using lower land costs in these areas​.
  • Boost public services and infrastructure: Strict guidelines will be enforced on grey belt developments to ensure that they contribute positively to local communities and the environment. This includes integrating green spaces and public amenities within new developments.
  • Protection of genuine green space: Labour is committed to protecting the green belt, ensuring that any development on these lands is limited and carefully managed. They emphasise that the primary use of green belt land should be for preserving natural spaces and preventing urban sprawl. National Development Management Policies (NDMPs): Labour will introduce NDMPs specifically for the Green Belt to streamline development processes and ensure consistency in policy application. They will commit to conducting comprehensive reviews across England to find areas within the Green Belt that could be better used for development. 

Roles for government agencies

  • Planning Reforms: The manifesto includes plans to increase the number of planning officers by raising the stamp duty surcharge on purchases by non-UK residents.
  • Central government funding pots “review”: Both the “begging bowl culture” and the “timing” of central government funding pots will be “reviewed” or “brought to an end” under a Labour administration.
  • Decentralised funding: Towns and cities across England should be given new powers to drive growth and champion their areas.  Mayors and local leaders in all parts of the UK will play a key role in the design and delivery of a suite of place-based, innovation-led R&D programmes. This should include the replacement for EU regional funding and future support for the Strength in Places Fund.
  • CPO reform: The Manifest promises to reform compulsory purchase compensation rules to improve land assembly, speed up site delivery, and deliver housing, infrastructure, amenity, and transport benefits. For specific types of development schemes, landowners will be awarded compensation not based on the prospect of planning permission.
  • Replace business rates: A new system of “business property taxation” is being proposed by Labour to “stamp out” the “scourge of late payment” and “rebalance the burden” to “level the playing field between local retailers and online giants”. The headline rate of corporation tax will also be “capped”, Labour promise.
  • Expansion of Homes England’s Role: Homes England will have an expanded role in facilitating land assembly, infrastructure development, and housing delivery. They will be instrumental in the development of new towns and large-scale housing projects. This includes providing the necessary infrastructure and ensuring that these projects align with strategic regional plans and aid in delivering the Labour government’s commitment to the largest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

Planned policy updates

Planning reforms and transport policies were included in a package of more than 35 bills as Labour prioritises growth in the King’s Speech held on July 17th, 2024. The speech set out the following bills and policies:

  • Housebuilding and Planning Bill: Reforming planning processes to support the construction of 1.5 million new homes and boost infrastructure. The King’s Speech confirms the government’s commitment to introduce laws on planning reform to tackle some of the critical blockers to construction. New compulsory purchase compensation rules will make it easier to assemble appropriate sites for development and will be a key tool for the government to ensure new developments come with the affordable housing and infrastructure that local areas need – both a government objective in its own right and important for making the case to local areas that they can share in the benefits of new development. The intention is to boost planning capacity and streamline the delivery process for critical infrastructure. Local councils will have to adopt mandatory housing targets within months under planning reforms.
  • English Devolution Bill: The speech also confirmed that the government will give local leaders – including Combined Authorities – new powers to design and implement strategic spatial plans for their area. Better strategic planning is important to help the government achieve the outcomes it wants from development. The bill builds upon the last government’s devolution reforms but goes further in four important ways.
    • Embeds devolution framework into law that sets out which powers are on the table.
    • Expand the framework to include other drivers of growth, specifically employment support and strategic planning powers, allowing alignment with other devolved functions such as transport and skills. 
    • Commitment to make devolution “the default setting”, giving local leaders the right to request the devolution of functions in the framework, and placing an obligation on the government either to agree or to publicly explain why not.
    • Reforming governance arrangements to make it easier for mayors and combined authorities to make progress with strategic objectives such as spatial plans.
  • Green belt: The speech reiterated the protection of green belt land while also mentioning the potential for developing certain areas if it supports sustainable growth. The government also committed to using development to fund nature recovery, promising to only pass legislation that it could guarantee would deliver “positive environmental outcomes”.
  • Brownfield Land: A significant push towards utilising brownfield sites for new housing projects was mentioned. The government plans to make more funding available to unlock these sites, making them viable for development and reducing the pressure on undeveloped land.
  • Roles for Government Agencies: Homes England was highlighted as a key agency in supporting housing delivery and economic growth. Their role includes facilitating development projects and ensuring the efficient use of land resources.
  • New Towns and Investment in Cities: There was a commitment to developing new towns and expanding existing urban areas. Specific investments in infrastructure to support these developments were highlighted, though the speech did not specify which towns or cities would be prioritised.
  • National Wealth Fund Bill: Creating a fund to attract private investment for growth, supported by £7.3 billion in state funding.

This article was crafted using a diverse array of sources. The primary references include: