All hail Rayner, destroyer of NIMBYs
Since Christmas is a time for hope, it’s worth appreciating the good news when we see it.
The business community’s frustrations with Labour are well documented and easy to understand, but even its fiercest critics tend to concede that one area stands out as a bright spot in an economic landscape marred by tax increases: planning reform.
Last week Keir Starmer came as close as he’s ever been to sounding passionate when he said that “For too long, the country has been held to ransom by the blockers and bureaucrats who have stopped the country building, choked off growth and driven prices through the roof.” He went on to vow that “those days are over.”
Little wonder that the FTSE 100 house builder Berkeley said that Labour’s approach has had a “profound and hugely positive impact on the planning system, lifting the tone and encouraging a proactive approach to unblocking housing delivery at scale.”
While the Prime Minister champions the notion of building more homes and smashing through the red tape that holds back large infrastructure projects, the person charged with leading this assault on nimbyism is his deputy, Angela Rayner, and she seems just as fired up.
Over the weekend Rayner said “we can’t have a situation where newts are more protected than people who desperately need housing.” That this even needs saying at all is a reminder of just how gummed-up and absurd much of our planning (and environmental) laws have become.
Yesterday ministers announced further reforms aimed at fast-tracking planning committee decision-making, in a move welcomed by the British Property Federation. Rayner has also shown that she’s prepared to enter the fight when decision-making drags on or holds up important schemes.
She’s taking on Buckinghamshire Council after the local authority rejected a £750m film studio development and last week she unblocked plans to rebuild the flagship M&S store on Oxford Street. Yesterday, she reversed a council’s decision (Buckinghamshire, again) to approve a 700,000 square foot data centre.
All power to her, but the more she swots away local objections the louder the political pushback will become. And not every scheme she waves through will be in leafy Tory seats. The Tories never successfully navigated the tension between the dream of home ownership and the pain of local politics. For the sake of the country, Starmer and Rayner are going to have to hold their nerve.