Labour policies – Housing, Planning and Infrastructure
1 April 2015
Issue
Housing
Summary of position
General
Business Manifesto:
•
Supporting multi-national and new
business start-ups and those that ‘play by the
rules’ – paying the taxes that support public
services.
•
Labour are committed to investing in
Infrastructure and improving skills
•
They will have a Industrial strategy
that won’t throw businesses into years of
uncertainty – by threatening to leave the EU
(Labour believes the UK’s long-term future
lies inside the EU, not outside it)
•
Labour want to start a revolution in
Vocational education and create a gold
standard Technical Baccalaureate, but Maths
and English until 18.
•
Any firm that gets a major
Government contract will have to provide
Apprenticeships to the next generation.
•
Create a British Investment Bank,
supported by a network of regional banks
•
Keep corporation tax at the lowest
rate in G7 countries
•
Freeze business rates for smaller
firms
•
The Country needs certainty about
infrastructure and thus, Labour would set up
an Independent National Infrastructure
1
Source and Date
http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/newverticals/hom
e/viewitem.aspx?id=22220256
30 March 2015
Commission.
•
We’ll improve Local Enterprise
Partnerships rather than instigating another
disruptive top-down reorganisation.
Key Labour Policy House building numbers
Local government is to take a major new role
in developing 200,000 homes a year under a
new Labour initiative.
In a speech today to the Town and Country
Planning Association, the Labour party
announced a new comprehensive plan to
allow local government an unprecedented
role in assembling land, delivering
infrastructure and commissioning housing
development if its gains power in May’s
general election.
According to Emma Reynolds, Labour’s
Shadow Housing Minister, the Labour party’s
initiative will see the private sector and the
local government to working together,
forming a partnership that will allow and
attract private investment to “build the homes
we need.”
“Labour will also increase competition in the
building industry, build more affordable
homes and unleash a new programme of
New Towns and Garden Cities,” she said.
Funding for rural housing champions
approved
Funding to continue the good work of rural
housing champions in communities across
Wales has been approved by Welsh Labour’s
Minister with responsibility for housing,
Lesley Griffiths.
2
http://www.buildingproducts.co.uk/news/labourcalls-local-government-play-active-role-200khomes-target-03-2015/
10 March 2015
http://www.welshlabour.org.uk/news/2015/03/1
9/funding-for-rural-housing-championsapproved/
19 March 2015
Rural Housing Enablers (RHEs) work closely
with communities to develop affordable
housing projects - providing homes for local
people and sustaining rural communities.
The lack of affordable housing is one of the
most serious issues facing communities in
the countryside. The Welsh Labour
Government recognises good quality,
affordable housing is fundamental in tackling
poverty and helping these areas to thrive.
Rural Housing Enabler projects have been
responsible for 200 new affordable homes,
with approximately 200 more in the pipeline.
Today’s announcement of £200,000 over the
next two years will ensure this innovative
work continues.
Emma Reynolds MP, Labour's Shadow
Housing Minister, responding to David
Cameron's announcement on housing, said:
“Labour’s Better Plan will ensure Britain
builds the homes working people need.
Labour will get at least 200,000 homes built a
year by 2020, including badly needed
affordable homes, and we will give first-time
buyers first call on homes built in local areas
of housing growth. Labour is also pledging to
give private renters a fairer deal. A Labour
Government will introduce three year stable
tenancies, put a ceiling on rent rises over the
course of the contracts, and ban letting agent
fees on tenants.
http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/newverticals/hom
e/viewitem.aspx?id=21983755
28 February, 2015
Birmingham tries to avoid London’s mistakes
Sir Albert Bore, the leader of Birmingham City
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industrie
s/construction-property/article4376325.ece
3
Council, is attending the annual Mipim
property conference in Cannes this week in
order to secure £9bn investment from the
delegates to build 80,000 homes by 2031 in
what is intended to be the most ambitious
residential development programme in
Birmingham’s history. Sir Albert, who will
unveil the housing plans on Thursday, said:
“Birmingham is determined not to repeat the
mistakes that London and other global cities
have made…we want to stay ahead of the
curve, which is why we are acting now.” The
city is also launching a fund so that it can
prioritise resources and streamline planning
to target the most important brownfield or
disused sites.
The Times, Page: 45 The Daily Telegraph,
Business, Page: 3
London
Labour points finger at London Mayor for
‘accepting defeat’ with unambitious building
target that will ‘exacerbate housing crisis’
Nicky Gavron, Labour’s London Assembly
Planning spokesperson has slammed Mayor
Boris Johnson for setting a minimum target to
build only 42,000 homes per annum, despite
the Mayor’s own evidence showing that
62,000 are needed each year for the next
decade to tackle the capital’s acute housing
shortage.
4
9 March 2015
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/labourslams-boris-over-lower-housingtargets/8678213.article
9 February 2015
A Labour government will get 200,000 homes
built a year by 2020 and deliver a fairer deal
for private renters.

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New Towns / Garden Cities
We will get 200,000 homes built a
year by 2020. This will close the gap
between the number of homes we
build and the number of homes we
need, as well as providing up to
230,000 jobs in construction.
We will unblock the supply of new
homes by giving local authorities "use
it or lose it" powers over developers
who hoard land that has planning
permission so that they can sell it on
for a bigger profit, instead of building
on it now.
We will deliver a new generation of
New Towns and Garden Cities, and
give a new "right to grow" to
communities who want to expand but
are blocked by neighbouring local
authorities.
We will tackle empty homes by giving
councils more power to charge higher
rates of council tax on empty
properties, and ensure new homes
are advertised in the UK first, not
overseas.
Speaking at the Labour Party Conference on
Tuesday (Sept 2014), Labour Leader Ed
Miliband promised to "get Britain building
again" to allow more people "the confidence
5
Labour website, Home building section – end of
2014
http://www.labour.org.uk/issues/detail/housebuilding
Key Manifesto document for 2015:
http://b.3cdn.net/labouruk/89012f856521e93a4d_
phm6bflfq.pdf
http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda2015/policy-review/policy-review/lyonshousing-review
In addition, the standard for house-building:
Recommendation 32: Zero Carbon Homes
The Government in 2015 should reaffirm its
commitment to a genuine zero carbon standard
for new homes and set out a clear trajectory for
all homes (reversing the exemption for small
housing developments) to achieve this if further
action is required beyond 2016. It should
address issues around the performance gap,
and should work with the industry to address
problems highlighted by the Zero Carbon Hub:
skills and knowledge, communication, and
responsibility.
http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda2015/policy-review/policy-review/lyonshousing-review -see also page 95 of the report
Neighbourhood planning
and security of having your own home."
"By 2025, for the first time in fifty years, this
country will be building as many homes as
we need. Doubling the number of first time
buyers in our country.
"We won’t let large developers sit on land, we
will say to small developers and construction
companies that we will help them to build
homes again in our country. We will build a
new generation of towns, garden cities and
suburbs creating over half a million new
homes.
And we will also make housing the top priority
for additional capital investment in the next
parliament. This party will get Britain building
again."
Labour Party Conference Sept 2014:
 Neighbourhood Plans and Local
Plans – Labour are considering
including Neighbourhood Plans in
Local Plans to align the two
processes more closely.
http://www.hortweek.com/tcpa-welcomeslabour-pledge-housebuilding-garden-citiesdescribed-a-tall-order/parks-andgardens/article/1313918
Hilary Benn speech, made at the Party
conference in Sept 2014.
“And instead of them thinking that even if the
homes are built, that their children or friends
or neighbours will never get one of them.
Instead of all of this, we will give
communities, as Sir Michael Lyons’ report will
recommend, the powers they need to tackle
http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda2015/policy-review/policy-review/lyonshousing-review; within the report see:
September 2014
http://www.ppsgroup.co.uk/news-andevents/labour-party-conference-debriefhousing-and-planning-policy
Sept 2014
Planning
Land banking
6
Recommendation 15: Transparency in the land
market. To ensure greater transparency in the
land market, the Land Registry should open up
land ownership information to the public in a
land banking; put together the sites; get the
design right; put in the infrastructure; and
work with small and medium-size and large
builders to build the homes that local people
need where local people want.”
Right to grow
Fines for developer delays – Developers who
sit on ‘land banks’ would be subject to a new
‘use it or lose it’ law. Councils who also have
new powers to impose escalating fees to give
developers an incentive to build on sites with
planning permission that would be backed up
by new compulsory purchase powers if they
still ‘hoard’ the land.
Urban extensions – Labour remains
committed to a new generation of urban
extensions, modelled on previous post-war
new-town expansions. There is a belief that
lessons have been learned after the muchmaligned ‘Eco-towns’ programme under the
previous Labour administration.
‘Right to Grow’ – Towns would be given “a
right to grow” over their boundaries even in
the scenario where the house building is
opposed by neighbouring the local authorities
responsible for granting planning permission.
similar manner as the property price paid data
set and make it a legal requirement to register
land option agreements, transactions and
prices.
http://press.labour.org.uk/post/98061958479/sp
eech-by-hilary-benn-mp-to-labour-party
http://www.ppsgroup.co.uk/news-andevents/labour-party-conference-debriefhousing-and-planning-policy
Urban extensions:
http://www.ppsgroup.co.uk/news-andevents/labour-party-conference-debrief-housingand-planning-policy - reported from the Labour
party conference.
Sept 2014
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Ed Balls has stoked uncertainty
surrounding HS2 , suggesting that a new
trans-Pennine rail route [HS3] could be built
before the second leg of the high speed rail
project.
The shadow chancellor said a Labour
government would go ahead with the first leg
7
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/64746754-d7b7-11e494b1-00144feab7de.html#axzz3WdGeWFTl
31 March 2015
of HS2 from London to Birmingham on its
current timetable.
But he said there were “big questions” about
the subsequent part of the “Y-shaped” route,
with separate new lines from Birmingham to
Manchester and Birmingham to Leeds.
http://press.labour.org.uk/post/112602992019/edOn infrastructure, Ed Balls will say:
balls-comments-at-london-first-event-on
"Too often as a country we have dithered and
delayed on the big decisions we need to take 3 March 2015
for the future.
"Just look at airport capacity in London and
the south east. This government kicked that
decision into the long-grass by setting a
timetable for the Davies review to report after
the election. It should have reported before
now.
"It’s a vital issue for London’s economy, yet
the Chancellor and the Mayor somehow
launched an economic plan for London last
month which didn’t mention airports once.
That is the opposite of a long-term approach a simply staggering omission.
The election of a Labour government in
Scotland could see a new generation of
nuclear power stations constructed north of
the border, the party’s energy spokesman
announced yesterday.
Tom Greatrex, Labour’s shadow energy
minister, said he believed nuclear power
must remain part of the UK’s energy mix and
that Scotland would have to either accept
new stations or import nuclear-generated
8
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/
article4369541.ece
2 March 2015
electricity from England.
Labour’s transport spokesman has promised
to rip up Britain’s rail franchising model and
ensure publicly run operators take over trains
as soon as possible if the party wins May’s
general election.
Michael Dugher, shadow transport secretary,
told the New Statesman magazine:
““Privatisation was a disaster for the railways.
I’m adamant about putting the whole
franchising system, as it stands today, in the
bin.
9
Financial Times, Page: 2 The Times, Page: 6 The
Daily Telegraph, Page: 2 The Guardian, Page:
13 Daily Mail, Page: 2 Daily Mirror, Page: 2
19 Feb 2015