Planning Reforms: Energy and Housing Costs

Lord Pitkeathley of Camden Town Excerpts

Thursday 15th May 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Pitkeathley of Camden Town]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of their proposed planning reforms on productivity in the United Kingdom, specifically in relation to the impact of the reforms on the cost of energy and housing.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend points to the key role our Government’s steps to unblock a sclerotic planning system will play in delivering our growth mission. The Government continually assess the potential impact of our policies, including the proposed planning reforms. This is backed up by the independent OBR, which has forecast that the Government’s reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework will add around £6.8 billion to GDP in 2029-30 and raise UK housebuilding to its highest level in 40 years. The Government’s other planning reforms, including the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, will help deliver the Government’s clean power 2030 commitment, which, overall, is expected to unlock £40 billion of investment a year in clean energy infrastructure.

[Lord Pitkeathley of Camden Town (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that helpful response, and I refer the House to my entry in the register of interests. Working with not-for-profits, I have seen how vital and often popular projects can be delayed or derailed by the complexity of the planning system, which is often used by small, well-organised local opposition. Larger developers can usually navigate this; smaller organisations, especially those without a profit motive, can struggle. Do His Majesty’s Government consider planning complexity itself a barrier to progress that is worthy of attention as part of the planning system reform?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is quite right. We have made it a priority of this Government to develop a simplified planning system with a policy framework that is accessible and understandable to all. Our reforms will streamline planning processes to help provide more homes of all tenures and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects. They will modernise the decision-making process and increase local planning authorities’ capacity to deliver that improved service. We have also committed to establishing a clearer set of national policies for decision-making, so the system is clearer and more consistent. All this should help smaller developers.