Cornerstone Planning

James Bond…or Mission Impossible?

Simon Ricketts assesses the planning announcements made by the Prime Minister in the Government’s Plan for Change.

Below each of the Government’s “missions” we now have a set of “measurable milestones” – although if a milestone isn’t measurable isn’t it just a stone?

See the Prime Minister’s speech at Pinewood Studios (hence his James Bond quip) on 5 December 2024, the Delivering change: our road-map for a mission-led government plan and press statement, PM sets out blueprint for decade of national renewal.

This may be a shallow comment to make upfront but as always (it’s not just this government) the organisational cliché bingo is so disappointing:

  • kickstarting
  • turbo-charge
  • driving through
  • breaking down barriers

I’d be run out of a partners’ meeting if I used such language I suspect.

Missions…

I always liked that intro to Mission Impossible where the hidden tape recorder is found and the recording starts: “Good morning [X], your mission, should you choose to accept it….”

The missions of this government are not easy to keep in mind. There were five at the time of the general election. There are now six:

  • Strong Foundations
  • Kickstarting Economic Growth
  • An NHS Fit for the Future
  • Safer Streets
  • Break Down Barriers to Opportunity
  • Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower

From the press statement:

“The milestones for change set out in the plan will track the government’s progress against each of the missions by the end of the parliament, ensuring accountability to the public.”

“These include a new commitment to fast track planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects, and the biggest housebuilding and infrastructure push in 50 years to turbocharge economic growth across the country.”

In the plan itself, the “kickstarting economic growth” mission has two milestones:

  • Milestone: Raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom
  • Milestone: Rebuilding Britain

As to the second milestone (I have emboldened the key passages):

“The failure of the planning regime has not just left us without the homes we need. Britain also lacks other key infrastructure that we should be able to rely on such as transport and energy, or gigafactories and data centres needed for industries of the future.

It is slower and more costly to build economic infrastructure in England than other major countries like France and Italy. No new reservoir has been built since 1992.

The time it takes to secure planning permission for major economic infrastructure projects has almost doubled in the last decade to more than 4 years. Our growth mission will change this: fast-tracking infrastructure delivery and home building and enabling businesses to invest.”

“Our milestone

We must make the dream of home ownership a reality for people across the country. New homes must be supported with the right infrastructure, from roads to reservoirs. 

So, through the growth mission, the government has a hugely ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England this Parliament.

A boost in new homes must deliver for aspiring owners and renters, and provide secure, affordable and quality housing.

We will do this while delivering the infrastructure the country needs – not simply through investment, but by reforming planning rules and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major infrastructure by the end of this Parliament – more than double the number decided in the previous Parliament.

In building 1.5 million homes, we will measure progress through the number of net additional dwellings built in England over the course of this Parliament.”

“…we will publish ten-year strategies for housing and infrastructure next spring, with clear priorities, plans to deliver, and a pipeline of projects for investors and supply chains. These will reflect our next steps – reform, investment, supply. We will:

  • Reform the planning system so that it is pro-growth and pro-infrastructure. We will publish a new National Planning Policy Framework by the end of 2024 and update all relevant National Policy Statements by next summer. We will make improvements to planning at a local level, modernising planning committees and increasing local planning capacity.
    We will use the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to create a win-win for development and nature; and streamline processes for critical infrastructure.
    For the first time we will strategically join up decisions on housing, business growth and infrastructure at both a national and local level, with the Westminster government’s industrial, housing and infrastructure strategies aligning with the local growth plans and strategic development plans led by mayors. Only by delivering these reforms will we unlock investment and delivery.”
  • “Work in partnership with local leaders, housebuilders and infrastructure developers to deliver investment into these sectors”
  • “Increase supply and deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation”

As far as “measurable milestones” go we have the government doubling down on its 1.5 million new homes commitment; we have this “150 planning decisions on major infrastructure” commitment (NB perhaps don’t assume that only NSIPs count – I refer below to decisions this week in relation to a proposed data centre and to a proposed prison, both under the Town and Country Planning Act); the promised new NPPF (all betting now is on 12 December), and updated “relevant” national policy statements by next summer.

Given that come the next general election the government will undoubtedly be held to account, is it right for it to stick with that 1.5m new homes pledge when it is not likely to be met (albeit that the Conservatives’ pre-election pledge, ridiculously, was even higher at 1.6m)? Is a single target such as this the right approach, or (as may be the case with the milestone adopted in relation to the “NHS fit for the future” mission of reducing average waits for planned hospital care to 18 weeks) might it unhelpfully skew organisational behaviour and focus?

Almost more important than all this was the tone of the Prime Minister’s speech itself – many people picking up on his colourful references to civil servants “comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline” and to “the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats…the alliance of naysayers”. I’m not sure that he could be more clear as to the direction that this government will be taking in order to deliver on those milestones.

I set out sections of his speech below because it is interesting to see the tone: this is fighting talk.

“There’s no investment in our public services, without difficult decisions. 

No solution to the housing crisis, without approving controversial development… “

“Clearly if we don’t turbocharge housebuilding with reform… 

We’re won’t meet that milestone.”

“I do think too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline.”

“take our planning system… 

A blockage in our economy that is so big…

It obscures an entire future… 

Stops this country building roads, grid connections, laboratories, trainlines, warehouses, windfarms, power stations…

You name it. 

A chokehold on the growth our country needs…

Suffocating the aspirations of working families. 

I mean – you walk around our country…

You look at our infrastructure…  

And it is clear almost immediately…  

That we have long freeloaded off the British genius of the past. 

Because we won’t build a future… 

We haven’t built a reservoir for over 30 years… 

And even the projects we do approve…

Are fought tooth and nail… 

Nail and tooth… 

Until you end up

With the absurd spectacle of a £100m bat tunnel… 

Holding up the country’s single biggest infrastructure project. 

Driving up taxes and the cost of living, beyond belief. 

I tell you now…

This Government will not accept this nonsense anymore. 

We will streamline the approval process in the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill… 

And driving through that reform – I can announce another new target… 

Not just 1.5 million homes…

But also 150 major infrastructure projects… 

A milestone that will triple the number of decisions on national infrastructure compared with the last Parliament.  

And just as important… 

Will send a very clear message…

To the nimbys, the regulators, the blockers and bureaucrats… 

The alliance of naysayers… 

The people who say no “Britain can’t do this”… 

We can’t get things done in our country.  

We say to them – you no longer have the upper hand…

Britain says yes.”

Of course, actions speak louder than words. This week we have seen M&S’ Oxford Street project finally approved following the quashing of the previous government’s decision (see my 2 March 2024 blog post M&S Mess 2: “The SoS Appears To Have Become Thoroughly Confused On This Point”); a green belt data centre project allowed on appeal, the appeal having been recovered for the Secretary of State’s decision-making very soon after the July 2024 election, and a prison project approved against the inspector’s recommendations (see my 10 June 2024 blog post New Prisons for more general context).

“This tape will now self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck.”

Simon Ricketts is a partner at Town Legal. This article first appeared on his Simonicity planning law blog.