OPINION
Keir Starmer can't afford to let an opportunity go to waste (Image: PA)
“It’s too hard to build anything today.” “Britain gave the world the railway, now it’s impossible to build one here.” And, “how can we create jobs when it’s impossible to build a factory?” Over the past two and a half years I’ve heard these comments, and hundreds more like them, from hard working Brits across the country. British ingenuity, grit and determination powered the Industrial Revolution and built the modern world; turbo-charging the British economy and connecting our nation. The Victorians were able to build the 400-mile-long East Coast Main Line in just 20 years, today we’ll be lucky if the 140-mile-long HS2 line due to connect London and Birmingham is completed by 2035.
In 1956 we built the world’s first commercial nuclear power station, not satisfied with that we built another eight in the decade that followed. Hinkley Point C, the new nuclear power station being built in Somerset won’t be fully complete until 2032 — 25 years after initial plans were first developed. Britain hasn’t forgotten how to build things; we still have an amazingly well-skilled workforce — just go to Teesside or the Midlands. Our problem is a sclerotic planning system that is holding Britain back, choking off development and crippling growth.
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The Prime Minister has already taken steps to overhaul planning rules in his bid to be on the side of the “builders not the blockers.”
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill that he unveiled earlier this week is his opportunity to set Britain on a new course and free the country from the bureaucratic red-tape that stops us from building the new homes, railway lines and nuclear power stations.
Streamlining planning committees and allowing town hall planning experts to rule on more applications. Speeding up the system that covers major projects such as wind farms, roads or railway lines.
And reducing the number of do-gooding organisations like Sports England that have a right to weigh-in on planning applications, slowing down the building we desperately need. This is all good stuff and long overdue.
Speeding up housebuilding and reducing the number of legal challenges to critical infrastructure will mean more jobs for builders and less work for lawyers.
But there’s more to be done.
It still remains to be seen whether this new law will stop expensive and wasteful environmental mitigations put in place for critical infrastructure projects.
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Famously, HS2 Ltd spent over ￡120m building a bat tunnel to protect just 300 rare bats at one site on the route. That’s an eye-watering ￡400k per bat affected.
But, despite the Chancellor’s promises, it seems that even after this law is passed, we will still see developers having to build expensive and inefficient mitigations like the bat tunnel which do little to protect nature while heaping costs on to taxpayers. This is because the new rules will only stop mitigations when a "delivery plan" is in place.
This means if a firm building a new railway or power station unexpectedly finds some rare wildlife or a species conservation status changes during development they will have to fall back on the old EU-derived Habitats Regulations.
We think this law can be strengthened further to bypass the Habitats Regulations, where needed, and deliver on the Government’s dual pledge of no more bat tunnels, and to get Britain building again.
It’s not just planning and habitable rules that are holding Britain back. Time and time again our judicial system is weaponised by nimby and eco-zealot campaigners to try and stop the critical infrastructure we need built.
The truth is it is far too easy for opponents to use battles in the courts to delay projects being built, even when they know they don’t have any hope of winning.
The PM should be commended for taking steps to tackle time wasting legal challenges. But he should go further and lift the cap on legal fees that means even if a challenge is unsuccessful — as the vast majority are — nimbys don’t have to pay the other side's legal costs.
The PM is absolutely right to overhaul the work of statutory consultations and the proposals are a step in the right direction — but there’s still more they can do.
Angela Rayner should introduce a “use it or lose it” approach to objections. This would remove the chance of statutory consults to intervene after they’ve missed their deadline.
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There is also some irony in the fact that their decision to remove consultees from the process…has been put out to consultation rather than just getting on with it.
The Planning Bill is Keir Starmer’s opportunity to be bold, to slash the red-tape that holds Britain back and to be the prime minister that unleashes our full potential by building the homes and infrastructure Britain needs.
He should not let this opportunity slip through his fingers.