Labour will vow to “hard-wire” net zero into planning as part of a comprehensive reform of the “antiquated” system.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to use her speech at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool today to announce a review of national planning statements to ensure that net zero and economic growth play a key role in decisions.
Reeves has indicated that a Labour government would introduce a planning bill within the first 100 days of coming to power.
The strategy would fast-track infrastructure such as wind turbines, pylons and solar farms through the planning system and protect developers from legal challenge.
Reeves will also announce that Labour will recruit 300 new planners for local authorities to help drive housebuilding, funded by an additional surcharge on stamp duty for foreigners. She will say that a Labour government will overhaul Britain’s “antiquated” planning system.
Reeves will pledge to update all national policy statements on planning, some of which have not been revised in over a decade, within the first six months of Labour entering office.
There will also be a “fast tracking” of building plans in priority growth sectors, such as battery factories, laboratories and 5G infrastructure, and incentives for local communities that would be affected.
