Navigating the King’s Speech – A Cautionary Tale for NIMBYs

Julie Edge | 18-Jul-2024

In the hallowed halls of Parliament, the King’s Speech reverberates – “My Minister’s will get Britain building, including through Planning Reform as they seek to accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing”. At last, a clarion call to build more homes and infrastructure to strengthen economic growth.

Our new Government has made clear its intent to accelerate high-quality infrastructure and housing. But beneath the grand promises lies a seismic shift: planning reforms that will reshape our nation’s skyline.

The overhaul is ambitious. Our land, once a patchwork quilt of potential, will now be woven into a tapestry of progress. Speed and efficiency are the watchwords. Local objections, once the barricades of NIMBYs will crumble. In their place, whispered suggestions for improvement – a symphony of compromise.

Yet, as the scaffolding prepares to rise, discord echoes. National growth, like a juggernaut, bulldozes local concerns. The Telegraph’s recent exposé – half the Cabinet accused of ‘house-building hypocrisy– reveals the fault lines. Labour MPs, once NIMBYs themselves, now face a different score. The luxury of opposition years fades; anti-growth sentiments are out of tune. Woe betide those who oppose or profiteer.

Page 18 of the King’s Speech’s background notes introduces the beginnings of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.  Further reforms to compulsory purchase compensation rules will ensure that compensation paid to landowners is fair but not excessive where important social and physical infrastructure and affordable housing are being delivered. Not a penny more, not a penny less.

So, what will happen with this ‘fair price paid’ land? It has been suggested that Local Authorities will apply approved planning consent for new housing, mixed-use, and infrastructure schemes and then sell the land to developers with any income derived from the pre-approved land sale reportedly being invested within the community.

Will this streamlined process harmonise with local needs? Can it avert financial crises, sparing councils from bankruptcy? Time will tell. As the King’s Speech echoes in our ears, NIMBYs must recalibrate. The plot thickens, and the drama unfolds. Our nation’s future built brick by brick awaits its new blueprint.

By Christian Lister, Operations Director, X-Press Legal Services