Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently announced the cancellation of a number of road and rail projects as part of addressing a ‘£22 billion hole’ in public finances, as well as confirming there will be a ‘complete reset’ of the New Hospital Programme ahead of the Budget and Spending Review on 30 October, when she will set out department budgets for at least the next three years.
As part of the Government’s mission to grow the economy, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has announced plans to build more homes by reforming the planning system. Proposed updates to the National Planning Policy Framework include bringing back mandatory housing targets for local authorities, increasing the overall housebuilding target to 370,000 new homes a year, and introducing new ‘golden rules’ for green belt development, which include defining ‘grey-belt’ land. There is a consultation open until Tuesday 24 September, and the Government intends to publish the revised National Planning Policy Framework before the end of the year, with further measures to speed up the delivery of homes and infrastructure to be included in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
