Governments Plan for Change

The Prime Minister has published a ‘Plan for Change’ setting out how the Government will deliver on its five national missions ? kickstart economic growth, build an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, break down the barriers to opportunity, and make Britain a clean energy superpower ? with milestones to track progress by the end of this Parliament. Designed to ‘galvanise efforts across Government’, the milestones include:

• Fast?tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects
• Building 1.5 million homes and reforming the planning system, including publishing a new National Planning Policy Framework by the end of 2024 and updating all relevant National Policy Statements by summer 2025
• Publishing 10?year strategies for housing and infrastructure in spring 2025 with clear project pipelines to provide certainty for investors and supply chains.

The Government has confirmed that the Spending Review next spring will prioritise the milestones and “where programmes do not represent value for money or deliver on their outcomes, [it] will take the necessary decisions to find savings”. Building on the Plan for Change, the Government has also strengthened decision?making powers for planners to speed up the planning approval process and is developing its proposals for building on the ‘grey belt’.