Plans for Planning? 

The general election campaign is now well underway, and polls suggest that it will be the tightest race for a generation. The Tories' lead has been whittled down to single digits, leaving several distinct possibilities on the cards.

• Unlikely, but by no means out of the question, would be a majority for Gordon Brown, the incumbent Labour prime minister.
• More likely, though looking increasing difficult, would be a majority for the Conservative leader David Cameron. Mr Cameron requires an enormous swing only achieved by one party since 1945 - Tony Blair's New Labour in 1997. That swing is looking increasingly difficult for Mr Cameron to achieve.
• Far more likely, polls appear to suggest, is the prospect of a hung parliament - a scenario which could leave Gordon Brown or David Cameron with the largest party in parliament, and Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, with a decision to make. He has previously said he would back the party with the "majority", though what he has not defined is whether he means a majority of seats or a majority of votes, something which in our quirky electoral system does not always correlate. Whichever way it goes, it promises to be the most interesting election for a generation.

But what will it mean for the construction industry?

The Conservatives' plans have been well documented; their planning Green Paper received a mixed response from the industry when it was published earlier this year. The policy to give third parties the right to appeal caught the headlines, along with their shift towards localism: regional development agencies would be scrapped and their powers handed to councils, and the planning system would be overhauled with a "presumption towards sustainable development" and no more community infrastructure levy. Speaking at a recent event, Bob Neill, the party's planning spokesman, said: "One thing quite central to our thinking was that there is a disconnect between communities and those on the receiving end of development, and the planners. There was a division between the governors and the governed. One policy that has been warmly welcomed from the Green Paper is the promise to look again at the "predetermination rule" which prevents elected councillors from engaging with developers before a planning application is decided.  

The party's manifesto - Invitation to join the Government of Britain - states: "Britain's complex and unwieldy planning system has long been cited as a significant barrier to growth and wealth creation. We will create a presumption in favour of sustainable development in the planning system." It pledges to:

• use private or hybrid Bills to promote major projects, such as plans for a national high speed rail network;
• ensure that all other major infrastructure projects are considered at planning inquiries which have binding timetables and which focus on planning issues - with final permission given by a Minister; and,
• provide transitional arrangements for projects already before the IPC to ensure that these projects are not disrupted or delayed.

It states: "Our reform agenda is designed to empower communities to come together to address local issues... we will... give neighbourhoods greater control of the planning system..." It continues:

A Conservative government will introduce a new ‘open source' planning system. This will mean that people in each neighbourhood will be able to specify what kind of development they want to see in their area. These neighbourhood plans will be consolidated into a local plan.

The party further commits itself to:

• abolishing the "entire bureaucratic and undemocratic tier of regional planning, including the Regional Spatial Strategies and building targets";
• forcing developers to pay a tariff to the local authority to compensate the community for "loss of amenity and costs of additional infrastructure";
• publishing and presenting for parliamentary debate, at the national level, "a simple and consolidated national planning framework, which will set out national economic and environmental priorities";
• amending the "Use Classes Order" so that people can use buildings for any purpose allowed in the local plan";
• abolishing the power of planning inspectors to rewrite local plans;
• encouraging county councils and unitary authorities to compile infrastructure plans;
• giving local planning authorities and other public authorities a duty to co-operate with one another; and
• allowing neighbourhoods to stop the practice of "garden grabbing".

The Conservatives state they would "create a property-owning democracy where everyone has the chance to own their own home. That is why we will permanently raise the stamp duty threshold to £250,000 for first-time buyers, meaning nine out of ten of them will pay no tax on their first home purchase."

The party's manifesto also contains a commitment to "create new local housing trusts to allow communities to grant planning permission for new housing within villages and towns so that the benefits of development remain within the local area." HIPS - or Home Information Packs - would also be abolished. Interestingly though, the manifesto states that the party would "limit appeals against local planning decisions to cases that involve abuse of process or failure to apply the local plan". However, there is no mention of the right to third party appeals, something this policy seems to somewhat contradict.

The Labour party, by contrast, has committed to keeping regional development agencies and the Infrastructure Planning Commission, as well as large projects such as the Thames Gateway development. Its manifesto - A future fair for all - states:

The newly formed Infrastructure Planning Commission will - within a democratically determined framework - help streamline and speed up decision-making on major projects. We now propose to extend the public interest so that it is applied to potential takeovers of infrastructure and utility companies.

In a slightly re-jigged policy, planners would favour development that the local area needs. The party would continue to help the recovering market through Kickstart and mortgage support, and aims to reduce the deficit primarily through efficiencies, rather than through cuts, certainly in the short term. The Labour party would also look at tax-increment finance schemes (or TIFs), a system widely used in America. If re-elected, the system would be trialled in certain areas. Bob Neill, the Conservative planning spokesman, has also raised the spectre of introducing TIF, though the Conservative party has made no such commitment in its manifesto.

So what of the Liberal Democrats? In a hung parliament it may well fall to Nick Clegg to form a working coalition with one of the two parties. Their policies on electoral and tax reform are well known, but what would a government containing Liberal Democrats mean for the construction industry? The party has promised to extend empty rates relief for most small and medium-sized properties, and plans wholesale reform to - if not quite going as far as the Conservatives to scrap - regional development agencies. The party wants to see a more democratic and accountable planning system, which would include reform to section 106 payments and scrapping the Infrastructure Planning Commission.

The manifesto - Manifesto 2010: change that works for you - building a fairer Britain - makes the following promises:

• close loopholes that allow playing fields to be sold or built upon without going through the normal planning procedures;
• require a local competition test for all planning applications for new retail developments and establish a local competition office within the Office of Fair Trading to investigate anti-competitive practices at a local and regional level;
• abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission and return decision making, including housing targets, to local people;
• create a new designation - similar to Site of Special Scientific Interest status - to protect green areas of particular importance or value to the community;
• introduce landscape-scale planning policies with a specific remit to restore water channels, rivers and wetlands and reduce flood risk by properly utilising the natural capacity of the landscape to retain water; and
• give local authorities the power to set higher Council Tax rates for second homes and the option to require specific planning permission for new second homes, in areas where the number of such homes is threatening the viability of a community.

Furthermore, the party has promised to invest £1.4bn to get empty properties back into use and a VAT cut for renovations. Were the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition with one of the other parties in a hung parliament, it is more than likely that Vince Cable, the party's treasury spokesman, would be Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Liberal Democrats' manifesto does contain a pledge to give a third-party right of appeal, but only in instances where planning decisions go against locally agreed plans.

Whichever way the election goes, it promises to hold change - in some format or another - for the construction industry. If elected, the Conservatives are expected to introduce a bill in their first Queen's Speech, though secondary legislation could be used to amend the system prior to this. To keep on top of all the changes, keep checking our website for further updates.