It has been just over a year since Keir Starmer and the Labour Government won power and it’s safe to say it hasn’t been a slow start, with development in the East of England looking to catch up with the Government’s ambitious plans. 

Planning and local government has seen its biggest shake-up in decades with the targeted pledge of 1.5 million homes, the proposed changes to the NPPF and housing standard method, the introduction of the Grey Belt definition and the move to local government strategic mayoral authorities, to name but a few. 

On 10 July, Meeting Place invited a host of experts from across the development industry to discuss how the Government has fared in the last year and what challenges the industry in the Eastern region of England may face in delivering on the Government’s pledges.  

Meeting Place invited an expert panel to discuss this, including Josef Cannon KC, based in Suffolk who specialises in town and country planning; David Morgan – Professional Lead for Applications and Major Casework for the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) and Amy Collins – Senior Infrastructure Planner for the Tendring and Colchester Borders Garden Community. 

As you might expect, there was a lot to talk about, but the overarching theme was the challenges that the Government’s ambitious plans have thrown up. David Morgan emphasised the demands that an increase in planning applications has had on PINS, highlighting that the Inspectorate had already received 44 Local Plans since the election (a huge increase from 18 during the previous year). He emphasised that resourcing would be a big challenge, announcing that they are actively recruiting for 48 new PINS inspectors, effectively doubling the entire Inspectorate.  

Josef Cannon KC likewise felt there may be a number of legal challenges on the horizon, especially how appropriate development can be unlocked. He described the current Government plans for planning reform and devolution as a ‘perfect storm’ and pointed out the challenge to established legal definitions of development– citing a current case where Radlett, a settlement in Hertfordshire, is embroiled in a debate about whether it is a town or village. Likewise, the debate on Grey Belt provides a notable shift, with the definition very much in its infancy and currently based on precedent.  

This has already seen ramifications in Essex. Basildon Council led the way in Grey Belt planning permissions by approving a 250-home Grey Belt scheme in Billericay in January 2025 and to date has approved over 1,000 homes using the designation. This has already generated hostile attention from the community and politicians alike, so the question fundamentally is what form the local pushback will be on this and when will it begin. 

Amy Collins’s focus was on delivery via local councils, of which she has considerable knowledge given her role in planning the Tendring and Colchester Borders Garden Community. She said planning officers are fully aware of the challenges facing them to deliver on development pledges made by the Government. She said that the new NPPF housing targets would help to open up more strategic sites for development and highlighted some of the potential policy changes – such as the plans to change statutory consultee powers to object to applications and proposed plans to combat the increasing delays on S106 agreements – both of which are key reasons for slow determination periods.   

Devolution was also a major talking point for the panel. Joel Fayers, Head of Planning Communications at Meeting Place, gave an overview of Essex County Council’s plans on this point. Essex County Council has now drawn a line in the sand on a three-authority structure rather than five – a major sticking point between the existing unitaries, districts and the County Council. Devolution will continue to deal with the multi-faceted challenges of organisational complexity, a constrained timescale and the general public’s lack of understanding. The proposals are undergoing consultation, so no final decision has been made yet. Whether Essex will be ready to hold a mayoral election in May 2026 to effectively begin the devolution process in its most public form is still up for debate. 

All three panellists argued that the Government will need to find more practical solutions now it has set out its planning delivery agenda. Challenges such as resourcing of local government and PINS, more collaboration between the private and public sectors to unlock development and the added difficulties of devolution, which creates a shroud of uncertainty and complexity to delivering on timescales. Importantly, it was agreed that the Government should not fall back on blaming the industry and local government for not being able to immediately start delivering on the 1.5 million home pledge. The East of England and particularly Essex has some of the highest housing increases with the new housing standard method requiring a yearly increase of 8,000 homes in the Eastern region. The challenges which the industry is now trying to solve mean it is important for both the Government and the industry to work together. 

That being said, it’s important to highlight the optimism from the panel and attendees at the event. There was a consensus that this is an exciting time to be in planning and the development industry and that it’s refreshing to see a government that is trying to solve problems within the planning system. The event was an opportunity to vocalise the challenges for the industry; it’s good that we can recognise this and without being overawed.  

The Government has given itself a mountain of work, but mountains are there to be climbed and, as demonstrated by the experience and insight from our excellent panel, the work has already begun.