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Devolution, legislation and elections: Seven things to watch out for in 2025

News and reflections

From the NPPF to devolution, developments in local government and the built environment agenda gathered pace in the run-up to Christmas.

But the warm welcome from businesses following Labour’s summer landslide has frozen over following an underwhelming Autumn Budget, compounded by sticky inflation and low economic growth.

Will Labour’s efforts to ‘back the builders’ gather momentum in 2025? We take a look at what’s worth watching out for over the coming year.

1. Devolution

In December, Deputy PM Angela Rayner outlined her ‘devolution by default’ aspirations to re-organise and streamline English local authorities and bring back strategic planning powers.

Two-tier and unitary councils would be reorganised in areas “where there is evidence of failure or where their size or boundaries may be hindering their ability to deliver sustainable and high-quality public services”. Instead, new unitary or ‘strategic’ authorities would be created, to reduce bottlenecks and speed up delivery.

These changes could bring promising results for the built environment, enabling local leaders to decide where development is strategically needed to benefit a greater number of people, rather than taking a more parochial approach to planning.

Tensions are mounting between county and district/borough councils, with the latter arguing the plans will create a top-down democratic deficit with local voices removed from decision-making.

Our advice? Make sure keeping on top of devolution is one of your New Year resolutions if you want to stay ahead of the game.

2. Elections

Devolution plans have prompted several county councils across England to decide whether to postpone May’s local elections, allowing time to discuss local government reorganisation in more detail. You may be forgiven for thinking members may just want to secure another year in office!

For those elections which do go ahead, it will be the first time the public has headed to the polls since the general election – a real litmus test for the electorate’s sentiment towards Labour in government. Will the Conservatives bounce back following their general election drubbing? How will Reform fare?

With all but two of the 21 county councils being Conservative-led, expect significant change.

3. Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Touted as a plan to deliver the largest building boom in 50 years, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (expected to be published later this month) is likely to focus on “fast-tracking infrastructure delivery and home building, providing certainty for planners and enabling businesses to invest.”

From what we know already, the Bill is likely to include the following policies:

  • Streamlining planning to deliver more nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIP)
  • Improving local decision-making by modernising planning committees
  • Unlocking land for development by reforming compulsory purchase rules
  • Prioritising transportation networks and digital infrastructure funding

Plenty to be positive about on the surface – we won’t have to wait long before we can comb through the small print.  

4. A patchy economic outlook

Higher government and consumer spending is expected to restore the UK economy to growth in 2025, albeit GDP is only expected to increase by 1.7% this year. Businesses are feeling the impact of rising National Insurance contributions and the Bank of England’s efforts to cut interest rates are being limited due to stubborn inflation. With President-elect Trump’s crusade on tariffs likely to shape the global agenda, the economic outlook for the UK remains far from certain.

5. New towns back in fashion

The newly assembled New Towns Task Force will advise ministers on appropriate locations for significant new communities by July, including large-scale urban extensions and regeneration schemes.

The Task Force’s unifying principle will be to ensure each new settlement will provide 10,000 homes. They are also aiming for a “gold standard of 40% affordable housing” with a core part of their work exploring how to fund and deliver these new developments. Watch this space.

6. Energy and infrastructure: a green revolution?

The transition to net zero transition and decarbonising the grid by 2030 remain key targets for the Starmer government.

With Ed Miliband at the helm, we’ve seen a lifting of the ban on onshore wind, the approval of a slew of large-scale solar farms and £63bn of financing secured.

However, many feel progress is still being hampered due to overly bureaucratic planning rules. Similarly, it looks like we’ll need to wait until the spring to get certainty on its 10-year infrastructure strategy.

7. Events, dear boy, events

With politics, you can never be quite sure of what lurks around the corner. While Rayner and Labour are making the right noises about what needs to be done for planning and development, their approval ratings are hovering around the 16 per cent mark, meaning unforeseen events happening outside of MHCLG could derail Labour’s plans to enact some of its flagship policies.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the political world, coupled with the right advice, will help you to navigate this period of change and opportunity.

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