The Meeting Place team was out in full force in Liverpool for Labour’s first party conference since being elected to power earlier this year.

Read the key takeaways from Freddie Palmer (Director, Western) and Jonathan Simpson (Director, London) who reflect on the likely impact the conference will deliver for the built environment, as they settle back to life outside the hubbub of the secure zone.

Freddie Palmer, Director Western writes:

The government is still making all the right noises, but if the industry doesn’t support by demonstrating development’s incredible potential and the support it naturally evokes, then this opportunity to invest in the nation’s communities will slip through our hands.

It’s easy to forget bets were on for an autumn election.

Because of the July election, Labour’s Party Conference fell at an odd moment – 80 days into government, with some big announcements made, but not much to show for it.

There’s very little our industry wanted to see in these first days that we’ve not yet seen. And indeed, little was said in the last few days to disappoint us.

But after four days in Liverpool, I’m much more aware of the challenges.

Halcyon days

It’s never going to be easier than now. The saga around who donated what to who and infighting at the top of government shows just how quickly things can take a dip.

There’s a growing consensus the government needs to learn to govern better and nervousness about what’s next.

Without any big new announcements to move the story on and articulate the wider vision, I left Liverpool with the city still murmuring about suits and Sue Gray. It was a few days spent wasting political capital rather than rallying the troops to build it.

What’s the problem?

In the last few days, I had too many conversations with MPs, mayors, councillors, staffers and journalists who told me people didn’t support development. They liked the development agenda, “but” they’d say… “we’ve got this project in our patch that nobody likes… I think the rest of it is all great… I just don’t think we should do it there”.

To be very clear, there are very many across every rung of the party who are incredibly supportive of development. They get it.

But there are enough who are nervous that another scandal or two, a couple of bad polls or a difficult by-election defeat and all of a sudden the arithmetic doesn’t add up.

Help them to help us

We’ve all got very excited about much of what’s been said. Now we need to help deliver. That can’t be just about building buildings.

If the industry doesn’t quickly get better at demonstrating the value of what we do and the massive public support we know exists then we’re going to run into problems. Steamrollering communities was never going to be the solution – not for politicians. Consent will be key and we need to show it exists.

Having a safe home is one of the most impactful things. Vital too is the proper infrastructure to get about and produce the energy we need.

We need to do better at explaining that. Check out our infographic which outlines how we can go about supporting the growth ambitions.

This misconception that people don’t support development just isn’t true. I regularly bring up YouGov’s tracker poll that shows around half the population does support development near them. But that support is still hidden.

We need to make the conversation more representative. We need to stop wasting time and resource on ineffective consultation and start engaging properly. There are few other industries that would do what we do – to prove that our product is desired speak mostly (sometimes only) to the people who don’t want it.

The industry needs to be so much better at showing support for development. And it needs to do it quickly so that we help the government to continue making the argument.

Jonathan Simpson MBE, Director London writes:

A positive is the key elusive word that featured in every speech was growth. There is a widespread acknowledgement that a growing economy would help the Government deliver many of their ambitions (or the light at the end of the tunnel as the Prime Minister put it). From allowing new greener energy to speeding up the planning process for new homes in cities, it felt at times that the Government needs the built environment sector to metaphorically dig them out of a hole. The Government needs to build on the partnership to help ensure its vision becomes a quick reality.