Conservative party publishes paper on planning
The Conservative Party has revealed its proposals for public planning and housing, releasing their planning green paper last week in advance of this year's General Election. If the party is elected, these measures will have a direct affect on anyone working in construction jobs, significantly altering the framework for house-building and local funding.
The Tories have proposed to scrap large elements of the current system, replacing central housing targets and replacing this with a system of financial incentives. The Infrastructure Planning Commission will be abolished and a 'national planning framework' will be developed to stop 'unsustainable urban sprawl'.
According to the paper, under a Conservative government, residents and developers will find their right to appeal planning decisions limited whilst neighbours will be granted the right to force the council to formally review a planning application. The party claims that their measures will "simply" building regulations, removing the "unnecessarily prescriptive and overly complex" regulations under Labour.
Instead of local targets, the Tories advocate a system of financial incentives designed to encourage local authorities to invest in housing. Jobs in construction may already have been affected by the paper, as Building magazine claims that the Conservative-led councils were already frustrating the current government's policy by stalling planning applications and new housing numbers.
The magazine says that the Shadow Communities Secretary, Caroline Spelman, sent a letter to Tory councils last summer advising them how they could halt government attempts to increase housing before the general election.
So far, the green paper has been endorsed by Taylor Wimpey, whose chief executive Peter Redfern said that the company could "work with" the proposals. Business lobbying group the CBI has said that it "agrees with the Conservatives that the planning system is broken, but it remains to be seen whether these proposals will fix it."
Author: William Hobson
Keywords: jobs in construction, construction jobs, Housing Jobs