It’s been a busy first week in office for the new Labour government: the first Cabinet meeting took place on Saturday morning, followed by a tour of the UK’s devolved national administrations from Sir Keir Starmer, and Rachel Reeves’ speech to business leaders on Monday.

The next day Keir Starmer met English regional mayors saying he would strive to build a ‘real partnership’ with the English leaders. The Government also announced it would be dropping the term ‘levelling up’, with the department returning the ‘Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government’.

The Chancellor’s plans to ‘get Britain building again’ are very significant for the property sector and property investment specifically. The plans involve delivering jobs and 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament (a very challenging target) and the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We very much welcome the announcement of an immediate reversion of the NPPF (to the pre-December 2023 version) and the consultation on long term planning reform.

Perhaps most notable of the planning reforms to be carried out over the next few weeks and months is the requirement that local planning authorities carry out strategic Green Belt boundary reviews, with a view to releasing some Green Belt, or ‘Grey Belt’ land for housing. There is no doubt that Green Belt development is critical to successfully addressing the housing crisis.