The Liberal Democrats, led by Sir Ed Davey, have launched their manifesto for the 2024 general election, with grand plans for housing and net zero
Housing was a key chapter in the Liberal Democrat’s 2024 Manifesto, with pledges to revitalise planning departments with better funding and purchasing power, as well as investing in construction skills, training and tech to ensure successful delivery of more housing.
Energy and the environment were also featured in the manifesto, with promises to invest in renewable power so that 90% of the UK’s electricity is generated from renewables by 2030, as well as ensuring new developments result in significant net gain for biodiversity, with up to a 100% net gain for large developments.
Planning reform outlined in the Liberal Democrat manifesto includes:
- Increasing building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK, including 150,000 social homes a year, through ten new garden cities and community-led development of cities and towns.
- Giving local authorities, including National Park Authorities, the powers to end Right to Buy in their areas.
- Allowing councils to buy land for housing based on current use value rather than on a hope-value basis by reforming the Land Compensation Act 1961.
- Properly funding local planning departments to improve planning outcomes and ensure housing is not built in areas of high flood risk without adequate mitigation, by allowing local authorities to set their own fees.
- Encouraging the use of rural exception sites to expand rural housing.
- Ensure that all development has appropriate infrastructure, services and amenities in place, integrating infrastructure and public service delivery into the planning process.
- Encouraging development of existing brownfield sites with financial incentives and ensuring that affordable and social housing is included in these projects.
- Introducing ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ planning permission for developers who refuse to build.
- Remove dangerous cladding from all buildings, while ensuring that leaseholders do not have to pay a penny towards it.
Renters reforms proposed in the manifesto include:
- Abolishing residential leaseholds and capping ground rents to a nominal fee, so that everyone has control over their property.
- Delivering a fair deal for renters by immediately banning no-fault evictions, making three-year tenancies the default, and creating a national register of licensed landlords.
- Proactively enforcing clear standards for homes that are socially rented, including strict time limits for repairs.
- Fully recognising tenant panels so that renters have a voice in landlord governance.
- Help people who cannot afford a deposit to own their own homes by introducing a new Rent to Own model for social housing where rent payments give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto also committed to making homes warmer and cheaper to heat with a ten-year emergency upgrade programme, and ensure that all new homes are zero-carbon.
The industry welcomes increased housing targets, but some would like to see more on energy policy
RIBA President Muyiwa Oki said: “From delivering 150,000 social homes to mandating a zero-carbon standard for new builds, to introducing a Home Energy Upgrade retrofitting programme to adequately resourcing planning departments, there is much to welcome in this manifesto.
“As a country, we’re crying out for high-quality social housing and for a plan to upgrade our leaky housing stock.
“While welcoming these proposals, I urge the party to consider mandating both operational and embodied energy as part of their new zero-carbon standard, and to consider using stamp duty as a retrofit tax incentive – something we’ve long been calling for.
“These are ambitious, encouraging pledges, but they won’t succeed without the expertise of architects and collaboration across our sector.”
Lawrence Turner, director of Boyer, echoed the need for more detail: “We welcome the pledge to increase resources for local authorities: this is crucial to improve housing delivery. However, a significant amount of funding, training and support will need to be provided to local authorities to deliver all the proposed Liberal Democrat housing policies.
“So while the Liberal Democrats’ emphasis on funding local planning departments and promoting brownfield development is a step in the right direction, the manifesto lacks detailed strategies to overcome the structural challenges facing the housing sector.
“The manifesto pledges to build capacity within local authorities, encourage rural housing expansion, and trialling community land auctions are positive steps, but may not be sufficient to achieve the ambitious target of 380,000 homes per year.
“While the Party’s proposals offer some solutions, a more comprehensive approach is needed to address the complex challenges of housing delivery in the UK.”
Colin Brown, head of planning and development at Carter Jonas, said: “There is nothing especially ‘new’ about the Lib Dems’ policies on planning and development and many of their ambitions reflect those of some of the other parties.
“What differs most from the current situation is the commitment to 380,000 new homes per annum, which is over 25% higher than the current Government target. The manifesto says that this will be done by delivering ten new garden villages, but they do not say where these will be or how they will ensure they are delivered in a timely fashion.
“Much of the evidence about garden villages and new settlements generally is that they are difficult and slow to deliver, and politically difficult to land. It is not clear from the manifesto as to how they will implement delivery and require local councils to meet their housing targets. At present, this appears to rely on local authority and local community buy-in, with benefits offered to local authorities when they accept new housing. This has not been overwhelmingly successful under the current government with CIL and the new homes bonus.
“One new proposal is to allow councils to buy land at existing land value, presumably with compulsory purchase powers, through a reform of the Land Compensation Act 1961. This will be controversial with landowners, and it remains to see how it would work. Other parties, specifically Labour, have spoken of capturing more land value, but not necessarily to the level of existing use value which may be agricultural. I would argue that a landowner should still be able to see a sufficient return to make disposal of the land desirable, as opposed to continuing an existing use.”
