In her first speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves laid out plans to rebuild Britain, starting with an end to the effective ban on onshore wind farms, and an overhaul of planning restrictions, with a promise to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years.
Emphasising that ‘there is no time to waste‘, one of the key things on the to-do-list is a reform of the National Planning Policy Framework, with ‘a new growth-focused approach to the planning system‘.
Reacting to the speech, a leading solution provider for the building and infrastructure industry across multiple continents, Wavin, has welcomed the news, but is urging for clarity when it comes to water regulations, if we’re to build homes that can be resilient to extreme weather.
Martin Lambley, Global Product Manager for Urban Climate Resilience at Wavin, said:
“Clarity on water needs to be a top priority in planning reform if the new government wants to repair the UK’s broken relationship with our most precious resource.
“In her first speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves promised to overhaul planning restrictions as the new government set about getting Britain building again. The industry will welcome this ambition, but everyone needs clarity on water regulations if we want our new developments to be resistant to the extreme weather that we’re likely to see more of in coming years.
“Water regulations that affect the planning process have been dripping through over the past decade, as the Flood and Water Management Act is slowly implemented in inconsistent chunks. We need this legislation, but the lack of clarity on when and how it needs to be executed means that its positive impact is being severely limited.
“We’ll only get the best from technologies such as Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) if developers are clear on their responsibilities well in advance – having to comply halfway through a project or a design always leads to an imperfect solution.
“The new government has introduced ambitious new housebuilding targets. This is a significant opportunity to repair our relationship with water, and start using it as a resource, rather than funnelling it out of town as fast as possible. Ultimately, planning reforms announced by the new Chancellor on Monday need to tackle the growing water challenge made more drastic by the changing climate.”
