The new government has announced a raft of plans to change the planning system but details have yet to be announced, leaving the Club wondering how much impact this is likely to have. With so little detail to go on, beyond the new chancellor’s announcement that he will announce further changes to drive growth, it is hard to feel optimistic as a listed property owner. Both listed properties themselves and their setting can very easily be harmed by nearby development, particularly in greenbelt areas where there are few other buildings, so any reforms need to be very carefully considered.

The policies that have so far been announced include the creation of investment zones around the UK, where planning rules will be relaxed to attract businesses and create jobs in deprived areas. As long as these are sensibly drawn with a focus on brownfield sites this could be a positive move but we are concerned that the zones could impose a great deal on valuable built heritage.

As the continuing legal wrangling around HS2 and the Stone Henge tunnel show, even when the government aggressively pursues particular projects, they seldom stop to consider the existing heritage and nature protection laws already on the books. Making sweeping changes to planning law without updating the legal landscape of listing will leave the government open to legal challenges, but making changes without considering the longer-term impacts will undermine the system. We do want to see reforms to listing and planning but changes need to be practical and can not be forced through too quickly. We hope the new government will not fall into the same traps as previous ones in not solving the underlying issues.