Reforming our planning system will make the economy work better for workers. For too long working people have struggled with high energy and housing prices. They’ve had to make trade-offs between energy bills and heating their homes and have struggled to save a deposit to one day buy a home of their own. Making it easier to build the homes and clean sources of energy we need will lower the burden of bills and housing costs.

High energy bills don’t just strain monthly budgets, they also put jobs at risk. Energy intensive industries like steel, cement, and chemicals are competing on an uneven energy landscape. Each planning delay to a nuclear power plant, wind farm, or solar field damages British industry.

But when we do build, there’s new jobs and apprenticeships created on site. The benefits of construction ripple outwards with jobs supported across the supply chain in industries like steel and logistics. Britain Remade and Community Union’s proposals to make it easier to build new homes and clean energy sources will help workers across the whole of the UK. The reforms are so popular with union members because they will ease the strain on monthly budgets and support well-paid unionised jobs. 
With estate renewal passports, brownfield passports, and well-connected new towns, our plan will construct the homes Britain needs. No longer will home ownership seem out of reach for so many working people.

With clean energy zones, modernised environmental protections, and reformed nuclear regulation, our plan will make it easier to build the clean sources of energy that will power Britain’s industries for future generations while lowering bills.

By reforming planning, we can boost wages, lower rents and energy bills, and make Britain work again for workers.

FOOTNOTES

  1. Britain Remade. (2024). Back to what we’re good at: A plan to get Britain building again.
  2. Corlett, A., & Judge, L. (2024). The Resolution Foundation Housing Outlook: Q1 2024. Resolution Foundation.
  3. Watling, S., & Breach, A. (2023). The housebuilding crisis: The UK’s 4 million missing homes. Centre for Cities.