Gareth Bacon says a future Conservative government would look to reform regulator brought in to police construction after Grenfell disaster
The Conservative shadow housing minister has said the safety regime brought in by the last Conservative government to police the construction of high-rise buildings in the wake of the Grenfell fire is a “huge impediment” to growth and must be reformed.
The last Tory government, under secretary of state Michael Gove, passed the Building Safety Act (BSA) in 2022, which retrospectively put responsibilities on contractors and consultants for defective work going back 30 years. It also set up a new system for approving the construction of new high rises, policed by a new agency, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
But the creation of the BSR initially led to huge delays in approving applications for high-rise buildings under the new system, while the new liabilities under the BSA have made it harder to secure contractors and consultants for such work. By 2025, developers were facing an average wait time of almost a year for decisions at the key gateway 2 approval stage, although wait times have since fallen back.
Shadow housing minister Gareth Bacon told a fringe session organised by land promoter Hallam Land and think tank the Centre for Policy Studies that current low rates of development were due to poor viability caused by excessive regulation.
He said that one of the biggest culprits was the BSR and admitted: “It is absolutely right to say that some of the impediment to housing is a result of legislation written by a Conservative government.
“We need to be very honest about that. [It is not true] to say that all the problems have been created in the last two years.
“Is the Building Safety Regulator working properly? No – it’s a huge impediment on building. Developers do not have any kind of certainty about timeline about cost and about process. The way it’s been set up, it’s been set up to fail.”
Bacon said he was not suggesting that a future Conservative government would abolish the BSR as “I’d be hit with a tidal wave of understandable emotion from the other side” if he did. But he said: “We’re going to have to work out a way to reform the Building Safety Regulator to make it work.
“I’m not saying we don’t need one, I am saying that what we have at the moment is absolutely not fit for purpose. It is stopping development. BSR is the one of the biggest impediments to development and it’s got to change.”
Bacon’s comments came after the Conservatives announced a raft of measures at their party conference which the party said were designed to cut regulations and free up developers to build.
The party confirmed it would scrap stamp duty for primary residences and said it would also scrap the Future Homes Standard designed to make houses zero carbon ready.
It also plans to replace planning contributions via Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy with a single ‘one stop’ charge.
Delays caused by the BSR have reduced in recent months since a rescue plan was implemented by its new chair Andy Roe.
According to its latest data, median wait times for decisions at gateway 2 for new high-rise buildings have fallen to 23 weeks, half what they were last year – but still well above the 12-week target.
No comments yet