Peter Truscott says announcements lack detail
The chief executive of one of the UK’s largest housebuilders has taken aim at Labour’s housebuilding policies, saying they will take years to be effective.
Peter Truscott, chief executive of £786m-turnover Crest Nicholson, told the Sunday Telegraph that he does not “expect a single house to be occupied as a result of Labour’s policies in the next five years”.
Truscott said: “By the time the planning system is changed, local plans reflect these changes, land is bought, infrastructure is provided and legal challenges are seen off, years will fly by.
“It will be many years until it bears fruit. We’re talking about completely changing the planning system.”
Keir Starmer last month pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, “bulldozing” the planning system and constructing a wave of new settlements across England.
Planning rules would be rewritten to set out new design standards with a focus on providing “gentle urban development”, while Labour would make it easier to build on “low-quality” greenbelt such as shrubland.
But Truscott said: “They’re not bad policies. [Yet] there’s no clear guidance on what the policy actually is. Which ‘poorer quality green belt’ can we build on?”
>>See also: Key takeaways and talking points from the Labour Party conference
Truscott said speeding up development was “virtually impossible” currently due to backlogs in the planning system, adding Starmer’s announcement did not take into account the lack of resources for local authorities.
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