En route to @UKLabour #LabourConference2025 for a flying visit today to the fringes. Will be tweeting on here from @thefabians sessions on planning/housing, attending a receptions with @CanalRiverTrust & @cityandguilds on skills 
Here with the @thefabians at the historic @theBluecoat for a session with Matthew Pennycook @mhclg minister on “Planning for Change” - looking at planning and housing
Pennycook is starting by outlining how Labour is following the plans to the letter - planning & infrastructure Bill, Devo, NPPF changes, making more land available, social & affordable housing investment. Homes accelerator. National Housing Bank £16bn.
Talking about removing barriers. Reform of statutory consultees. Upcoming set of national plans. Speed up planning in certain locations. Industry craves certainty & stability. Focus on delivery delivery delivery.
We are hearing the need for clarity and certainty from Ruth McKeown but a recognition of complexity. Need to look at demand as well as supply. fabians.org.uk/planning-for-c…
Nutrient neutrality etc… being cited as ‘blockers’ by Ruth alongside cost burdens. House prices way out of pace with salaries.
Next up @BenCooper1995 at @thefabians - head of the new Fabians Housing Centre. 1.5m housing target a means to an end - tackling issues with affordable housing etc… Rate of house building needs to set a new post-war record to come even close. Series of quick wins possible.
Clear & simple rules, quality homes, good social housing, ambition on smaller sites as well as new towns. Rural areas need affordable housing. Croydon is a good example in getting councils building. Can’t outrun the public - they need to agree with planning reforms.
Need to look at permitted development rights @BenCooper1995 notes. We agree - especially taking demolition out of permitted development to incentivise reuse…
Matthew Pennycook is talking about bringing forward some provisions of LURA on National Development Plans.
Ruth asks for stability & bringing provisions forward not more legislation. Need more resources for LAs. Tougher on the stat consultees who take too long (not our @Heritage_NGOs members I should add!). Need joined up thinking to reduce delays.
We are now chatting about resources for LAs including the recalcitrant ones - they need local plans in place says Pennycook. How do we ensure there’s a category of planning apps that don’t go before elevated officials? Need more planners - we relied on expertise from outside Uk
Targeted for areas where this will make a difference.
Ben talks about where replacing windows etc… can be sped up. We in @Heritage_NGOs are advocating for statutory HERs to be rolled out to improve info certainty and for the first National LBCO to be implemented to test how planning can be sped up for certain adaptations.
Matthew Pennycook talking about the Newtowns task force - they have recommended 12 areas. There will now be consultation & consideration. He’s saying you don’t need to be a new town to get on with growth though…gov.uk/government/pub…
Need to address both supply side and demand. House price affordability will take time to bed into the system. Tenure is therefore important as part of this for social justice.
Looking at second homes, short term lets and regulation. Mortgage guarantee schemes. Matching mortgage products with lenders. Intervening to avoid local authorise that are gaming the system and avoiding creating decent local plans.
Finally Ben also talks about the skills need - we need people to be able to build the houses…
I raised a question about how we can work together on incentivising reuse given that 670k new homes can be created from existing buildings. We have the oldest housing stock in Europe - something to embrace as it creates places people want to live in.
Matthew Pennycook responds to some questions. Government will take control via delivery vehicles at national level where needed. NE will deal with conservation measures at a strategic level.
You can also see @shortthought of @Heritage_NGOs member @nfbuilders perspectives from the same session at this thread 👇
https://twitter.com/shortthought/status/1972645905263403443
Wander down to the docks (heritage-led regeneration central…) with @shortthought ahead of the next reception.
Conference tip. ‘Question from the lady in the nice top’. The prints delivered even if the minister didn’t quite answer. 🤣
Meanwhile Chancellor @RachelReevesMP set out her approach to fiscal rules with tax increases likely next budget. “There was little new news in Reeves’s speech, with promises on school libraries & long-term youth unemployment briefed in advance.” theguardian.com/politics/2025/…
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is now speaking. A Culture Town initiative was already trailed earlier in the i inews.co.uk/news/politics/…
Picking up £150m culture growth fund from the speech (announced in June as part of Creative Industries Plan ) and £132m for an ‘every child can’ programme. Details will presumably follow.gov.uk/government/new…
I’m now on board Floating Grace at the @CanalRiverTrust reception in the Salthouse Dock cared for by the CRT. We are heading towards 9m visits to this incredible linear network that stretches across the country.
This is living heritage now. Not something from the past. Creating blue and green networks for public good. Active living network. Can be absolutely central to Government’s growth agenda through a range of ways - water security, flood resilience, housing agenda…
5 of the new towns likely to be connected with canals as a centrepiece with huge potential. Brilliant functional communities where people enjoy and feel good about living there - huge potential of canals. These docks have Bluesky flags. Full of muscles, eels, moon jellyfish.
Stewardship job but also huge ambition…
Fellow member of the @CanalRiverTrust Cultural Heritage Advisory Group David talks about saving these incredible assets from being filled in in the past & understanding the real power of the waterfront here. Liverpool’s regeneration started here in the docks.
Applying this thinking to London Docks, Salford Quays etc… it was calculated that living by/on water raises property value by 20%. It raises areas economically. Opportunity to bring development forward because of the magic of living & working next to water.
Health, wellbeing & ecological benefits of water. But also regeneration & growth. The recommended Leeds new town is where the Leeds/Liverpool canal ends. So much potential…
The @CanalRiverTrust look after several of the Liverpool Docks including Albert, Salthouse & others along the waterfront.
A quick dinner pit stop and catch up with fellow arts advocate Mark Pemberton.
Finally off to the @beatlesstory for the @cityandguilds skills reception. Great to hear from young people completing T levels & the opportunities for real work experience this has opened up for them.
The Chair of the Select Committee for Education @helenhayes_ outlined some of the recommendations in their new skills report publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmse…
These include - 1. addressing pay disparities between schools & FE and the need for skills transfer between the two. 2. Better understanding of T levels as a route. We can be so focused on academics that we can forget the 50% of young people who won’t go to university…
There are many routes to a successful career & life. UCAS needs reform & a new name. Timescales for uni & technical applications should align. Better signposting of apprenticeship options. 3. Resit situation needs reform so young people can be released from cycle of failure.
Functional skills should be embedded in vocational qualifications. 4. Finally @helenhayes_ notes - T levels can be chunky & hard for some students. Need to think about vocational skills as a ladder. Some students need incremental skill building over more time.
And that’s a wrap from my day representing @Heritage_NGOs in Liverpool…
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