Reeves – Transport Infrastructure a “Catalyst” for Housing

Rachel Reeves once again emphasised the importance of infrastructure for housing delivery in a speech on Wednesday, promising new transport and water infrastructure in the Oxford-Cambridge arc alongside a “10-Year Infrastructure Strategy” to be published in the spring.
Following from the government’s working paper on streamlining the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Programme, published on Sunday 26th January, the Chancellor promised to work with the private sector “to deliver the infrastructure that our country desperately needs”.
This will include a spring-time spending review and a 10-year strategy which “will set out further detail of our plans for infrastructure right across the UK”
Ms Reeves highlighted that water infrastructure in particular had been “a major hindrance for development” and promised to unlock almost £8 billion for investment in the sector, including a new reservoir for both Oxford and Cambridge.
She further claimed that “new transport infrastructure can also act as a catalyst for new housing”, and revealed that she had received submissions for 18 “sizeable new developments” along the proposed East-West Rail line. The government view the line, as well as the delivery of a new interchange station at Tempsford, as an important part of their plans to turn the Ox-Cam arc into “Europe’s Silicon Valley”.
As part of this plan, the Chancellor proposed a new approach to planning permission on land around stations, by “changing the default answer to yes”, although she provided no details on how this would be achieved.
SP Broadway will continue to monitor how government planning reforms impact you and the wider development industry.