How will the King’s speech impact rural communities?

The King’s speech is the official state opening of UK Parliament, which marks the start of the parliamentary year and provides an opportunity for the government to outline its legislative agenda.

Within the speech, the Labour party set out its prospective bills for the coming session and began the process of bills becoming law. This is a long process, and the positions set out below are initial intentions, as they have many legislative steps to go through both the House of Commons and Lords before achieving royal assent.

The CLA will work with parties of all sides to ensure all future legislation works for rural communities.

The Renters’ Rights Bill delivers the manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting, this includes ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions – taking forward the action of the previous government. The bill aims to give renters greater security and stability so they can stay in their homes for longer, build lives in their communities, and avoid the risk of homelessness.

What has been announced closely resembles what was included in the previous government’s Renters Reform Bill. There is little detail on what amendments this government will make to the grounds for repossession (under Section 8 of the 1988 Housing Act) in the absence of Section 21. The CLA has already prepared suggested amendments and new grounds for possession. However, there is no commitment in the speech to reform the courts to ensure they are fit for purpose before Section 21 is removed, which raises concerns that repossessions will take longer and pose a greater risk for landlords.

A new introduction is the proposal to end the practice of so called ‘rental bidding’ wars. The CLA will await the detail of what this means for landlords in the rural sector. Tenants are already able to challenge rent increases, so what changes might be implemented to “empower” them to do so are currently unclear.

When a draft bill emerges, we will provide a full analysis for members.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will play a key role in addressing the challenges with the planning system, unlocking more housing and infrastructure across the country and supporting sustained economic growth. The current system must be an enabler of growth – allowing democratic engagement on how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built.

Reforming the planning system is key to unlocking the UK’s economic growth – enabling the delivery of critical housing and infrastructure that communities need. The bill will speed up and streamline the planning process to build more homes of all tenures and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects in alignment with industrial, energy, and transport strategies.

The detail on what we can expect from the Planning and Infrastructure Bill at this stage is limited and there is a risk that using primary legislation to introduce planning reform will not result in the required quick and immediate results. Therefore, the CLA anticipates the launch of a consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) by the end of July 2024 (as announced by Rachel Reeves on 8 July). The CLA would support the return of the five-year housing land supply and reversal of the amendments made to the housing delivery test in a revised NPPF. Strengthening policies for small sites and applying more weight to social rented housing, as committed to by the previous government, must not be forgotten and the CLA will continue to lobby for these amendments.

Increases in local planning authorities’ capacity and improvements in decision making must be supported by adequate resourcing. Without increased funding, any effort at planning reform is undermined. Improvements in performance must be accompanied by better training for Planning Officers and the new bill could provide opportunities for this.

Whilst the CLA supports the ambition to deliver 1.5m homes, new towns and the use of compulsory purchase takes a long time to deliver. Rural areas will likely be disproportionately affected by the delivery of new towns, with agricultural land and rural businesses facing the greatest change. Should a new towns movement begin, the CLA will call for rural delivery groups who have long-term involvement, bringing an understanding of the impact a new town will have on agriculture and rural communities.

There is also a misconception that compulsory purchase would achieve speedy and low-cost acquisition of land. The CLA will argue that a negotiated settlement in advance with an element of hope value for the landowner would be faster and allow resources to be spent on delivering the scheme more quickly and to a higher standard. A new duty of care should be introduced to ensure that, in cases where compulsory purchase is used, that those losing land to the scheme are dealt with fairly and that the impact on the rural businesses and economy are properly assessed and where possible, mitigated.

The bill establishes Great British Energy – a new, publicly-owned energy production company which will own, manage and operate clean power projects up and down the country.

The bill aims to:

• Develop, own and operate assets, investing in partnership with the private sector. It will have a capitalisation of £8.3bn of new money over the parliament. Through these investments, Great British Energy will take a stake for the British people in projects and supply chains which accelerate technologies of the future, reaping benefits at home in cheap clean power and securing Britain at the front of the global race for technology which has major global export potential.
• Facilitate, encourage and participate in the production, distribution, storage and supply of clean energy and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This will include energy produced from fossil fuels as well as measures for furthering the transition to clean energy and improving energy efficiency.

The speech is light on the detail of what Great British Energy will achieve in practice. However, with £8.3bn to “develop, own and operate assets” involved in the “production, distribution, storage and supply of clean energy” this suggests the company will become a significant player. Alongside other reforms on planning, onshore wind and accelerating infrastructure delivery, this could signal Great British Energy being directly involved in developing large solar or wind power or battery storage projects, perhaps aided by having compulsory purchase powers and reformed planning rules. This could be in partnership with the private sector which has largely driven such projects up to now. This could have the effect of lowering the rents achievable for such projects in the future, although much will depend on the specifics of what comes forward.

This bill will deliver the government’s manifesto commitment to transfer power into local communities and recognise the vital role local leaders play in supporting growth by establishing local plans that bring economic benefit to communities and households across the country.

The Kings speech states:

• “enhanced powers over strategic planning, local transport networks, skills, and employment support, enabling them to create jobs and improve living standards. We will also introduce new powers and duties for local leaders to produce Local Growth Plans.”
• “places will be granted powers without the need to negotiate agreements where they meet the governance conditions”
• “establishing a simpler process for creating new Combined and Combined County Authorities”
• “Create a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces.”

Although the King’s speech does not explicitly reference rural in terms of greater local devolution, providing greater decision-making powers to local authorities could have positive impacts for rural communities and businesses. However, it is vital that all English rural local authorities are properly and effectively resourced. What we have seen all too often in the past is that local decision makers have either prioritised urban areas or have paid lip service to rural needs. The CLA will work to ensure that those in local authorities understand how the rural economy functions and have the necessary resources to ensure local devolution can work. There must be far greater engagement making sure that local solutions resolve local challenges. The CLA will monitor the details closely, to make sure members are not disadvantaged.

The government intends to strengthen links with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The ambition is to secure positive outcomes for all citizens. It will create a Council of the Nations and Regions that will seek to collaborate more widely and more effectively. This will also include greater cooperation with the mayors of combined authorities.

The creation of a Council of the Nations and Regions creates a new avenue for the CLA to engage with both national and local decision makers. However, It must be truly representative of all elements of society if the changes introduced by the Labour Government are to benefit communities. The CLA hopes that the council will improve cross border policy development, and implementation, which we know is currently an issue for those currently operating cross border businesses.

The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill is a short and narrowly focussed bill that delivers the government’s manifesto commitment to remove the right of the remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. This will be the first step in wider reform to the second chamber.