Will developers join the anti-austerity movement? They should!

The cost-of-living crisis is affecting people much further up the income scale than previous squeezes on incomes. One of the four Chancellors we’ve had this year identified people on incomes as much as £45,000 as likely to struggle. The same arguably applies to the range of businesses that will be hit too.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is said to be weighing up £35bn in public spending cuts, and we’ve already seen it trailed that among the cuts will be Northern Powerhouse Rail. It’s not just the hit to growth-enabling capital investment that should give developers cause for concern. Further cuts to the revenue budgets of Local Planning Authorities will be just as impactful on our region’s ability to build our way out of a recession.

During the past 12 months we’ve seen multiple projects hit by delays as overstretched planning departments take longer to determine applications. And it’s not just the statutory 13-week determination period (referred to as “a fantasy” in one client meeting I was in last week) that has taken a hit; even the pre-application process – designed by Councils as a way of generating income to support recruiting more capacity – is often just as slow.

So, any further cuts to local authority budgets can only further undermine the ability of local decision makers to shape investment into their communities.

At the weekend a coalition of Trade Unions and political & community groups marched through London in opposition to the cuts anticipated to be outlined in Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement. Given the extent to which these cuts are likely to create further barriers to growth and investment, will we soon be seeing some property professionals amongst these crowds?

Perhaps not, although with most of the mooted ‘go for growth’ reforms now shelved, perhaps it’s time for investors, developers and others to remind Government that without adequately resourced planning departments, our ability to meet the challenges of today, whether economic, social or environmental is that much harder.

BECG is the UK’s number 1 public affairs consultancy. We are helping businesses across the North West get their voices heard by decision makers at a local, regional and national level. If you think we can help you get in touch via sean.fielding@becg.com