Expert comment: Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces 'a new approach to planning around stations'

Expert comment: Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces 'a new approach to planning around stations'

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP has delivered a major policy speech outlining a number of changes to UK planning law, including a pledge to "introduce a new approach to planning decisions on land around stations, changing the default answer to yes.”

Dr Amrita KulkaLink opens in a new window, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, comments:-

“Among a number of policy headlines in her speech today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced ‘a new approach to planning around stations’ in order to make more land available for housing.

"Policies to increase access to housing in general, and access to affordable housing in particular, in and near cities can improve economic growth and individual prosperity, while preventing households from being forced to re-locate to regions with worse opportunities.

“In 2021, the US state of Massachusetts introduced reforms (Chapter 40A) that required municipalities to permit apartment buildings and higher density development within an 0.5-mile radius of commuter rail and subway stations.

“With colleagues, I simulated the results of the Chapter 40A reforms in Greater Boston. We found that while the effects of this policy vary from place to place, it has the potential to increase housing supply and reduce house prices and monthly rents, especially in strictly regulated suburban municipalities near Boston, in the long run.

“Although the US and UK planning systems are very different, we may well see similar effects here in the UK as a result of this policy change."

• Read the US research: Kulka, Amrita and Sood, Aradhya and Chiumenti, Nicholas, Under the (Neighbor)Hood: Understanding Interactions Among Zoning Regulations (December 24, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4082457 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4082457