UK Conservatives pledge to scrap environmental regulators to speed up housebuilding
The UK Conservative Party has announced plans to abolish Natural England and the Environment Agency along with several housebuilding regulations, as it tries to regain ground on economic policy.
The UK Conservative Party used its party conference in Birmingham to unveil a sweeping deregulation plan aimed at accelerating housing and infrastructure construction. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said the party wants to streamline rules that currently protect nature and require developers to include affordable homes and community facilities, such as GP surgeries, in new projects.
Key proposals
The Tories plan to scrap so-called section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy, which require developers to fund affordable housing and local school and healthcare needs. These would be replaced with a single levy on developers. The party also wants to remove zero-carbon requirements for new homes, including the Future Homes Standard, claiming these changes could cut the cost of a new home by £50,000.
Among the most significant pledges is the abolition of environmental oversight bodies Natural England and the Environment Agency, with their essential functions moved directly into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The party also committed to continuing support for a third runway at Heathrow airport and to withdrawing from the Aarhus convention, which makes it easier for community groups to challenge development projects.
Political context
The announcements come as the party, now led by Kemi Badenoch, tries to shift focus to economic issues, an area where it has made little progress in opinion polls and remains in third place behind Labour and Reform UK. On Sunday, Badenoch published a new policy document called The Right Way, inspired by Margaret Thatcher's 1976 work, expressing confidence the party can win the next election if it is prepared to act decisively from day one.
Griffith also pledged to simplify the tax system at the conference, describing the current tax code as excessively complex. The new shadow housing secretary, Katie Lam, said reducing regulation would prevent narrow interest groups from blocking the country's development.
