Labour’s localism epiphany

Just because Labour has been taking a big dose of reality this week doesn’t mean the party is now refusing to make the most of any botch job by the Coalition. So we’ve come to the funny situation where the Opposition party famed for its centralised approach to planning which failed to build enough homes in any year is taking the high ground on housebuilding. The Telegraph reports that Shadow Communities and Local Government secretary Hilary Benn now believes ‘local communities should decide where they want new homes and developments to go and then give their consent in the form of planning permission’ and that ‘we have to make localism work’.

Labour would tear up the Coalition’s hated National Planning Policy Framework, Benn told the newspaper. This is extraordinary. The Conservative party, which championed ‘open-source planning’ when in opposition, is now being lectured on localism by Labour.

I wrote a grumpy column for the Telegraph last week about how the government managed to lose friends and alienate people with its planning reforms.