How to unlock green growth (clue: it’s not all about net zero)
Cut net zero ambition and speed up planning, suggests Brendan Chilton
The phrase green growth is thrown around by politicians and think tanks but is rarely grounded in something solid and comprehensible. Planning reform was an aspiration of the last and the current government. Yet neither administration has understood how to make the public understand what the phrase means and how it will improve their lives. Rishi Sunak’s planning reforms were crushed and we are yet to see how Labour MPs will respond to the deluge of lobbying they will receive from their many rural constituents.
Planning reform and green growth are intrinsically linked in that they pose huge problems for the government but can in fact be a great opportunity. The Independent Business Network is not opposed to reducing our carbon footprint and harm to the planet. But we believe that we must be climate realists and not climate extremists and transition at a pace which does not place the British economy at a competitive disadvantage or deter investment or harm our standard of living. We believe passionately in planning reform and believe the government is right to afford it such a priority. Our latest report shows how we can move to net zero in a sustainable way that improves people’s lives, keeps our economy resilient and growing and which improves our planet and where we can get Britain building again.
The government should be bold and move fast on planning. There have been moves to build on the ‘grey belt’ – but we believe a wholesale review of the green belt needs to be undertaken and, where appropriate, its boundaries moved to allow more building. This is particularly important for growth corridors and where land within the green belt has already been developed. We need tax breaks to incentivise smaller developers to use smaller parcels of land and accommodate this by making local plans require 20 per cent of their housing requirements to be met through smaller developments. We need to reduce the time given to the local councils to determine planning applications to reduce delays. The system shouldn’t hinder development – especially at a time when we have a national housing shortage and a sluggish economy. Successive governments have promised planning reform, but few have succeeded in delivering substantial change that is of benefit to developers. If this government can achieve fundamental reform, it will deserve credit.
Attached to planning reform the government needs to ensure security and diversification of our energy supplies, which means using our natural resources. The government has announced that there will be no further exploration of oil and gas fields in the UK, and the climate secretary has said he wants to wean the UK off gas by the end of the decade.
If this is the case, then the government must prioritise the UK’s nuclear industry. The previous administration failed to facilitate the new nuclear reactors that we need to generate our own electricity and so this new government must ensure these reactors are delivered. While the government has halted further exploration of oil and gas, the Independent Business Network strongly recommends it reverse this decision and look to the Biden administration for inspiration.
In the United States shale gas exploration has contributed enormously to American energy resilience and lower prices, and we should have the same arrangement here in the UK. We also should aim to become the world leader in carbon offsetting and maintain a relaxed regulatory environment for carbon offsetting and remove VAT from tree-planting businesses.
The government has these two very large challenges, planning and meeting net zero. We support their aims but believe the government needs to go further on planning. It should adopt a more moderate approach to meeting net zero. We do not want to see the growth created through liberalising planning laws offset by costs incurred due to an extreme approach to climate change. The people of this country want to see a growing economy and we at the Independent Business Network have outlined how this could be achieved.