Labour’s first month: What you need to know

On 24 July, the UK electorate sent a Labour government to parliament for the first time in 14 years. Labour wasted little time in turning attention to the world of construction and a lot has happened in the month since.

As the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves played a key role in setting out an agenda for getting Britain building in July, and new housing and construction ministers were appointed.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was named secretary of state for housing, communities and local government – replacing a revolving door of Conservative politicians in the role and signalling the importance the new government places on housing. Matthew Pennycook was appointed minister of state for housing.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jones became the new construction minister. Her official title is minister for industry, which includes a range of other sectors including advanced manufacturing, chemicals, and plastics and materials.

Labour wasted no time in re-introducing housebuilding targets, pledging 1.5 million in this parliament to address the “most acute housing crisis in living memory”. This equates to 370,000 a year – a figure that has not been matched since the 1960s.

Labour subsequently announced mandatory housebuilding targets for local authorities based on a new standard method for calculating need. This could mean output needs to triple in areas such as Yorkshire.

A much-vaunted overhaul of the planning system was launched to kickstart housing construction. The headline announcement was the redefining of some previously untouchable greenbelt land to free up space for housing. Notably, the concept of “grey belt” land was introduced.

Grey belt was defined as poor quality and ugly areas of the green belt, such as areas which have previously been built upon like disused petrol stations. The jury is still out on how much land this will really free up.

Elsewhere, Chancellor Rachel Reeves made headlines taking a cutting knife to several significant national infrastructure projects. The A303 Stonehenge tunnel and the A27 Arundel bypass scheme in West Sussex were both put on the chopping block in a bid to shore up public finances to the tune of £22 billion.

Reeves claimed the Conservatives had made “unfunded commitments knowing the money wasn’t there” and added that “more difficult decisions would be needed.” So those involved in other major infrastructure projects may well be looking nervously over their shoulder.

But it wasn’t all bad news for infrastructure chiefs. Within a week of coming to power, the new government lifted a ban on onshore windfarms and energy secretary Ed Miliband approved three giant solar farms that had been stuck at planning stage for some time.

The green energy extravaganza was topped off by the launch of a new publicly owned energy company called Great British Energy. It will be partnered with private firms to speed up the deployment of wind, solar and nuclear energy and co-invest in new green energy technologies

Industry watchers who were hoping for a boost from a change in government were not left disappointed by Labour’s laser focus on construction.

Of course, they will be equally fascinated to see how long it takes new policies to translate into shovels in the ground and whether the industry has the resources to match Labour’s ambitions.