When Liz Truss is formally appointed Prime Minister today, she will become the fourth Conservative PM in six years.
Truss faces an array of immediate challenges, in particular the cost of living crisis, which is expected to see the announcement of an energy price freeze later this week. The construction industry has given a mixed response to her appointment at such a critical time for the UK.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), lamented that the UK is “fronting an unprecedented energy crisis with over 12 million households facing fuel poverty,” and noted that Truss “has a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform our existing homes to help ensure everyone has a place they can afford to heat.”
Berry continued: “A national retrofit strategy also offers the opportunity to create thousands of new jobs and deliver growth in every village, town, and city. The energy crisis needs a green revolution, but this requires bold leadership, so I’m looking to Liz Truss to deliver.”
Focusing on housing output and planning, Simon Cox, managing director of Walter Cooper, said “resolving the issues in planning needs to be one of the top items on the next PM’s agenda, and that will mean making some unpopular decisions.”
He added: “Truss now needs to shift her focus from pandering to the NIMBY masses and publicly turn away from previous statements made by other Conservative MPs such as Michael Gove, regarding the so called industry ‘cartel,’ or face alienating the housebuilding community entirely. However, with a general election likely on the horizon I’m doubtful these difficult choices will be put into action any time soon.”
Clive Docwra, managing director of property and construction consultants McBains, also had doubts on the likely success of the new administration on planning: “Liz Truss has pledged to cut red tape to allow homes to be built faster, but this has been promised by her predecessors and without any real success.”
“Scrapping nutrient neutrality environmental regulations will only go so far to help. There’s not enough disused brownfield land for the amount of new homes required to meet demand so building on a small proportion of the greenbelt is needed, but no previous Conservative PM has demonstrated an appetite to do this.”