Infrastructure and planning to top King’s Speech | Construction News

Employment rights, planning laws and UK infrastructure are set for major overhaul, starting with new legislation to be announced in the King’s Speech.

The new government will continue its frenetic pace of change with the traditional announcement of new laws for the parliamentary session, many of which are expected to have a huge impact on the construction sector.

The King will outline 35 bills designed to set the foundations for the next four years and meet Labour’s election pledge to increase economic growth.

The government has widely trailed that it will modernise planning rules — including those covering brown and greenfield sites — to boost developments. 

Mark Reynolds, chairman and chief executive of Mace plus co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, predicted that the construction sector could be among the main beneficiaries.

Asked what he thought would arise from the King’s Speech today (17 July), he told Construction News: “The three key things are planning, housing and industrial strategy. I expect to see something on the industrial strategy in the King’s Speech. I also expect there’ll be something around workers rights and particularly how the government can help SMEs.”

Modernising the UK’s energy infrastructure is set to be prioritised across Whitehall departments.

CN understands that new energy secretary Ed Miliband has made clear to officials that the National Grid is one of the new government’s top priorities as it is a way of creating jobs, reducing energy costs and meeting net-zero targets.

Legislation to create GB Energy, which will invest in both renewable and nuclear energy, is part of the first stage of meeting the policy objective.

Ahead of the speech, Miliband said: “Making Britain a clean energy superpower will not only keep bills down, it will also create hundreds of thousands of good jobs, while protecting national security by keeping dictators out of our energy markets. And, of course, it will allow us to play a leading role in tackling the climate crisis.”

A Whitehall source told CN that officials were still working through the detail of the new legislation. Construction industry leaders should expect to get in-depth explanations within the next two weeks. 

After months of campaigning and pledges, the industry is hoping that ministers will get on with delivery in earnest. 

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) said the industry “has high expectations” from the speech but is not expecting any surprises.

The NFB said: “The announcements are expected to align closely with the ‘missions’ that have been reiterated throughout their election campaign and first 10 days or so in power, which had a heavy focus on growth, national renewal, and bold action. The NFB has long been calling for an uphaul of the planning system, and with Labour’s determination of being brave on planning reform, we may finally be getting a result.”

It added: “Labour are setting an encouraging foundation for growth and some much-desired optimism for the construction industry.”

Also expected is an indication of when the chancellor will reveal the next comprehensive spending review, which was put on hold by the last government.

But the most contentious legislation for the sector will be changes to employment laws. The government has pledged to end zero hour contracts, stop fire and rehire practices, increase rights for unions to access sites and strengthen safeguards against unfair dismissal. There will also be new statutory rights for sick pay.

Ahead of the speech, Number 10 said: “The package of bills will focus on growing the economy through turbocharging building of houses and infrastructure, better transport, more jobs and securing clean energy – helping to make every part of the country better off.”