24 May 2024

Rishi Sunak Announces General Election

On 22 May 2024, Rishi Sunak announced he had requested permission from the King to dissolve parliament and called a general election to be held on 4 July. Parliament was prorogued on 24 May and was dissolved on 30 May with the vote taking place 25 working days later.

From a planning point of view, the main impact of the pre-election period is that the government cannot publish further regulations implementing the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act (LURA) 2023, launch any new consultations, nor announce responses to the various consultations that have closed over the past 18 months. DLUHC’s civil servants can, however, work on processing consultation responses ready for review by the new administration.

The industry is in desperate need of certainty and stability but it will now be a little while before we see how this might be achieved. It is widely expected that the election will deliver a change in administration and therefore a different approach to reforming the planning system. Even if the Conservative Party retains control, Michael Gove’s announcement on 24 May that he will be standing down at the election means that there will be a new Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities come what may, which (on the past few years’ experience at least) likely means a new direction of travel.

Photo by Nick Kane on Unsplash