What has Labour said they’ll do for biodiversity and the landscaping industry?
It has been less than 100 days since the 2024 General Election produced a 174-seat Labour majority and the party has gone forward with a number of their previous commitments. One of the most newsworthy pledges of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s new government is their ambitious target of building 1.5 million new homes. While this may be an admirable promise to tackle rising house prices and an impending housing crisis, it raises questions about the ecological impact of these projects and Labour’s concern for the environment.
The 2024 Labour manifesto emphasises a number of ways in which their government will be an ally to nature, and various commitments they will pursue to ensure that this will be the case. Yet as we near the 100-day mark it’s necessary to examine what Labour has said it will do for the environment and how they will work to the benefit of the wider British landscaping industry by asking a few questions about their promises and their actions.
What do Labour promise in their manifesto?
The majority of voters do not read party manifestos and consequently it is important for us to first look at what Labour has promised they will do to protect and enhance the environment and biodiversity, and what they will do for the landscaping industry.
On page 49 of the Labour manifesto, the party discusses its commitment to developing Britain’s reliance on green energy. They mention that they seek to tap into ‘our long coastline, high winds, shallow waters’ to reduce reliance on pollutant fossil fuels.
On page 51, they commit to achieving a ‘zero-carbon electricity system’ by 2030, and to ‘double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind’ within the same timeframe, to be done via cooperation with the private sector.
Page 58 discusses a commitment to protecting nature, and they acknowledge below-par degrees of biodiversity that exist across the UK. They promise to create ‘nine new National River Walks’ and establish ‘three new National Forests in England, whilst planting millions of trees and creating new woodlands’.
Centrally for the landscaping industry, Labour use the manifesto to posit their new Green Prosperity Plan.
This plan will involve partnership with the government’s own new National Wealth Fund to invest in the ‘industries of the future’, with the aim of creating 650,000 jobs by 2030. The government hopes that this will result in a ‘crowding in’ effect whereby the injection of government funds into a particular part of the economy will stimulate further investment from the private sector.
Additionally, as mentioned in the introduction, Labour commit themselves to reforming the planning system in order to build a target of 1.5 million new homes over the course of the next parliament. They intend on updating the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF) and restoring mandatory housing targets. They state that alongside brownfield sites, new housing developments will make use of ‘grey belt’ land – id est green belt land deemed to be of low quality – while abiding by ‘golden rules’ to ensure these projects benefit communities and nature.
What questions can we ask about what the new government will do for biodiversity and the landscape sector?
So the Labour manifesto appears to be promising. But to examine it further we can ask a number of relevant questions in order to assess whether or not it looks like Labour’s promises concerning housing, the environment, and related industries will prove to be beneficial, or if these areas will fall further down the rungs of the government’s priorities than might be desired.
‘Will Labour’s construction commitments be environmentally sustainable and encourage biodiversity?’
At first glance, the answer is definitely ‘yes’. Labour put a lot of effort within their manifesto into emphasising sustainability, and it is stated that the housing developments will result in ‘more high-quality, well-designed, and sustainable homes’ and the creation of places which ‘increase climate resilience and promote nature recovery’.
However, the drive to reach the 1.5 million home target may come at the cost of biodiversity. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is an important consideration within the criteria for the granting of planning permission, requiring a development to provide at least 10% net gain to biodiversity.
However many of Labour’s housing developments may be able to evade it. According to Ecological Planning and Research (EPR), meeting BNG criteria is not mandatory for projects granted permission via Local Development Orders (LDOs).
To add insult to injury, as it stands the NPPF currently encourages Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to utilise LDOs in order streamline and bring forward development, as well as attract investment. Labour has stated in their manifesto that they are not unwilling to ‘make full use of intervention powers to build the houses we need’.
This might suggest that the achievement of their housing target may outweigh environmental and biodiversity concerns, and it prompts concerns that the use of LDOs which ignore BNG regulations may become even more frequent.
In fact, these loopholes are already being exploited by developers across the UK, and the government-backed Green Finance Institute (GFI) has found that only 0.5% of planning applications since February 2024 have been subject to BNG criteria.
On the other hand, while Labour’s manifesto commits to a renewed drive towards new nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) which at the moment are also not required to comply with BNG regulations, the government have said that by November 2025, NSIPs will need to meet the 10% BNG criteria.
Furthermore, Labour pledge to review green belt land in order to classify certain plots as ‘grey belt’ and marking them for development. While this may be necessary to meet their ambitious housing target of 1.5 million, it is important that Labour do not compromise existing green spaces and natural habitats which may be already used or transformed into accessible, biodiverse spaces for local communities to enjoy.
Linked with this, BALI note that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner (who is also the Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing, and Communities) has failed to emphasise the positive role of green spaces and their connection to quality of life whilst in the House of Commons, and worry that biodiversity and green space may prove to be an afterthought for the new government, and thus not central to their housing target.
‘How will the Green Prosperity Plan benefit the UK’s biodiversity and landscaping?’
A key part of Labour’s industrial strategy is laid out to be the Green Prosperity Plan. This plan will see investment go towards ‘the industries of the future’ in order to generate 650,000 jobs. As mentioned, Labour plans for this funding to come from a combination of windfall tax revenue on oil and gas companies and ‘responsible borrowing’.
The Green Prosperity Plan hopes to encourage a continued push towards green energy and away from fossil fuels by investing in new technologies like offshore wind farms and carbon capture and storage.
Alongside Labour’s aforementioned environmental pledges, involving creating new woodlands and sustainable housing developments, the Green Prosperity Plan appears hopeful.
Labour offers a dissection of the funding for the Green Prosperity Plan at the end of the manifesto. They expect that around £1.2 billion will be generated on average per annum from their proposed windfall tax on ‘oil and gas giants’, as well as government borrowing totalling around £3.5 billion per annum.
Ultimately, they conclude that they expect to spend around £4.7 billion on average per annum on investment into a sustainable plan for green energy and over half a million new jobs by 2030. A much needed injection into the economy and doubtless financial benefits for the landscaping sector.
Despite this, Labour significantly cut down the amount they pledged to spend on their Green Prosperity Plan. At the 2021 Labour party conference, Rachel Reeves – now the Chancellor of the Exchequer – promised she would be “Britain’s first green chancellor”, and stated that the Green Prosperity Plan would involve the spending of £28 billion per annum. However by mid-2023, Reeves had stated that the £28 billion a year commitment would be ‘watered down‘.
Starmer and Reeves have cited that changes to the economic situation and a poor state of finances inherited from the Conservative Party were to blame for the axing of the pledge. Internal disagreement was also a factor, with some wanting to commit to the full £28 billion and others calling for it to be cut completely as the manifesto was put together.
While perhaps a fiscally responsible decision, the axing of their initial pledge suggests sustainability, biodiverse spaces, and green industries like the landscaping sector, may continue to fall down the rungs of the new government’s priorities ladder.
In their ‘Why Invest in Landscape‘ publication, the Landscape Institute feature five case studies used to show how investing in functional green spaces can tackle economic, social, and environmental problems simultaneously.
Their case studies show that the placement of the natural and built environments at the centre of development projects can drive greater sale and rental values of both housing and commercial property, and increased foot traffic to local businesses, thus combatting economic difficulty on our high streets. The Institute also find that by utilising existing landscape features in an intelligent way, development costs can be reduced.
Fundamentally, the Institute show that an emphasis on landscape design within site development can regenerate an area and help to tackle economic, social, and environmental difficulty. Perhaps then, a cut in spending on the Green Prosperity Plan due to fiscal reasons may not have been as necessary as Labour might believe.
Regardless, the Green Prosperity Plan is a great step in the right direction. It is set to encourage much-needed investment into green energy and green jobs. The new national forests and woodlands the Plan is set to create will need to be maintained by skilled professionals of the landscaping sector, and the hoped ‘crowding in’ from the government’s own projected £3.5 billion per annum will only bring more funding to the relevant industries.
Still, the Plan in its current form falls significantly short of Labour’s original commitments.
‘Are Labour’s housing pledges backed up by investment into the required skills training and construction colleges?’
Labour promises to introduce Skills England in order to ‘bring together business, training providers and unions with national and local government’ in order to reinforce their industrial strategy with the ‘highly-trained workforce needed’ to deliver it.
They also pledge to reform the Apprenticeships Levy – introduced by the Conservative Party – by creating a Growth and Skills Levy, and utilise Skills England to consult on ‘eligible courses to ensure qualifications offer value for money.’
This commitment has been supported by BALI, who praise these reforms to the Apprenticeship Levy as a means of allowing landscape businesses to better address the existing skills shortages within the industry.
Furthermore, the government has received praise from BALI on their pledge to support post-16 education via their ‘post-16 skills strategy’. This is planned to encourage greater levels of funding for ‘Technical Excellence Colleges’ and skills training.
However, as BALI recognise, UK students still fall behind when compared to students in other major economies, particularly when it comes to teaching hours. This is exacerbated by the failure to extend their recommendation of a 5.5% teacher pay rise to college tutors, a position which is vital for the landscaping industry and ensuring a flow of new and skilled labour into the market.
If Labour want to reach their target of 1.5 million new homes by 2030, and go ahead with their Green Prosperity Plan, it is vital that they tackle the skills shortage affecting numerous industries required to achieve these ends, including the landscaping sector. This will be impossible without effective changes made to teacher funding and higher education to train more skilled professionals to fill the impending workforce gaps.
‘How quickly will Labour move the economy to a circular one?’
The European Parliament defines a circular economy as a ‘model of production and consumption’ involving ‘sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible’. This is intended to reduce waste and carbon emissions, and function as a more sustainable and efficient economic system.
With all of Labour’s other talk of sustainability within their recent manifesto, can we expect to see a push towards a circular economy over the next parliament?
Labour mention ‘circular economy’ only once within the 2024 manifesto. They state that ‘Labour is committed to reducing waste by moving to a circular economy’ on page 58. However, they offer no further detail about how this will be achieved.
In their manifesto, Labour pledge £1 billion towards the deployment of carbon capture and storage solutions in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and waste. This comes as a time when the waste industry is already making investments into carbon capture technologies. They commit a further £500 million to supporting green hydrogen via a new Energy Independence Act. Again, this initiative is expected to attract further private investment via ‘crowing in’, potentially driving the UK’s transition to a low-carbon, even circular, economy.
But this is unlikely. Considering how little the party has talked publicly about moving to a circular economy, it would be unreasonable to expect a full transition into one before 2030. Furthermore, considering Starmer has already warned of a “painful” October Budget, even describing it as “short-term pain”, it is almost certain that spending on green technologies will not amount to a circular economy any time soon.
Conclusion
Labour’s plan for the British economy is studded with promises for sustainability and green energy, but do they hold up to scrutiny?
Their plan for 1.5 million new homes by 2030 has promised to put sustainability at its heart, but the lack of BNG requirements for LDOs suggests biodiversity may only be an afterthought for these projects.
The Green Prosperity Plan is set to inject much-needed investments into green energy, green jobs, and the surrounding industries, but Labour’s manifesto pledge of £4.7 billion per annum falls significantly short of their original promise of £28 billion per annum.
Labour’s commitment to create Skills England and reform the Apprenticeship Levy are fantastic prospects for combatting skills shortages within the landscaping and construction industries, despite some criticism.
Disappointingly, Labour have not proposed much in the way of a nationwide transition towards a more circular economy, besides a vague comment in their recent manifesto. However, the government have pledged numerous investments designed to attract further private sector funding into green technologies to reduce emissions and waste.
In sum, the new government has made some admirable commitments to the future of biodiversity, the environment, and the landscaping sector in the UK since their 2024 manifesto and election victory. They seem to promise a step in the right direction. Yet as we approach the 100-day mark, only time will tell if these concerns end up falling off of Labour’s priority list.