Fourteen Years of Tory Rule Gave NIMBYism a Free Pass in the UK
- Government interventions to boost construction have tumbled
- Labour more likely to use call-in powers, official data show
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The ruling Conservative Party let local anti-development sceptics grow in influence over the past 14 years by choosing not to intervene in the vast majority of UK homebuilding applications.
That’s based on calculations by Bloomberg News using data from the Planning Inspectorate and National Archives, which shows the number of planning applications reviewed by the secretary of state — known as a “call-in” — dropped to five in the previous financial year from an average of more than 50 per year during the 2000s. The government has the right to take over the determination of a planning application rather than letting the local authority decide, a tool often used to push development through in areas where local protectionism is rife.