It was both eye catching and smart for Keir Starmer to include several individuals with commercial experience in his Government when Labour won power last year.
James Timpson and Poppy Gustafsson both joined the Government as outsiders but with considerable experience and commercial exposure. If the Government wants to deliver 1.5 million homes, it must apply the same approach to development and housing.
The world is complex and ever changing. Bringing people who are outsiders but with a specific and demonstrable track record that aligns with parts of the Government agenda is a good way of helping towards success.
Politics is also changing. I remember when I started my career in the political world, rather than real estate. There was only a smattering of lobbyists hovering around Westminster. Moreover, being a local councillor was not a stepping-stone for high office.
Now lobbying – or public affairs – is a sizeable sector in its own right, which alongside councillors, supplies a good many of our future national politicians in every parliament.
There is nothing wrong with having our lawmakers staffed with those who know the political system intimately. It has become more complicated, more confrontational, more needy. It takes a certain kind of person to make it in Westminster.
The challenge is that if the supply line is filled with a certain set of skills, how are our lawmakers able to get a handle on the complex commercial sectors that exist outside it?
Like Westminster, our economy has become more sophisticated, regulated and harder to understand and handle. It’s time that Sir Kier rolls his approach of picking outsiders to other critical sectors that this Government places weight on.
Top of the list: Real estate and housing.
Harold Macmillan’s titanic efforts to deliver a national program of homes in the 50s is a useful case study.
Macmillan brought with him both talent and commercial experience. There are talented people in the Labour ranks, but alas, it is apparent they are not commercial. They don’t know what it takes to run a business and to generate repeated profits whilst managing risk. This is a running sore which must be addressed if the Government wishes to command the agenda.
Their planning reform so far might help pylons and big infrastructure tickets but have they grasped the nettle on what aspects of the planning and housing system are holding this country back?
Macmillan did some interesting things to set the groundwork for success when he was Housing Minister. Firstly, he charted out the opportunities, and he had a map of the regions in his office which he surveyed with intent. Second, he brought in builders and surveyors from the private sector to help him run his program. Third, he focused with his team on local supply chains and did deals with the experts on the ground.
Consistency, hands on local intelligence and commercial pragmatism pervaded his approach. The government must follow suit.
The government wants 1.5 million homes but it has limited capital to inject into the system. It can leverage private capital and the real estate sector to achieve this, but there needs to be someone the industry can trust.
A minister for development delivery would seem a smart move. A voice that can straddle the private and public sector, a little like Poppy is attempting to do for UK investment.
You might say, isn’t this the point of Homes England? Homes England is a delivery agency. What is needed is someone who has the ear of government, the ability to translate direction into meaningful policy and to flow back to government what is needed both in terms of cash and regulation.
Homes England is part of the fabric but we need an outsider who can become an insider. A critical friend, a fixer and an enabler.
One of the reasons the development planning system has failed in recent years is because the channels between government and the private sector have become silted up. Planning reform attracts voices intent on slowing down material change – including those in local government. In a world of cash strapped town halls, planning is the one area where councillors feel they have some stake. Those same councillors enforce their local MP’s political network and, as mentioned earlier, we see them increasingly on the green benches.
There needs to be a counter voice. One that can take policy and delivery and marry the constituent parts. If this Government wants to succeed then it needs a real estate champion in the heart of Westminster supporting the housing minister.
A senior figure who understands the pressures and trade-offs of the sector but also can navigate local leaders and infrastructure priorities would be a huge aid. Medium term it will help attract foreign and domestic investment. Such an individual could be charged with drawing together a national strategy for housing delivery whilst unblocking the challenging regulations which bedevil the sector.
The next question would be, who?
