The Coalition And The Property Industry

The newly formed government has published a coalition agreement, setting out what has been agreed between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on the issues they needed to resolve to enable them to work together.

This will be followed by a final Coalition Agreement, covering the full range of policies and including foreign, defence and domestic policy issues not already covered.

An emergency budget is planned within 50 days of the final Coalition Agreement and there will be a full Spending Review, reporting in autumn 2010.

It is not yet clear what the government will put into the Queen's Speech on 25 May 2010 and certainly more detail on the policies will emerge over the coming days. In the meantime, the following will be of interest to the property industry:

- Home Information Packs (HIPs) are to be scrapped but Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) will be retained.
- The government will make provision for home energy improvements to be paid for by savings from lower energy bills.
- The government will continue with the plans to establish a high-speed rail network.
- The government will cancel plans for a third runway at Heathrow, and will refuse additional runways at Gatwick and Stansted.
- Measures will be introduced to promote green spaces and wildlife corridors to halt the loss of habitats and restore biodiversity.
- The government will bring forward the national planning statement for ratification by Parliament so that new nuclear construction becomes possible. A consultation draft of National Policy Statement for Nuclear Power Generation (EN-6) was published in November 2009.

The Conservatives are committed to allowing the replacement of existing nuclear power stations provided that:

- The construction of new nuclear power stations is subject to the normal planning process for major projects; and
- The construction of new nuclear power stations will not receive any public subsidy.

The Liberal Democrats are opposed to any new nuclear construction and it has been agreed that a Liberal Democrat spokesman will speak against the new planning statement but that Liberal Democrat MPs will abstain from voting on the new statement. It is specifically agreed that this will not be regarded as an issue of confidence.

Trethowans, Southampton Solicitors

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