Introducing tax breaks to help regenerate ailing town centres and cutting planning red tape would be among the poll-topping party\u2019s focuses if it were to form a government at the next general election, according to deputy leader Richard Tice.<\/p>\n
Promising a more fulsome policy platform by the time its party conference rolls around in September, Nigel Farage\u2019s right-hand man gave a flavour of what a Reform UK government might do with the country\u2019s much-criticised planning system.<\/p>\n
Speaking at UKREiiF, Tice said developers should be given more autonomy to deliver against market need and seemed to speak in favour of a zonal approach to planning that would make for faster decisions.<\/p>\n
Verdicts on broad matters such as whether a certain type of scheme is appropriate in a particular location should be taken democratically but, in the case of apartment schemes, details around the mix of units should be left up to the market, according to Tice.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrust the developer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Describing the current system as dysfunctional, Tice, who made his millions in property after getting a degree in quantity\u00a0surveying\u00a0at the University of Salford, called for a fundamental overhaul of the system.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s whinged and moaned for the last 30 years about the cost of getting planning, the delays, the quality of planners. I think\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0got to take a reset.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just tinker at the edges,\u201d he said. \u201cI am old enough to remember when I got planning consent for literally a couple of drawings. 50 units, 10 weeks, 10 grand. Now, that would cost you a couple of hundred grand, if not 300 grand, and it would take you 10 months if you\u2019re lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tice also said the market should be left to\u00a0decide\u00a0whether or not\u00a0to install certain technologies in new homes, including heat pumps, claiming that efforts to decarbonise are worsening project viability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone wants to put in a heat pump, more power to your elbow but that should be your choice. It shouldn\u2019t be a forced government decision,\u201d Tice said referring to the Future Homes Standard that sets out an ambition for heat pumps in most new homes.<\/p>\n
Reviving town centres is a key pillar of what Reform will hope to achieve with its planning policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many dozens if not hundreds of towns in the Midlands, in the North of England, that are a shadow of where they were. So, regeneration is a massive, massive part of what\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n
The deputy leader name-checked St Helens as once such place. Reform took control of the council from Labour at the local elections earlier this month and will have to decide where it stands on plans to regenerate the town centre, a process that is already well underway.<\/p>\n
While a general election is likely years away, Reform, which has eight MPs and gained more than 1,400 seats at the recent local elections, is currently top of the opinion polls. To date, the party has not put forward a substantial policy platform but Tice said he recognises that levers would need to be pulled if his vision of thriving high streets is to come to pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t expect that post the next general election\u00a0someone\u2019s\u00a0going to have a magic money tree and magic up whole load of money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0not going to happen so what\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0got to do is create tax incentives to encourage the private sector to take some risks. I mean proper tax incentives, [like the] sort of things that you see in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n
While stopping short of saying he would scrap development in the Green Belt altogether, Tice said Reform\u2019s approach to development would be heavily focused on brownfield in towns and cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not environmentally friendly to gobble up another 100 acres outside a town [that] looks as though a bomb\u2019s just hit it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tice took to the stage at UKREiiF shortly after the party had named its candidate for the crunch by-election in Makerfield, where Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is fighting to return to parliament so he can challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.<\/p>\n
Burnham will be up against\u00a0Robert Kenyon, who came second to Labour by around 5,000 votes in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re bullish,\u201d Tice said about his party\u2019s chances against Burnham before taking a swipe at Labour\u2019s candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a track record of flip flopping,\u201d he said, alleging Burnham has changed back on his stance on rejoining the EU and only scrapped plans for a clean air zone in Manchester \u201cbecause he realized it wasn\u2019t very popular\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve rebranded him the King of the U-turn, as opposed to the King of the North,\u201d Tice said.<\/p>\n