The Conservative Party has unveiled a sweeping “bonfire of regulations” aimed at radicalizing the UK’s approach to infrastructure and housing development. In a series of announcements made at the party’s conference in Birmingham, shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith declared an intent to dismantle key environmental oversight bodies and roll back long-standing requirements for developers, characterizing the move as the most ambitious deregulation project in a generation.
Central to the proposals is the abolition of Natural England and the Environment Agency. Conservative leadership argues that these bodies, which are tasked with protecting biodiversity and managing water quality and flood risks, have acted as obstacles to national growth. Under the proposed plan, these agencies would be scrapped, with their core functions absorbed directly into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The party maintains that this shift will remove layers of bureaucracy that it claims have inflated housing costs and delayed critical infrastructure projects.
The announcement signals a significant pivot toward aggressive economic expansion as the party seeks to regain momentum in the polls. As part of this push, the Conservatives have pledged to scrap net-zero regulations for housebuilders, including the Future Homes Standard—a policy currently requiring new homes to be built to be zero-carbon ready. By eliminating these and other planning mandates, the party claims it can reduce the cost of a new home by approximately £50,000.
“Anti-growth ideologues can never again hold our country hostage,” said shadow housing secretary Katie Lam, framing the deregulation as a necessary liberation of the construction sector.
The strategy also includes a total overhaul of the planning system. The party intends to replace existing Section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy, which currently mandate that developers contribute to affordable housing quotas and essential local services such as GP surgeries and schools. In their place, the Tories propose a single “one-stop” levy. Critics are likely to raise concerns that such a move will diminish the provision of social housing and place further strain on local public services in areas seeing significant development.
Beyond housing, the Conservatives have set their sights on streamlining industrial development. Griffith confirmed that the party would prioritize the long-delayed third runway at Heathrow Airport, stating he refused to accept that the country must wait until the 2040s for its completion. Furthermore, the party intends to withdraw from the Aarhus Convention, an international agreement that provides legal pathways for community groups and environmental campaigners to challenge planning decisions and hold governments accountable in court.
The shift in policy, outlined in leader Kemi Badenoch’s new document, The Right Way, represents a departure from recent party positions. Badenoch, who is positioning her party as a distinct alternative to the current Labour government, argued that the country is currently subject to a “socialist fever dream” and needs a return to fiscal and regulatory discipline.
The proposed changes are being positioned as a direct challenge to the government’s approach to growth. While the Conservatives argue that “streamlining” is essential to address the housing crisis and stimulate the economy, environmental groups and housing advocates will likely view the removal of the Environment Agency and Natural England as a dismantling of the democratic and ecological safeguards designed to protect public interest in the face of rapid, developer-led construction.
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