Future Cities Forum's post budget debate with Milton Keynes City Council, HKS and Deloitte

Above: Milton Keynes from the air (courtesy www.miltonkeynes.co.uk)

Future Cities Forum held its November 2025 post Budget debate with the Leader of Milton Keynes City Council Cllr Pete Marland, Director and Planning & Development Adviser within Deloitte Real Assets Advisory Jeremy Castle as well as Professor Gary Clark who is a Principal and Managing Director of the London studio of HKS, the global architecture, interior design, planning and advisory firm.

Discussion topics centred on the future for devolved settlements, the creation of new investment zones, the benefits of the new local plan system, whether the Budget spells the end of adequate homes insulation and the new tax on EVs.

Cllr Marland was asked whether overall it was a good budget, and about the impact on mayoral authorities:

'It was a decent budget for local government overall. No authority will get a below-inflation settlement over next the three years. The deferral funding formula which moves money from some areas with a high council tax take to areas of high deprivation is significant and a once in a generation change, which means there will be winners and losers.

'Councils have a lot of pressures, but it is a step in the right direction. There was an interesting announcement about SEND (Special Needs and Educational Disabilities funding) - with the government absorbing rising costs from 2028-9 and alleviating pressure on councils - as more money that has to be provided on this social care area has meant less (in the past) available for economic development and for making places nice. The Pride in Place funding will also be very good for some areas.

'Private place funding is also very good. However fast growing places such as Milton Keynes and other areas in the south-east will require more to do, on what a future devolved settlement looks like. If the money is always going to the north or west midlands in terms of settlements, will the pot be empty when we get there? Then there is the London settlement which may be revised or changed.

Above: commercial lettings sign at CEG's Norfolk and Ashton development in central Milton Keynes

On science and investment zones, Cllr Marland had mixed views:

'I think that the Arc is still a concept that is searching for a purpose. From a MK Luton Bedfordshire - BLMK - point of view which is our prospective combined authority, the recent investment prospectus - for the Oxford Cambridge Arc- was quite disappointing as it was very much focused on biosciences here, hi-tec there. That leaves the middle as an enabler for the two ends when MK is the 7th biggest economy in the region.

'However, it should be noted that we will get in Bedford with the Universal studios theme park the biggest inward investment for the UK, Luton Airport is expanding and also the new towns at Tempsford and MK. All of that is going on in the centre. The only reference was that Silverstone got a mention, and it is already an investment zone.

'As I mentioned in our last discussion the nailing down of funding for East West Rail is essential. Now we have that, it is important that we get these trains running, first from Oxford to Milton Keynes via Bicester and then Bedford, Universal and onto Cambridge.'

Cllr Marland was asked about the new local plan system, announced after the Budget by the Minister for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, and which is due to launch in early 2026

'We already have a Local Plan and have delivered housing at a rate - 3,000 units per annum - that other places can only dream of on growth. Our plan is 400 units more than it needs to be. However the new ruling on planning is important as it provides clarity and certainty for councils. If you have not cracked on under old rules you will have to do so under the new rules. Planning is only half of the story though.

'I did a round table with Sir Michael Lyons last week and if you add up all the houses in the prospective new towns plan - twelve towns in total - then that is only a third of the 1.5 million new homes designated for this parliament. Not all of these new towns will be started in this parliament. People don't live in planning permissions, they live in bricks and mortar. There needs to be more talk of delivery.

'If everyone built like Milton Keynes there wouldn't be a problem. Milton Keynes East now has a name with 10,000 units with school and health centre built ahead of need - this does not happen everywhere. On building beautiful it can be seen as a bit snobbish. The same developments take place everywhere. Design can always be improved. Small developers have been squeezed out since the sub-prime crash. We are overly dependent on the big firms like Barratt and Persimmon who are good at what they do.. We ought not to tell these firms what they do is wrong but rather provide space for smaller developers. There need to be other archetypes available.'

Above: electric taxi on Waverley Bridge by Edinburgh Waverley railway station

Jeremy Castle added clarity on the planning changes due in early 2026 announced by MHCLG following the Budget, and the increased importance placed in the budget on the role of the planning inspector:

'There is still a huge amount of detail that needs to come through on this. However the point about thirty months preparation timeline to create a local plan is very challenging for local authorities. I did some research on the most recent plans from the London boroughs and found that of the most recent seven plans each London borough had taken on average five years from publication of their Regulation 18 plan to the adoption of that plan - excluding up the front research and preparation of an evidence base. It's expecting a big shift in the culture to prepare a plan to provide certainty with communities and investors in order to create places with homes and jobs and culture and recreational spaces.

On the new towns programme he added:

'We'll know more after Christmas on new towns. It is an important part of the UK government's plans but not the whole solution.. Steps that have been taken by the New Towns Task Force are positive on identifying the locations. The government thinks three can be started by end of parliament and there is lots of evaluation going on now to bring these forward.

Jeremy was asked whether the government is doing enough on joined-up housing and infrastructure. He responded:

'There have a number of proposals on improving public transport in London and in the Budget there were commitments including extending the DLR to Thamesmead, as well as working with Mayor of London to develop innovative funding solutions. We have been working with TfL and the boroughs on funding for schemes like the Bakerloo extension, and while there was nothing for that it is good that government wants to work more closely with the Mayor's office to identify how the projects can be funded innovatively, so it's up to us to work with our clients to come up with solutions. Infrastructure is absolutely essential for unlocking new homes in south east London.

'The digitisation of planning has been seen as behind other areas so good to see government is recognising the digitisation of the planning system. We are seeing the use of AI in household applications now which will help planners hugely to reduce amount of time they take assessing these. If we could use AI to divert experienced planners away from small applications to big schemes, that would be very helpful. The increase in the number of planners, which was cited in the Budget, will not be immediate as they need training.

'I think the emphasis placed on the importance of the Planning Inspectorate in the Budget is right. The planning inspector holds a very important role considering major infrastructure projects, local plans and appeals. With delays across the system, the right of appeal remains an important route for applicants to take, so the Planning Inspectorate has key role in assessing applications and enabling development.'

Above: view of Thamesmead in south east London which is set to benefit from a DLR extension, agreed in the recent Budget (courtesy Peabody)

Gary Clark of HKS Architects was asked about the Budget and the impact on the sustainability issues for the built environment. Gary helped shape the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Declaration of Environment and Climate Emergency and the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge.

Gary said:

'My overall impression is that it is a classic 'stay-in-power' budget, kicking the can down the road, delaying the pain but backing off on hard decisions. The measures around reducing heating bills are very welcome, with bill-payers to benefit from an average £150 reduction per year. However I believe government is not thinking deeply enough on the consequences. They are trying to do things to catch the headlines and get the votes but unpacking the sustainability phrasing, you can see that they have removed 75% of the renewables obligation and also the ECO (Energy Company Obligation), but have not fully funded this from taxes, which means it's the end of warm homes insulation.

According to Ofgem, the ECO scheme works by placing a Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation (HHCRO) on medium and large energy suppliers. Under HHCRO, obligated suppliers must promote measures that improve the ability of low-income, fuel-poor and vulnerable households to heat their homes. This includes actions that result in reduced energy usage, such as installing insulation or upgrading a heating system. The overall target for these measures is divided between suppliers based on their relative share of the domestic gas and electricity market.

Gary commented::

'You need to have low carbon heating and insulation working together. The UK government has both shot and snookered itself at the same time. It will be harder to get people to buy and instal heat pumps. I am saving four tonnes of carbon (annually) with a heat pump in my house, but you will save only one tonne of carbon with an EV, so you can see heat pumps are an important part of the mix. They are giving people extra money to burn more carbon. If you insulate homes properly you will take 400,000 children out of fuel poverty, but millions of families as well. That is the missing link for me.

'The modelling on EVs is not there for the energy transition. The take-up of EVs is important for the decarbonisation strategy. There is a problem with removing incentives. When you choose a new thing, there is a calculation and trade off on balancing capital costs and running costs. The calculation here is if you are charging EVs three pence a mile but hybrid vehicles only one and a half pence, then you are probably better off staying with your old vehicle. The intentions are good but it feels like this is an old Labour approach, without the technical skills.. It's a bit like Harold Wilson's 'White heat of technology' but more vanilla in shade.'

'Back in lock-down I was invited to speak at the Conservative Party Conference online and the chat was all about the potential for pension funds, which are looking for long term, secure investment opportunities. So what better way than to invest in a mass heat pump and insulation programme. We have got to speed up.'

Gary also asked for a reversion to a publicly-funded BRE - Buildings Research Institute which is currently private without an open system of sharing data - with strong inspections on buildings.

Jeremy continued the discussion by describing what he considers to be some of the blockers to development:

'It's not just about planning but delivery. When we talk to out clients the issues revolve around cost inflation, building safety regulation and having certainty that they can proceed with development. In London, there is reference in the Budget on how to reduce the threshold of social housing provision in development down to 20 per cent temporarily. This has been trialled for six months but we have not received the report confirming this.. The market has stalled because why would you buy a site when you don't know what level of affordable housing you should provide?'

Above: view of Victoria North Manchester development sites (courtesy Manchester City Council / FEC)

On devolution, Jeremy stated:

'We see real change in devolved urban areas with mayors outside London like Birmingham and Manchester and it makes a big difference. One of the changes is to introduce the new strategic development strategies which are a way of areas being able to plan strategically with an overall vision for cities. Often they are too long but the London Plan has really helped to deliver jobs and homes.

The panel was asked about the health of innovation investment and the need for innovation zones. Gary Clark commented:

'On tech and innovation we are an ideas economy but we get the early stage businesses and then they sell to the USA. They have to fix the main problem of investing in ourselves, so our start-ups can stay here. Infrastructure by itself is not enough.

'For example. south of Edinburgh, Scottish Enterprise has built acres of science parks, it has built too much, and no-one's coming. Until we get more home grown investment we won't succeed. We don't need more zones, with the exception of the Oxford Cambridge Arc and for that the new railway is absolutely vital.'

Pete Marland summed up the discussion by talking about the need for the UK government to move now with speeding up plans that will make a difference:

'We in the UK have been rubbish at long term infrastructure planning and creation for decades, right back to when we built railways and canals for the first time. We are still using roads that were made in the first century AD - like the A1 and the A5! It is bonkers. East West Rail at the earliest will be ready in the late 2030s, reality more like 2040s in order to get a train to Cambridge from Milton Keynes and Oxford, and there is now an idea that we should build the Milton Keynes to Bedford canal to provide more water. That will cost one billion pounds and it has been on the table for 20 years. I am not sure where the money is coming from.

'We in the UK have a 3 year CSR cycle, annual budget cycles, and governments who lock in short term borrowing rules for short term political gain over long term vision. It's crazy that we don't have long term capital plans for infrastructure investment. The hope is that regional local authorities will now be able to push forward with a focus on skills, jobs and the economy and joining all these things up. The talk from the UK government is for long term but they do need to kick on with plans that work.'

Above: view of Oxford Business Park / ARC Oxford and housing beyond at Cowley, adjacent to BMW Mini plant across the dual carriageway - waiting to be joined to Milton Keynes and Cambridge via the Cowley Branch Line re-opening and East West Rail (courtesy ARC Group)