Rishi Sunak

RTPI chief executive Victoria Hill has ‘cautiously’ welcomed the chancellor’s commitments today (8 July) to help the built environment recover from Covid-19, but she argued that ‘strong planning will be needed to maximise all the investment’.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set out new regulations that will see buildings and land changing use without planning permission, with a policy paper due in July outlining how ‘England’s seven-decade-old planning system will be reformed for modern society’.

The government has promised struggling high street firms that they will be receiving £22 billion coronavirus boost, with grants of up to £25,000 already being paid into their bank accounts.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) will spend £27 billion between now and 2025 – and has promised cash for mayoral combined authorities to invest in public transport.