However, in her recent speech, she returned to the position that a well-functioning planning system is crucial to enabling growth and, more importantly, sustaining it.

Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), commented: “The planning system is the main barrier to growth. When decisions are delayed, or worse, intentionally stalled, it halts investment in essential infrastructure, such as clean water, transport networks that connect towns, cities, regions, and nations, the homes that create fairer societies, and the premises that investors and innovators need.

“The UK has lacked a Chancellor that understands that their role is not merely to make fiscal decisions but ensure the barriers to higher GDP and greater business confidence, such as the planning system, underpin their taxation strategies.

“There is a lot to unpick for the Government and the Treasury, but after more than a decade of the NFB highlighting the need for major planning reforms, it is good to see that message get through.”

In her speech, Chancellor Reeves outlines several ambitions, primarily focused on enabling projects and planning permissions:

• Expansion plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport
• New plans to deliver the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor
• Unlocking £7.9bn investment to improve water infrastructure, including nine new reservoirs
• Review of the “Green Book” used to evaluate large investment projects
• Redevelopment of Old Trafford
• Wrexham and Flintshire investment zone