Six priorities for Andy Burnham

Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, has replaced Keir Starmer as both leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minster of the United Kingdom. 

The new Prime Minister inherits a long list of urgent priorities. But at the heart of nearly every major challenge facing the country — housing, energy security, food production, nature recovery, even economic growth itself — is a single, finite resource: land. How we use land, and who gets a say in those decisions, shapes rural and urban Britain alike. Rural communities have often felt the sharpest end of these choices, but the stakes are national, not just rural. 

But Andy Burnham also inherits a fraught relationship between his party and the electorate — one playing out nationwide, but nowhere more acutely than in rural communities. 

Six priorities for the new Prime Minister

Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants to deliver ‘good growth in every postcode’, putting ‘place first, not party first’. This could be a fresh start. But if his new government is to tackle the many challenges facing our country — from delivering affordable housing to restoring nature and making better decisions about land — here are six priorities to start with.

1. Make devolution work for the countryside

Create a system of devolution that truly gives powers to rural areas to address issues specific to them. Design it so local decision makers, with communities, are empowered with the tools and spending power to balance the needs of their areas.

2. Make sure ‘prosperity in every postcode’ means rural postcodes too

Ensure ‘good growth’ includes the rural economy. With the right powers and policies, such as fixing rural transport to drive growth, the countryside could contribute £9 billion more per year in tax revenue. ‘Manchesterism’ will have to work beyond cities and a national rural strategy would help turn that potential into reality.

3. Drive brownfield targets to deliver higher density towns

Deliver the affordable, higher-density towns he has promised to help safeguard the Green Belt and countryside on the edges of our towns and cities. Without binding brownfield targets, big housebuilders will continue to cover the countryside in car-dependent developments that price people out of their communities.

4. Listen to people in rural places to design a better clean energy system

Genuinely listen to rural communities to design a fairer clean energy system that benefits us all. Mega-scale solar farms are being signed off from the top, clustering around an outdated grid, while the enormous potential of rooftop solar goes untapped.

5. Invest in nature friendly farming for economic and environmental resilience

Invest in nature-friendly farming and the resilience of our national food supply. Reforming government food buying to prioritise sustainable, local produce would send an immediate signal that Burnham recognises the urgency to restore nature and is ready to support sustainable British farming.

6. Use No10 North to rewire the join-up we need for strategic land use

Last, use No10 North to finally get strategic land use right. A Land Use Commission at the heart of government could drive the cross-departmental join-up needed to use our finite land wisely – for homes, nature, clean energy, transport, adaptation and food security. If No10 North is truly to rewire Britain, let it start there.

At CPRE, we’re ready to work with the new Prime Minister on these priorities to put sustainable land use at the heart of how we tackle our country’s biggest economic and environmental challenges.