Or in other words, “she has declared her willingness to fight battles with Nimbys where necessary,” says John Myers, founder of the Yimby Alliance campaign group.
At a time when the public finances are crippled, planning reform offers a route to growth that is effectively free. Regulatory reform does not require billions of pounds in investment or tax rises to pay for it. The only cost to Labour will be political capital – something Ms Reeves has a lot of right now.
“It’s clearly part of what they’ve been elected to do and they have got a big majority. So in principle they are in a better position to see off these challenges than any government probably since before the Second World War,” says Paul Cheshire, emeritus professor at the London School of Economics and a former government adviser.
London’s commuter belt and the South East will be home to the biggest fights – and that is where local Nimbys are in for the biggest shocks.
Under the existing system, housing delivery in local authorities is measured against their local targets. If local authorities are delivering 85pc to 95pc of their target, they effectively need to increase their target by 5pc over the five years ahead. If they are delivering less than 85pc, the increase in their target is 20pc.
This system of penalties became toothless when the targets became advisory, but should have new weight now that the targets will become mandatory again.
“They do have some reasonably forceful sticks that they have devised to enforce those targets. It should, over time, mean that it becomes more and more difficult for local authorities to not meet their targets,” says Mr Cheshire.
Labour plans to force local authorities that are not meeting their targets to accept proposals for development. It could also go further and increase the housing delivery test penalties or cut the threshold at which they are imposed, says Simon Coop, senior director at Lichfield planning consultants.
“Those that have persistently under-performed might face additional action.”
Nearly a third of local authorities will face some kind of sanction when the targets become mandatory again because they have been consistently under-delivering, says Mr Coop.
“The expectation is that they will be expected to rapidly and significantly boost their output.”