General Election 2010: Will planning be hung out to dry?

Property and planning wasn't a big election issue, despite the parlous state of the UK economy and its need to build homes, create jobs and promote regeneration. But could the prospect of a hung parliament and a Lib-Lab coalition force it further down the agenda? Looking through the party manifestos there is practically nothing the two parties agree on. In fact, the only stated consensus seems to be on the need for investment in infrastructure, and a sell off of state assets to cut the deficit. By contrast, the Lib Dems oppose regional planning and housing targets, would scrap Home Information Packs, and would create a third-party right of appeal where planning decisions go against locally agreed plans (something the Tories' toyed with but seem to have quietly dropped). And the Lib Dem manifesto contains no support for Labour's Community Infrastructure Levy, plans to create a National Landlords Register, or for the Infrastructure Planning Commission. Or, for that matter, much of anything else. Ironing out these differences would take time, and may be fairly far down the list of the new coalition's list of priorities anyway. As Jones Lang LaSalle planning partner Bruce Hartley-Raven comments today: "Until the dead-lock is resolved development, regeneration and policy evolution will inevitably be curtailed." While not an outright victor, it seems David Cameron may yet get a chance to form a minority government, and the Conservative's localist agenda could certainly get cross-bench support from the Libs. Now, does anyone know what the Ulster Unionist's stance on regional spatial strategies is?