- Housing delivery: Welsh Labour has committed to delivering 100,000 new homes over the next decade, including at least 40,000 for social rent. Setting a ten‑year target marks a departure from other parties, and from the UK Government, which typically set housebuilding targets over the lifetime of a single parliamentary term. A longer time horizon may provide greater flexibility in tracking delivery and assessing progress.
- Planning and delivery reform: Delivery will be supported by the creation of a new National Housing Taskforce, tasked with exploring planning reform and the greater adoption of modern methods of construction. Welsh Labour also proposes introducing a Vacant Land Tax, a policy successive Labour Government’s in Wales have been keen to introduce. The party has set an ambition for Wales to become the fastest nation in the UK for granting planning permission on major projects.
- Building standards and retrofit: Improving building standards is a core focus, with a commitment that all new homes will include on‑site renewable energy generation as standard, including solar PV. In addition, energy‑efficiency upgrades are planned for 100,000 existing homes.
- Renters and leaseholders: Further reforms are proposed for renters and leaseholders, including enhanced accountability for letting agents and new legal rights for residents of new‑build estates to address issues such as unadopted roads. Welsh Labour also propose expanding Help to Buy beyond new‑build homes.
- High street regeneration: Measures to support high‑street regeneration include expanding Community Right to Buy opportunities, granting councils greater powers to intervene in certain types of shop openings, and encouraging pop‑up shops and interim uses for vacant units. A ‘root and branch’ review of business rates is also planned, although, as with other parties, detailed proposals have yet to be set out.
- Industrial strategy and inclusive growth: A new Industrial Strategy for Wales will focus on clean energy, advanced manufacturing, creative industries, the digital economy and life sciences, aligning closely with the UK Government’s sectoral priorities. Welsh Labour also proposes establishing a National Jobs Council and creating a £500 million Local Growth Fund to address regional economic inequality.
- Skills and workforce development: Skills investment will be delivered through 100,000 all‑age apprenticeships over the next Senedd term, prioritising construction, renewable energy, and degree apprenticeships in planning. This builds on the recent introduction of surveying degree apprenticeships in Wales.
- Infrastructure investment: Commitments include £4 billion for new hospitals to replace Wrexham Maelor Hospital and the University Hospital of Wales, delivery of the Western Gateway Commission’s recommendations on tidal energy, and investment in new rail stations across South East Wales. A North Wales Tertiary Alliance will be created to maximise local economic benefits from major infrastructure projects, including Wylfa.
- Renewable energy and investment: Renewable energy infrastructure will be expanded through proposals such as solar farms on disused coal tips and the use of mine water to heat homes. A Welsh Wealth Fund for Future Generations will reinvest income from renewables back into infrastructure.
- Nature and environment: Welsh Labour proposes creating Nature Estate Cymru, a new body to drive action on the nature and climate emergencies, alongside a Clean Water Bill to establish a new regulator. The Sustainable Farming Scheme will continue to be reformed to support food production, and a Nature Investment Summit will be convened.
News and Insight
Senedd 2026: What the Welsh manifestos mean for the built and natural environment
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22 April 2026
As Wales prepares for the 2026 Senedd election, RICS has undertaken an in‑depth analysis of the main party manifestos and what they mean for the built and natural environment.
With the Senedd set to expand to 96 Members, a significant number of incumbents standing down, and polling suggesting substantial shifts in voter behaviour, Wales could see one of the largest intakes of newly elected parliamentarians, by proportion of seats, of any western legislature in recent decades.
Over the last few years, RICS has been a constructive partner with Welsh Government, advising on reforms to building safety standards and funding, retrofit delivery and skills investment. Surveyors’ insight and data was frequently cited in Senedd debates and members called to give expert evidence to committee inquires to shape good policy making.
Earlier this year, RICS set out its priorities for the next Welsh Government and has been engaging with parties across the political spectrum to champion the built and natural environment, and to demonstrate the vital role surveyors play in informing policy and delivering meaningful change. This engagement has focused on four core themes:
- Development of a housing delivery strategy with cross-tenure targets and development ambitions
- Investment in a large-scale, high-standard housing retrofit programme
- Replacement of outdated, historic standards currently in use in Wales to protect residential leaseholders
- Expansion of apprenticeships and upskilling to support the energy transition
We have looked at some of the common themes parties are addressing in their manifestos, including housing, skills, business support and natural resources.
- Social housing delivery: Plaid Cymru has committed to delivering at least 20,000 new social homes by 2030. Delivery will be supported by improved data collection through a new Welsh Housing Survey to monitor housing need, an initiative long advocated by RICS and modelled on the existing English Housing Survey.
- Funding and energy standards for housing: To further support housing delivery, Plaid Cymru proposes reviewing energy‑efficiency requirements and exploring options to leverage Welsh pension funds as a source of investment for housing development.
- Retrofitting and building safety: Plaid Cymru places a strong emphasis on raising professionalism and standards in retrofit, proposing new quality‑assurance and monitoring processes, reforms to permitted development rights, and mandatory independent assessments and inspections for taxpayer‑funded retrofit schemes. Accelerated sustainability skills pathways are also proposed. The party has committed to implementing the principles of the right to adequate housing and to accelerating building‑safety remediation for unsafe cladding and defects, including strengthened regulatory oversight.
- Estate management and renters’ reform: Proposals include estate management reforms to address so‑called ‘fleecehold’ practices, alongside measures to strengthen protections for renters. These include limiting annual rent increases by linking them to wage growth or CPI, and restricting rents to the price advertised.
- Property taxation reform: Plaid Cymru has signalled its intention to pursue a comprehensive reform of Council Tax, alongside rebalancing business rates to better reflect differences between high‑street and out‑of‑town locations. A review of second‑home and holiday‑let regulation and taxation is also proposed, although detailed plans have yet to be set out.
- Economic governance and development: A new Fiscal and Economic Commission would be established to improve the quality of economic data and support healthy markets. Plaid Cymru also proposes creating a National Development Agency for Wales to support the growth of Welsh‑owned businesses, alongside a Just Transition Board to link net‑zero delivery with inclusive economic growth.
- Water, energy and infrastructure: The party proposes establishing a new Welsh water regulator and introducing minimum community ownership stakes of up to 25%, or an equivalent wealth‑fund mechanism, for larger energy projects. Energy infrastructure improvements are also planned, with a presumption in favour of underground cabling or less visually intrusive overhead lines.
- Housing and tenure reform: Welsh Conservatives would restore the Right to Buy, expand Help to Buy to include vacant properties, and set a target to deliver 40,000 new homes by 2030.
- Residential standards and regulation: Proposals include introducing stricter quality standards for student accommodation, banning new leasehold homes in favour of commonhold, and reviewing the operation of Rent Smart Wales.
- Business taxation and high streets: Welsh Conservatives have committed to scrapping business rates entirely for small firms, pubs and post offices, alongside introducing business‑rates‑free periods for new retail businesses.
- Economic development and investment: The party proposes re‑establishing the Welsh Development Agency to attract inward investment, alongside increased support for Freeports and Enterprise Zones. New AI and Semiconductor Growth Zones would also be created to support emerging and strategic industries.
- Infrastructure priorities: Infrastructure commitments include delivery of an M4 relief road, the creation of ‘Union Highways’ to incorporate key cross‑border strategic routes into a wider UK roads priority programme, electrification of the North Wales Main Line, and the establishment of a 21st Century Hospital Build Fund.
- Property taxation: Welsh Conservatives propose scrapping Land Transaction Tax on primary residences and capping council tax rises at 5 per cent, with local referendums required to approve larger increases. Further detail has yet to be provided on how the resulting loss of revenue from both LTT and business rates would be offset.
- Tourism and short‑term let: The party would pilot a reduced 5 per cent rate of VAT on tourism accommodation, review the role of permitted development rights in supporting the visitor economy, and reduce the qualifying threshold for holiday lets from 182 days to 105 days.
- Skills and apprenticeships: A commitment has been made to deliver 125,000 apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships over the next Senedd term, with a particular focus on pathways linked to major infrastructure projects.
- Natural environment and energy infrastructure: Proposed reforms include replacing Natural Resources Wales with a new environmental regulator, adopting an underground‑cables‑first approach to grid expansion, and promoting solar generation on car parks and commercial buildings in preference to developing greenfield sites.
- Farming and flood management: The Sustainable Farming Scheme would be scrapped and replaced with a new food security strategy. A National Flood Agency would also be established to manage and mitigate flood risk more effectively.
- Housing delivery and standards: The party has set a target to deliver 10,000 new homes. Proposals include intervention where local authorities are under‑delivering or failing to operate an effective Community Infrastructure Levy. To improve developer viability, Reform UK would relax sustainable building regulations, while introducing stricter design codes and requirements to improve the appearance of new housing and shopfronts.
- Home ownership support: Help to Buy would be phased out and replaced with a new, more targeted incentive, although limited detail has been provided on how a replacement scheme would operate.
- Taxation and local government finance: Reform UK proposes introducing a ‘tax lock’, under which any new Welsh‑controlled tax not explicitly set out in the party’s manifesto could not be levied. Council tax increases would be capped at 4.99 per cent, with any higher rises subject to approval through local referendums.
- Business rates: A ‘root and branch’ review of business rates is proposed, alongside plans to abolish or significantly reduce these taxes for hospitality and leisure venues.
- Skills and education: Reform UK prioritises expanding technical education and apprenticeships aligned with economic growth sectors, including housing, construction trades and agriculture.
- Energy and net zero policy: The party proposes banning new onshore wind turbines and scrapping net‑zero targets for 2030 and 2040. Funding for low‑carbon heat networks would be scaled back and more tightly targeted, with support for heat pumps removed entirely. Instead, Reform UK would prioritise investment in small‑scale nuclear infrastructure, aligned with wider UK Government nuclear energy investment. Recent public comments by party leadership on reopening coal mines do not feature in the manifesto, with the platform instead focusing on a nuclear‑first approach, reflecting concerns over the long‑term viability of coal.
- Social housing and public delivery: The Green Party has set a target to deliver 60,000 new social homes over a ten‑year period. Delivery would be supported by the creation of a new national housing developer, expanded compulsory purchase powers to bring empty homes back into use, and a shift toward greater domestic infrastructure investment by Welsh pension funds.
- Tenant protections and housing standards: Proposals include establishing a new Welsh Housing Ombudsman, extending the Welsh Housing Quality Standard to the private rented sector, banning no‑fault evictions, and prohibiting bidding wars for rental properties. The Green Party has committed to requiring all new developments to be freehold, commonhold or cooperatively owned by default.
- Local taxation and land reform: Council tax and business rates would be abolished and replaced with a new land value tax. In addition, a Vacant Land Tax would be introduced to incentivise the release of undeveloped land and accelerate development.
- Planning capacity and place‑making: All local authorities would be required to appoint a Chief Planner, alongside the introduction of minimum requirements in local development plans covering green space provision, local infrastructure and the protection and reuse of heritage buildings.
- Energy efficiency and retrofit: UK Government funding allocated through the Warm Homes Plan would be ringfenced for use in Wales to deliver comparable housing improvements. This would be complemented by an expansion of the NEST scheme and new homeowner grants, prioritising insulation, ventilation and heat pumps. A new retrofit skills plan would bring together education providers, industry and housing associations to support workforce development and employment pathways.
- Renewable energy and net zero: The Green Party has set a target for 100 per cent of Welsh electricity demand to be met from renewable sources by 2035. This would be supported by investment in new solar and battery storage infrastructure, mine‑water heating systems, and requirements for all new buildings to incorporate renewable energy technologies.
- Land use and natural resources: A new Land Use Framework would be introduced to guide a national natural resources strategy, balancing food production, carbon storage, biodiversity and public access to land.
- Social housing and retrofit: A target of 30,000 new social homes will be set, alongside a ten‑year emergency programme to upgrade existing homes to make them warmer, more energy‑efficient and cheaper to run. The party has also committed to requiring all new homes to be freehold or commonhold by default.
- Major infrastructure delivery: Commitments include the delivery of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, the expansion of offshore wind in the Celtic Sea, and investment in new or redeveloped hospitals, including University Hospital of Wales.
- Industrial strategy and energy costs: A new Welsh Industrial Strategy will be introduced, focused on financial services, manufacturing, the creative industries, and cyber security. Support for businesses facing high energy costs will be provided by moving renewable energy projects away from legacy fossil‑fuel contracts.
- High street regeneration and business taxation: High‑street recovery would be supported through a £400 million Town Centre Fund aimed at cleaning and improving streets. Business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure would be permanently frozen, with options explored to introduce a 2 per cent Online Sales Levy.
