You may not have noticed it, but three weeks of party political conferences have just taken place. For the second year running the media sniffed around the Lib Dem event hoping to find dissent, but largely failing to track down any.
In Liverpool with Labour, the conversation around the conference was more about why Ed Miliband couldn't connect with voters rather than policy.
Finally, the best the Conservatives could manage was an inter-cabinet spat about a cat and the immigration laws. It was one of the least memorable conference seasons for years. Perhaps this is unsurprising, the Government have demonstrated hard -nosed economics in seeking to reduce the deficit but have yet to convince that they have the policies to grow the economy.
Labour remain tarnished by their economic record over recent years and still have some way to go to gain voters’ trust. When one option offers a slightly better solution than the other, it is no wonder that enthusiasm is in short supply.
Perhaps the most important moment for the development industry came in David Cameron's closing speech. He risked the ire of some of the rural membership by pinning his colours firmly to the National Planning Policy Framework. He may have been light on detail, but to mention a controversial policy in a high profile speech when he did not need to shows his determination to drive the policy through with the minimum amount of amendments.
A reshuffle
Following conference season we saw a reshuffle on both the Government and opposition benches. Firstly, Labour changed their front bench team; Stephen Twigg returning to the front bench as Shadow Education Secretary, Caroline Flint moving from Shadow Local Government to Shadow Energy Secretary and Hilary Benn taking Caroline Flint’s place as Shadow DCLG. Shortly, afterwards the Government were forced into a minor reshuffle following Defence Secretary Liam Fox's decision to resign over access he provided to an unofficial advisor. Philip Hammond moved from the Transport portfolio to Defence. Justine Greening was promoted to become the new Secretary of State for Transport. Hammond had been steadfast in his support for High Speed Rail 2 and eyes will be on Greening to see if she is as focused as Hammond on the project. Both Hammond and Greening have worked for Chancellor George Osborne, leading some to suggest that the treasury's strength has grown.
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