The New Towns Taskforce report needs a lots of careful thought by experts. Rules me out! A quick overview of the two key barriers I see merit comment. Here is one comment, responding to the sensible recognition that new towns ought to own the land, during the delivery phase. Recommendation 22 says ‘Delivery bodies should … Continue reading New Towns Report : land ownership

The last blog, Barriers to building (27 October 2025) has set me thinking afresh. The political climate needed to build lots of locally liked and welcomed new homes looks so bad I am coming to the view that the taxation system must be used to switch the incentives around. Put bluntly existing local residents must … Continue reading Time to pay?

Someone on LinkedIn recently expressed concerns on this topic. He or she is right to worry about the barriers to building. So I wrote this Comment below on their Post. As I feel it usefully summarises why I am gloomy about the prospects for a meaningful recovery in the rate of house building in the … Continue reading Barriers to building

Big jumps in building cost over the last three years have hit house building viability hard. Many builders and developers now say that it is no longer profitable to build new homes. If this claim is true, and there is no denying building costs have increased sharply for several reasons, government policy to drive up … Continue reading Understanding spatial success.Viability dangers. Premium opportunities.

According to Planning Resource (Alex King, 13 October 2025); ‘’The Treasury looking at a second bill’, source confirms, amid opposition from housing ministry, a spat between MHCLG and the Treasury is live. It appears that some in power think that current draft legislation passing through parliament is not enough. Not enough to start the revolution … Continue reading Take back control ……now!

There is an article in the new edition of Town & Country Planning ( September-October 2025) entitled (Development value taxes: ideas for the future) which is worth the time to read. By four eminent experts in planning, their ideas need attention. They suggest three scenarios for change. First, whilst acknowledging CIF and S.106’s have reasons … Continue reading Land value capture: keep it simple