Not sure if a piece by Melissa York yesterday (3 June 2025) in The Times is good news or a passing flash. It seems encouraging. Talking about the new Conservative Yimby’s (yes in my back yard) activists she reports one of the promoters of a new approach to house building by the Conservatives is Airey … Continue reading Positive news?

‘Get on and Build, the Deputy Prime Minister urges housebuilders.’ This headline of a government press release issued on 25th May sums up all that is wrong and ridiculous about their approach to new housing. How can they believe that making a cycle of new threats to housebuilders will deliver their cooperation, when it manifestly … Continue reading Wake up!

At UKREiiF in Leeds last week communications consultancy SEC Newgate launched its fifth survey of 485 local councillors sitting on planning committees. The results offer an interesting but alarming glimpse of their insights into housing policy failure. Most must be muddled or confused. 92% of councillors report the housing crisis has persisted or worsened; 77% … Continue reading Are 485 councillors confused?

Now we know. If the government understands the broken housing market and how to mend it. They do not. Since last year’s general election and the government’s high profile commitment to build 1.5 million new homes by summer 2029 I have wondered and have entertained hopes. Their flurry of planning initiatives have attracted a lot … Continue reading Big error. Please U-turn.

Cllr Patrick Harley. Leader of Dudley Borough Council (Dudley News, Martyn Smith 12 May 2025) says “Let’s kill the myth on grey belt, we have no real real grey belt in Dudley….” And he also says Dudley’s house building target of of 1594 new homes a year is unachievable “even if we allocated all green … Continue reading Local flights of fancy

According to TCPA’s director of policy, Hugh Ellis , who is opposed to the national scheme of delegation, said when giving evidence to the second sitting of the Planning and infrastructure Bill on 24 April 2025 removing ‘democratic opportunities in the cause of speeding up the process is utterly counterproductive’ because ‘People are not the … Continue reading Wretched responses

The article in The Times, headlined ‘Cambrige College in housing dispute’ (Sarah O’Grady, Saturday, 26 April 2025) opening sentence tells us all. It confirms the shallowness and the ignorance which attaches to so much media commentary about the housing market. It opens with ‘Angela Rayner could force the ultra- wealthy Cambridge college attended by the … Continue reading Housing ignorance

In the previous blog, ‘Phoney freedoms, lost opportunities’ I used Wokingham as one example of historic failure. The scale of myopic planning failure in Wokingham has become even clearer. So it worth returning to it as a measure of the consequences of spatial failure. Once again by the way I am indebted to the Wokingham.Today … Continue reading Wokingham’s spatial policy failure.

‘Wokingham Borough was created with a desire to remove the inefficiencies of duplication of district and county councils….’ says Cllr Pauline Jorgensen (Wokingham.Today; 20 April 2025). The Borough was formed in 1998, following the abolition of Berkshire County Council. Jorgensen was until recently leader of the Conservative controlled borough. She says local Conservatives want to … Continue reading Phoney freedoms, lost opportunities

The government’s passion for economic growth is led by its drive to build lots more new homes and infrastructure fast. Following four decades of housing policy failure few who worry about our nation’s, and children’s future will lack this passion. The price of new homes is far too high. So are residential rents. The ability … Continue reading Why 1.5 m new homes is bosh