The two previous blogs (31 October and 5 November 2025) talked about the dangers the New Towns Taskforce recent report faces, from landowners and local residents. There is a third threat, from a source overlooked in the report. It is what I call phoney political polarisation, or if you prefer phoney political posturing. Wokingham Borough … Continue reading New Towns Report: one more threat! No 3.

My last blog (31 October 2025 New Towns Report: land ownership) made recommendations to head off local landowners opposition to the New Towns Taskforce recommendations in an equitable way.. In particular its focus was on Recommendation 22 which says landowners need to know what value they can expect first their land. There is an another … Continue reading New Towns Report: securing local support

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

On 28 September 2025 the MHCLG published the government’s Initial government response-September 2025 setting out their thoughts and first reactions to the New Town Taskforce’s recommendations, and policy on planning, land acquisition and next steps. If we compare this step with the total abdication of spatial leadership by the previous government over 14 years , … Continue reading Exemplary new towns

Two sensible pieces written by thoughtful journalists in the The I Paper yesterday (Friday, 26 September 2025) by Richard Vaughan and Richard Palmer (Poundbury homes built by King inspire Labour’s new towns); and BBC News online today by Sean Coughlan (How the King’s vision is shaping the next wave of new towns) contain encouraging insights … Continue reading Buying land for new towns