Chris Smyth, who is The Times Whitehall Editor has written an interesting piece yesterday ( 07 March 2025) which the headline sums up as as ‘Councillors to be stripped of powers to block planning schemes’. It reminds us that next week Ministers will he thinks set out plans to ban councillors from interfering in the … Continue reading Local democracy v. national growth

About a fortnight ago (21 February 2025) I wrote briefly about the call for sites methodology (yes, horrid word, please suggest better) local councils use when preparing new draft local plans. I knew it was and is a crazy system for deciding important spatial decisions by local councils about local land use change. Remember that … Continue reading Stop the ‘call for sites’. It contaminates.

The new Starmer led government has rapidly raised expectations that it will tackle the housing crisis with vigour. In eight months their new initiatives show sincerity, determination, some good sense mixed with naivety too. But are they listening to the right voices? When trying to change embedded processes, governance boundaries and feifdoms run by vested … Continue reading Use your good sense, PM.

Bath and North East Somerset Council have just issued a new ‘call for sites’. The local council is resetting its local plan in a bid to meet its increased local housing need figure, up from 14500 homes by 2042 to 29,000 by 2045. It seems in September 2024 Kevin Guy the Liberal Democrat leader wrote … Continue reading Call for sites. Simply crazy.

Whilst it is good news the government is pushing forward with its own ideas for growth between Oxford and Cambridge, they seem to be overlooking the interests of local residents. Whilst these very different interests cannot be allowed to block progress there is no reason their financial best interests must suffer. First it is simply … Continue reading Blight policy. ARC v. local residents.

Perhaps it is forty years ago that I learnt a vital lesson. One never to be forgotten. Because it seems to defy common sense. The lesson is a vital and obvious insight into the financial priorities of developers, builders and land speculators who control new homes supply when it is understood. But until it is … Continue reading Overlooked but vital

According to the December 2024 English Devolution White Paper spatial development strategies are to be introduced to all of England. Typically the strategic areas will contain populations of about 1.5 million. It looks like a return to strategic planning. This is a welcome change of direction and overdue since David Cameron’s coalition government abolished strategic … Continue reading Devolution: spatial development strategies

Friday’s Financial Times has a serious piece (George Parker, et al , 24 January 2025; Reeves to go further and faster for growth after recent turmoil) examining the chances of the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuing a more aggressive growth agenda. She plans to accelerate flagship investment projects; re-direct regulators to prioritise growth; and attract … Continue reading Can Reeves deliver growth

Local councils want more autonomy, more devolution but some seem unaware that with it goes local responsibility, or civic duty. Government inspectors have found that Shropshire Council’s draft local plan is unsound, despite raising their concerns with the council. The council are not providing the sites for overspill housing needed by their neighbours in the … Continue reading Are they blind?

On 13 December 2024, the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner sent a letter to Housing Industry Stakeholders. It is she says, all about building the homes we need. She makes telling points. Her immediate objective is to set out the principal changes in the new National Planning Policy Framework. I support the spirit of her … Continue reading Plan-led housing supply