The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee new decision to examine the government’s pre Xmas deal with 50+ Conservative backbench rebels opposed to housing targets is reassuring. Clive Betts, who chairs the committee says he wants to hear a range of views on the government’s proposed policies and will take evidence from March onwards.
”We are already hearing that the uncertainty of what the planning system will look like, and the state of flux over recent years, is now having an impact on planners, councils and developers”, he says.
The PM is swamped with instant issues. So no reflective thinking time from number 10. Michael Gove understands the conflicts, so his decision to U-turn on housing targets is illuminating. Is it as simple as: keep the 50+ inside the party tent until the general election? Looks like the obvious answer. Post election, the prospect of the Conservative party facing housing reality looks unlikely.
So is this an opportunity for Sir Keir Starmer to expose the truth? Local communities who want to control their futures, must first control the supply of their own building land. No signs of any understanding in that direction so far. Which may be an opportunity missed as the media will not reverse their priorities, which is to ignore the causes of the housing circus, until Labour find the means to put it, with a working solution on the front pages. Which means having a spokesman who understands how the market works, why the housing market is broken, and the ugly consequences for the young, those who value beauty, the climate prophets and rural conservationists of following misguided housing remedies. And, above all, it is so easy to forget: the toxic impact on economic growth.
When will the sleeping beauty wake up? The evicted are not happy waiting and waiting.
Ian Campbell
3 February 2023
