Good try; muddled understanding

Policy Exchange has produced a heartening new report (The Property Owning Democracy,; James Vitali) which seeks to understand and then explain current housing policy failure. It is endorsed by several Conservative MP’s, including Ministers, which matters. . As as step towards educating open market , dyed-in-wool ideological MP’s who still cannot understand why four decades … Continue reading Good try; muddled understanding

Dose of sense

The National Infrastrutture Commission (nic.org.uk) have published their Second National Infrastructure Assessment, a 30 year plan for the UK’s infrastructure needs to 2055 and beyond. Called NIA2 it contains a lot of good sense. Thank goodness this rare species is not yet extinct. Wish we had the same sense for England’s housing needs for the … Continue reading Dose of sense

Verdict: nice but naive

On further reflection yesterday’s King’s Speech looks like the dreams of a well intentioned teenager who simply does not understand local politics. Why? Well, come and look here. ’….my Government’s priority is to make the difficult but necessary long-term decisions to change this country for the better.’ As an aspiration, this objective has my total … Continue reading Verdict: nice but naive

No houses=no growth?

The King’s Speech yesterday prompted an unnamed minster (Times, 8 November, Aubrey Allegretti) to say ‘it is time for the chancellor to be bold and decisive. He’s got to announce more measures that will stimulate growth’. The speech was silent on housing supply and silent on power distribution, two drivers, currently barriers, of domestic growth … Continue reading No houses=no growth?

Environment Agency is misguided?

The EA has told Cambridge council to reject the 1000 new homes at Darwin Green proposal by Barrett developers. The agency says the proposal poses a significant risk to the sustainability of Cambridge water supplies. Very odd reversal of normal thinking. Long term national water supplies ought to be the responsibility of a specialist agency, … Continue reading Environment Agency is misguided?

Are local Labour activists the same as Tory ones?

In my experience the answer is yes, as I discovered in Reading in 2014, when I published locally my idea, simply an essay for a competition prize, for a new city on white land between Reading and Basingstoke. The controlling Labour council for Reading Borough went bananas. Petitions, public meetings and protest letters to the … Continue reading Are local Labour activists the same as Tory ones?

Homelessness: nightmare or vision?

Watching and reading BBC News online this morning (23 October, ‘The Peckham primary school where most children are homeless’) shows an article by Henry Low. It dismayed me. It was not the worrying but inevitable truth summed up in their strapline above, but the audacious claim in it by a government minister. Felicity Buchan, the … Continue reading Homelessness: nightmare or vision?

Who decides?

At last it seems clear the main political parties recognise England has a house deficit problem. It is an important step forward. Taken a decade. Some more far sighted politicians also are beginning to connect the lack of national growth with local resistance to local change. For example the need for a massive boost in … Continue reading Who decides?

Cost of saying no. Price of NIMBY opposition

If you can, please read a sensible analysis of the cost imposed by opposition to new English infrastructure for example roads or railways, by John Burn-Murdoch in the FT 25 August 2023 (The Nimby tax on Britain and America). For example HS2 looks likely to cost £396 million per mile. The French equivalent is £46 … Continue reading Cost of saying no. Price of NIMBY opposition

Lessons from Wisley and Welbourne

Interesting that Taylor Wimpey have lodged an appeal for consent to build 1700+ new homes in the isolated depths of Surrey’s countryside. Very near the Royal Horticulture Society’s HQ and following Guildford Borough Council failure to decide. They bought the site in 2020. Their roots in the area are transitory. Creating popular places, following the … Continue reading Lessons from Wisley and Welbourne