The Times view on planning reforms

On Monday, 2nd December 2024 The Times published a leading article setting out the paper’s view on planning reforms. It says the government must stick to its election promise to support infrastructure and housing development and reform Britain’s broken planning system. Now, I hesitate to say they miss the key point: there is no easy solution to this problem. (Pausing even more so, as my own father was a Times reporter until he volunteered for military service in September 1939). Yes, it is trite, but also true. So if they miss the point, how many other well informed leaders of debate don’t get it either?

The Leader article calls for resolve by the government to overcome the blockages that prevent growth. And then they reject the need for genius. They are wrong. Their analysis of the cause of the policy problem is weak. Removing the blockages to growth, first put in place with the best of intentions more than sixty years ago, will indeed need a streak of genius from our political leaders!

Here is the letter I sent to the Editor yesterday,:(2nd December). I am not expecting it to be published. It explains why we have a problem and why overcoming it will be difficult. Until the festering governance issue is overcome, no English government will win the support for change that is needed.

Dear Sir,

Most of us want lots more new homes built: often somewhere else. And share the growing concerns the 1.5 million new homes target by 2029 will be another broken promise. And we wonder how will a Westminster based government, of whatever political hue, deliver without local support? You say it is resolve which matters. So does local residents fear of change. They live with the results, good or bad, for a long time. And no-one can undo the unloved mistakes. Perhaps this explains why planners and the planning system is not trusted?
Who decides where? Locals who want prosperity but no local change? Or central government whose priority is economic growth? There is a festering unsolved governance issue. For Westminster MP’s representing local communities it is a scary choice. Resolving it without pulling the house down too, may be an act of genius. Perhaps a long term cross-party alignment on spatial policy is the solution. Achieving a lasting consensus is a big deal. Without it, neither the building industry nor the politicians will be able to deliver the homes.

Yours etc.

The Times deserves plaudits for confronting the biggest unmended domestic policy failure for years. Few other serious media try. Their pieces are invariably about one or other of the many symptoms of entrenched policy failure. Sad but irrelevant to those seeking a solution with broad support. Leader writers must first examine and understand the foundations of policy failure. Then look at the scarce options for change. There are two. One is local government reorganisation. Alternatively the introduction of subsidies and surcharges, sometimes paid by, and sometimes paid to local residents who then financially share in the spatial outcomes at local level. Whichever route is chosen must thrive beyond the parliamentary cycle.

Ian Campbell

3 December 2024

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