In The Times last Friday (16 February 2024) their correspondent Emma Duncan (Build houses where people actually want to live) was the first national journalist to correctly identify the key to solving the chronic housing crisis. She rightly said that “If the government is serious about solving this crisis, it should start talking to the the opposition about a long term solution. Perhaps that’s too much to ask of politicians focused on turning a possible electoral catastrophe into a mere defeat. On the other hand, they have little to lose”.
Whilst she is one hundred percent right, politically this way of thinking will be very challenging in Westminster and beyond, where long term local support is equally vital. Within our adversarial system for resolving conflict consensus may not be possible. So it will be revealing to see soon if any general election manifestos reveal a political party wise enough to notice, and embrace this way to plan ahead for the national interest and the next generation’s future. Unfortunately the wins are difficult to spot, as they are long term, Bur they are key to long term prosperity, and to facing Michael Gove’s recent concerns that the young will lose interest in the democratic governance model if it is manifestly unfair.
The successes of the landed estates and the now defunct Commission for New Towns are the pathfinders. Spatial planning failure around the world shows the opposite outcome.
Ian Campbell
21 February 2024
