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Tag: planning

Instead of drop-kicking the planners, shouldn’t we really half-nelson the rich?

Instead of drop-kicking the planners, shouldn’t we really half-nelson the rich?

The blame game over who’s responsible for England’s housing crisis and silver-bullet “here’s-the-answer” approaches to solving it is growing into a national sport. Various interest groups, professions, political parties, social classes, business groups and their mouthpieces come under fire. Meanwhile, each fires back their silver bullet, with a crowd of suitably-armed commentators joining in. With this kind of entertainment the lobby to encourage ITV to re-run World of Sport wrestling must be flagging. With that sad image in mind, I…

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Is the deep-seated problem of housing supply really just about planning?

Is the deep-seated problem of housing supply really just about planning?

Does constraint on planning approvals restrict the supply of homes or does the demand for homes determine the level of planning approvals? Perhaps both work in tandem or parallel. These questions have bugged me for years. Here’s some fresh thought prompted by the release of the latest house-building figures and, in part, by concerns expressed over the weekend by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney about “a housing market that has deep, deep structural problems”. The housing market is a…

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Is income inequality screwing up the housing market? I’m curious

Is income inequality screwing up the housing market? I’m curious

For the past few years three questions have bugged me persistently. How could rising income inequality over the past thirty years not have affected the housing market? If it has had significant effects, what are they and how have these come about? Why is so little political and, it seems, academic attention paid to how income inequality might cause dysfunction within the housing market? This is in contrast to the more significant attention paid to how a dysfunctional housing system…

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What really drives planning applications?

What really drives planning applications?

They say: “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s certainly true for house builders and developers looking to gain planning permission. If they want to increase their supply of permissioned land on which to build houses they have to put in a residential planning application in the first place, which then may or may not be rejected. So with house building now back on the agenda in a big way we decided to use Barbour ABI data to examine…

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Searching for a Higgs Boson to explain the unsolved problems of the housing market

Searching for a Higgs Boson to explain the unsolved problems of the housing market

Over the past few months, particularly the past few days, I have bathed in data, ideas, business models, policies and blue sky thinking on how we can deliver more housing in the UK. This was the central theme running through yesterday’s Housing Market Intelligence conference. It was the broad thread that tied together the expert analyses in the associated Housing Market Intelligence report, which I edit. It was also the basic question that underpinned an Institute of Economic Development London…

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Is the recent surge in brick deliveries a sign of rapid growth in house building?

Is the recent surge in brick deliveries a sign of rapid growth in house building?

Today’s release of what are fairly obscure figures to most people show brick stocks plunging to the lowest level since the 1980s and a surge in deliveries comparing the latest quarter with a year ago. A rise of 16% year to year should be something to write home about, shouldn’t it? This apparent boost to production must be of interest to the armies of economists and commentators keen to spot potential effects that can be tracked back to the Help…

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New towns, greater homeownership and localism heavy: a possible Labour housing strategy?

New towns, greater homeownership and localism heavy: a possible Labour housing strategy?

Business Secretary Vince Cable has in recent weeks upped the debate on house building and yesterday called together a mix of top folk from across the housing spectrum to chat about ideas for financing more homes. It’s encouraging. It indicates that the Government is eager to improve the wretched state of house building. But it’s also worrying. Last November the Coalition launched a “radical and unashamedly ambitious” housing strategy for England. What of that?

A good planning system is critical, but right now the debate is a massive distraction

A good planning system is critical, but right now the debate is a massive distraction

The battle over planning between the build-more-homes lobby and the forces for countryside conservation is extremely important. It will define, at least in part, where people can live and what our treasured land looks like in the future. It is essential that we have a planning system that efficiently, effectively and more importantly fairly balances the conflicts between development and conservation. But right now the debate over planning is a massive distraction from the real and immediate issue – money. There…

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Is the planning system for homes getting worse?

Is the planning system for homes getting worse?

I’ve been quizzed a bit in recent hours for my views on the residential planning system in the light of the reported drop in planning permissions. One graph that might prove interesting is one I have on file which tracks the figures from the communities department. It shows the number of decisions made within 13 weeks and the proportion of applications approved for major residential schemes. These are schemes of 10 or more homes. It is silly to read too much…

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No prizes it seems in the New Homes Bonus for being a housing-friendly good planning authority

No prizes it seems in the New Homes Bonus for being a housing-friendly good planning authority

Yesterday the allocations were released for the New Homes Bonus. And Grant Shapps happily slapped away criticisms that councils in the North were being unfairly treated under the scheme saying three of the top five councils benefiting most are in the North or Midlands. His geography may have been correct when reading from the list of the biggest lumps of money allocated. Sadly he appears to have revealed either his ineptitude with statistics or his willingness to abuse their meaning.