Solving the housing crisis, boosting the economy, creating sustainable jobs, meeting net-zero goals and responding to Covid are all laudable aims. How you get there is another matter. It’s an age-old Conservative Party trick to create a narrative about a broken system, then conclude that the only solution is the unfettered market riding in on a white charger. That’s what lay behind the Planning for the Future White Paper, now set to come before us as a bill following the Queen’s Speech.
There’s no doubt elements of the planning system are slow and archaic. We need timely local plans, modern digital systems plus improved quality and design standards. But it’s wrong to lay the blame for the housing crisis at the door of the planning system.