I am finishing this blog at the start because as I dot the i’s and cross the t’s on something that I have been cogitating over for the last week or so the Prime Minister has today empathised that building 1.5 million homes before the end of the parliament is a key part of the Government’s ‘plan for change’. To that end, building 1.5 million homes I mean, I have read a few bits and pieces recently that lead one to wonder whether the obstacles to doing so are systemic, and so can be legislated or mandated away, or are perhaps more deep-seated than that. Many in the housing sector are hard-wired to oppose new owner-occupier housing or housebuilders themselves. The reasons are endless – design quality, landbanking, ecology, sprawl, profit, water, nutrients, heritage, traffic, doctor’s capacity, sufficient permissions already, etc, etc. So wrote Philip Barnes in a recent blog, within which Mr Barnes seeks to draw a line between Trapped , Daniel Hewitt’s podcast on the housing em...
Hello. My name is Sam, I am a Town Planner and I sometimes write about town planning-related things (in my own time and as an expression of my own opinions). I used to podcast, there is a link to that on this page somewhere, and I circulate a newsletter from time to time. There is a link to that somewhere as well. Should you be so inclined, I am on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford).