The problem which underlies the house building problem is the failure to recognise that the UK material economy is in transition from growth to contraction, not as a policy but as a natural process of economic evolution. The current muddle and inability to know what to do will persist until this is recognised. See: https://localismdownloads.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/beyond-growth-barry-cooper-2.pdf
I agree with @observation's point about re-thinking this...the Barker review has a lot to answer for in terms of helping promote lots of falsehoods about house-building, and the belief that nature is a blocker is just seriously lazy scapegoating. There's not enough focus on systems-thinking, on why developers don't actually build as much as they already have permissions for, and issues such as land values, why people sometimes over-interpret legal requirements that are 'requested by society as a whole', the prevalence of 2nd/airbnb homes, etc. And so much for the 'greenest' chancellor - presumably she thinks that the oxygen that she/we breathe magically appears from no-where or that it comes from the amazon (it comes more directly from UK/EU trees and plants) and thinks that the world began when humans evolved (that the billions of other organisms we share the planet with have no right to exist where they wish/need to).
It's the age old problem with administrators and accountants. They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing, and their job is to preserve and if possible increase the role and power of their organisation (and especially their bit of same).
Sam as always an interesting and thoughtful article. From your last line about your next article, I just wonder whether the situation for change on building infrastructure and new houses requires a Gordian solution and then restart with a clean slate rather than trying to unpick one or two aspects of the knot.
Great article as always. This is why people are turning to either Reform or the Greens - the two main parties are better at diagnosing the problems than fixing it. Our political system is fundamentally failing at doing its basic job of implementing what the people want.
“Almost £1bn to get permission from the Government to build something that the Government is convinced is vital to boosting economic growth.”
Has anyone done an investigation into which consultancies are expected to benefit from this, and their ties to parliament?
If a third world country did this we’d be saying it was a blatantly corrupt diversion of public funds
I've been wondering about this. What a depressing state of affairs.
Great writing and well explained
The problem which underlies the house building problem is the failure to recognise that the UK material economy is in transition from growth to contraction, not as a policy but as a natural process of economic evolution. The current muddle and inability to know what to do will persist until this is recognised. See: https://localismdownloads.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/beyond-growth-barry-cooper-2.pdf
I agree with @observation's point about re-thinking this...the Barker review has a lot to answer for in terms of helping promote lots of falsehoods about house-building, and the belief that nature is a blocker is just seriously lazy scapegoating. There's not enough focus on systems-thinking, on why developers don't actually build as much as they already have permissions for, and issues such as land values, why people sometimes over-interpret legal requirements that are 'requested by society as a whole', the prevalence of 2nd/airbnb homes, etc. And so much for the 'greenest' chancellor - presumably she thinks that the oxygen that she/we breathe magically appears from no-where or that it comes from the amazon (it comes more directly from UK/EU trees and plants) and thinks that the world began when humans evolved (that the billions of other organisms we share the planet with have no right to exist where they wish/need to).
It's the age old problem with administrators and accountants. They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing, and their job is to preserve and if possible increase the role and power of their organisation (and especially their bit of same).
Sam as always an interesting and thoughtful article. From your last line about your next article, I just wonder whether the situation for change on building infrastructure and new houses requires a Gordian solution and then restart with a clean slate rather than trying to unpick one or two aspects of the knot.
Great article as always. This is why people are turning to either Reform or the Greens - the two main parties are better at diagnosing the problems than fixing it. Our political system is fundamentally failing at doing its basic job of implementing what the people want.