As the present Tory administration staggers on, one minister at least is showing some terminal creativity. The levelling up, housing and communities secretary, Michael Gove, is galvanising housing policy, sort of. This year, he has at last abandoned the absurdity that there is a national housing need of a fixed number of houses a year.
Councils in England have been told they no longer need to deliver a precise target of new buildings laid down in Whitehall irrespective of sound planning or local opinion. He has also vetoed an ugly suburban development in Kent, has introduced plans that would allow local councils to limit Airbnb and holiday homes, and is trying to make manufacturing companies pay for recladding tower blocks post-Grenfell.
