Change begins now, as the Prime Minister told his party after the election, and change is very much on the agenda in housing. The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is talking about imposing mandatory housing targets on councils. The recent changes to planning laws whereby new developments could be challenged if they adversely change the character of an area or the environment will almost certainly be scrapped. The PM is talking about the “grey belt”; that is, unloved areas in the green belt, as suitable for building.
Trouble is, most young people do not want to live in reclaimed garage sites off a motorway. Most want to work in London and in the centre of cities. Quite apart from the issue of local autonomy, the challenge is to provide high-density housing where it’s actually wanted.
London is rich in examples of inner city high-density housing, and they can be seen from Paddington to Battersea. They are mansion blocks, many of them Edwardian, which are beautiful, medium-rise — often no more than five or six storeys — and accommodate significant numbers of households without overcrowding. Another useful model of high-density housing is the old Peabody and Guinness Trust estates. There are planning restrictions which make it impossible to replicate these models; they should be abolished.
At present their modern equivalents are often luxury accommodation, investment purchases by overseas funds and individuals. The new developments should be for people on normal incomes to live in. Housing should not be discussed independently of demand, a significant element of which is driven by large-scale immigration. A rational immigration policy would help to reduce ever increasing unmet demand for houses.
Ungovernable France
Emmanuel Macron called early parliamentary elections for “clarification” — that is, to see off Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. But clarity is exactly what France hasn’t got after the second round. The largest bloc is the New Popular Front, made up of the far-Left parties including Communists, with whom Macron’s centrists have nothing in common. No single group has an outright majority. So France has a centrist president, a far-Right majority in Europe and a far-Left coalition in the Assembly. On the bright side, we look like a model of sanity by comparison.
Bricks at Eton
Eton is to ban smart phones and replace them with brick alternatives that only send messages and take calls, something several London schools have done. State schools take note. If a ban is good enough for Eton, it’s good for everyone.
