The UK’s Labour government has promised to “take an axe to red tape” through “bold reforms to the planning system”. It hopes to kickstart economic growth by generating the “biggest building boom in a generation”.
It seems that the aim to “build baby build”, in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s words, trumps all else. However, this raises important questions about the government’s parallel ambition to reach net zero by 2050.
As researchers of urban planning, we worry that plans to hand more power to developers will simply result in more low-density, car-dependent suburbs. These developments are cheap and efficient to build, which is why they underpin the profits of the larger housebuilders.
