Conference season is upon us, and with it each party’s muddled attempt to tackle our chronic housing shortage with more of the same market-distorting status quo. Indeed, glancing at the parties’ proposals, you would struggle to notice much difference between them. At Labour’s conference in Brighton, we heard Shadow Housing Minister Lucy Powell claim the […]
The housing debate can often feel like a lose-lose argument. On the one hand you have the NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard), who support building more houses in principal – just not near where they live. They are a loud bunch, regular participants in the local planning process and enthusiastic correspondents with their local councillors […]
Last week the Government announced that it was reconsidering its planning reforms; that it would include proposals for street plans to give residents more power to allow development; and that it had fired the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, and replaced him with Michael Gove. As he reshapes the Government’s agenda, Mr Gove should consider an […]
Today’s headlines about the looming gas price crisis make grim reading – not least because the Government’s track record of dealing with unexpected shocks to the system is, vaccines aside, not great. Ministers seem set to try and stave off the acute effects via the traditional route of spending lots of money, in this case […]
Less than two weeks after signing the Armistice in 1918, David Lloyd George gave a speech promising a country ‘fit for the heroes who have won the war’. He identified housing as key to fulfilling this promise and just months after winning re-election the house-building began in earnest. By the mid-30s, some 3 million houses […]
Last week gave us a picture of things to come in Britain. First, the Government raised National Insurance contributions by 2.5%. This was ostensibly to pay for “social care”, but the money will mostly go to the NHS, with social care’s problems left largely unaddressed. Then, on Saturday, The Times reported that the Government will […]
‘The time has come to do what too many have for too long lacked the courage to do – tear it down and start again.’ This was how Boris Johnson introduced his government’s planning consultation last year. No more ‘tinkering at the edges’, it was time for ‘radical reform unlike anything we have seen since the Second […]
The row over the new Health and Social Care Levy looks, on the surface, like a health story. Or possibly a tax story. But when you get right down to it, this being Britain, it’s a housing story. Perhaps there are a few older people who will be spared the anguish of selling off wine […]
Last week’s publication of the Bacon Review into self and custom-build housing was an important moment in the battle to create a sensible planning system. Although self and custom build are currently only a small part of the UK housebuilding sector, that’s precisely why reform could unlock huge benefits. Chances are if you mention self and custom-build […]
Speaking at Policy Exchange last month, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick formally announced the National Model Design Code with a vow to end the ‘culture of mediocrity’ plaguing housebuilding. Eradicating ‘ugly’ architecture is now the mandate of the newly launched Office for Place, intended to drive up beauty standards through a review of locally produced design […]
An astonishing chorus of support, including yesterday’s Sunday Times, has already greeted Dr Samuel Hughes’s proposal on mansard roof extensions. He suggests that we revive the fine Georgian and Victorian tradition of upward extension of historic terraced houses by adding mansard roofs in keeping with the rest of the building. Support for the report ranges […]
It’s no secret that the last 18 months have hit retailers hard. With so many of us forced to turn to online retailers, many traditional shops have gone to the wall and commercial vacancies have increased. In truth though, traditional retailers were already in serious trouble well before the pandemic. The rise of online retail […]
Housing policy is often seen as a tug of war. We can build more homes to make them more affordable, or we can make homeowners happier by limiting supply. This is mistaken: building homes can add so much value that change can be win-win for nearly everyone. But some object that homeowners will never vote […]
Another very popular feature of online usa casinos is the use of credit card details. Most credit card details are handled securely on secure grand fortune casino no deposit bonus and details such as account number and credit card number are encrypted when they are transmitted to the payment gateway. Thus online payment processing is […]
Imagine for a second that you are a policy intern. You’ve just graduated fresh-faced from university. You may have got involved with student politics, but for the most part you have little experience of politics or policymaking. And now, on your first day in the job, you’ve got to produce content. The politician you’re interning […]
Today’s news that house prices have risen 10.9 % since a year ago confirms estate agent tales of a hot market. As the economy reboots thanks to vaccines and the end of social restrictions, the exuberance will likely continue for a while. Predicting the future is hard, except in UK house prices. They have fluctuated […]
Watch or listen to CapX’s weekly podcast ‘The Capitalist’ wherever you get your podcasts.
