Report

Building communities

Think tank: Localis

Author(s): Zayn Qureshi

October 4, 2021

This report from UK think tank Localis looks at planning for a clean and good growth future.

There is perhaps no greater issue driving division in British politics than the serious gap between aspirations for home ownership and the malign effects of constrained supply. This situation, in which we don’t build or supply enough affordable homes in places where people not only just wish, but need to live, is the unhappy reality for a younger generation seemingly permanently priced out of the housing market. If we are to render a more rational housing market, one broadened with a wider affordable mix of property types and tenures, we are going to have to face down and overcome all that makes the current broken system.

This requires a far better approach to managing the plurality of interests involved, with both greater rights and increased responsibilities placed on councils, developers, and communities. It requires a robust understanding in central government of the necessity of community involvement, and a broad understanding in place of how best to maximise the value of development for everyone involved.

With this in mind, ‘Building Communities – Planning for a Clean and Good Growth Future’ presents a case for a stewarded model of land and housing delivery to better tie together the interests of stakeholders, including the community, developers, and local planning authorities, at the local level. Done so based on a broad study with extensive engagement of experts, practitioners, and activists on all sides of the great housing debate.