It’s far too easy for a vocal minority who’ve already got their foot on the housing ladder to pull it up after themselves. A representative planning system will unlock the new homes we need, says Simon Clarke
For decades, Britain’s planning system has been run by the same cast of characters: the colonel guarding his cul-de-sac, the eco-lobbyist worshiping disused cabbage patches, and the parish councillor who measures progress in the width of a hedge. They turn up at the town hall at 2pm on a Wednesday, wave their clipboards, and drown out everyone else. And under this Labour government, that’s all it takes to win.
That’s not local democracy. That’s a sham. And it’s the reason why UK house prices are at their most unaffordable relative to earnings since Queen Victoria was on the throne.
Representative planning would flip this on its head. Instead of a system run by whoever has the time and money to lodge objections when everyone else is at work, it would ask the whole community what they think. That means the renters locked out of home ownership. The young families squeezed into overpriced flats and undersized homes. The grandparents who know their kids will never afford to live nearby. Not just the same circle of people who’ve already climbed the ladder and are now pulling it up.
And here’s the kicker: the public is already on side.
Public First’s barnstorming new report The Quiet Yes shows just how unrepresentative the current system is. Nationally, 55 per cent of adults say they generally support new buildings in their area – but barely a third of that majority ever have their voices heard in the planning process.
Nationally, 55 per cent of adults say they generally support new buildings in their area – but barely a third of that majority ever have their voices heard in the planning process
In other words: the British public want more homes.
We’ve seen similar figures from our Canadian friends that this could be a game-changer. In Vancouver, only 38 per cent of self-selecting respondents backed new housing on a local site. But when a representative survey was carried out, support shot up to 65 per cent.
That’s a 27-point swing once you actually ask normal people, not just the noisy few with time on their hands – and why I’m delighted to see the launch of the cross-party Representative Planning Group, chaired by Mike Reader MP and Simon Dudley. The current system is delivering a minority veto, and Britain is paying the price in sky-high rents, unaffordable mortgages, and a generation locked out of ownership.
Representative planning
The RPG rightly looks to Auckland for inspiration. They reformed their system to make it representative, cut the Nimby bias, and the results were staggering: building permits soared, price pressures eased, housing became 28 per cent more affordable. Ask the silent majority, build the homes, and watch affordability improve. Simple supply and demand.
And nowhere is demand higher than in London and the South East. This is where the jobs are, where growth should be happening, and where demand for housing is most acute. Yet we’ve allowed Reading, Basingstoke and Crawley – towns with potential to boom – to stagnate because of planning sclerosis.
Yes, we should protect cherished green spaces, where countryside and community identity are intertwined. But let’s not pretend every half-empty brown patch is sacred. Representative planning would help us get that balance right: building at scale in the towns and cities where people actually want to live, while protecting the green lungs that matter most.
Representative planning isn’t about silencing objectors. It’s about making sure the people who actually make up the bulk of the country also get a say – not just the same familiar faces at every committee.
That’s the fight Conservative Yimby is taking to the Conservative Party Conference this autumn. We’ll be hosting our first ever Builders’ Rally, headlined by Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly. It will be unapologetically pro-growth, pro-homes, and pro-future. Because if we don’t deliver homes for the next generation, we’ll deserve to lose them.
Sir Simon Clarke is director of Onward