What the Conservatives have got right in housing
The Housing and Planning Act is a mess, it should've been redrafted entirely. However for now, we're stuck with it. Though the Act is a fine example of how not to draft policy the Conservatives have received a lot of negative press surrounding their complete efforts. But are all their efforts on housing so dire? In the 1980's housebuilding was led by housebuilders, development was mostly organic and industry prescribed. We built a lot of houses and locally. In the 90's things changed, local authorities began deciding community expansion and local housebuilding became a lot more centralised. At first local authorities were equipped to deal with this change, many of the same decision makers remained. Yet as time passed local authorities saw themselves as the deciders and not the enablers. Today the culture of co-operation has almost disappeared with planning being used as a tool of revenue and political gain. Austerity is another conversation entirely and onl...