Possibly the real problem with housing.
Dale Vince(From his FB page)
Labour’s 1.5m new home target is vital but we don’t need new planning laws to achieve it. Bats and newts are not the blockers - property developers are. There are 1.4m homes consented and waiting to be built in Britain right now - why?. Property developers operate like the oil and gas cartel OPEC - which restricts supply to keep the global price of fossil fuels high - exactly the same is happening in house building. We need to end it. Here’s how - charge local authority rates on land with permission for new homes - as if those homes have been built. This will impose a significant cost on land banking (which is currently free) - and incentivise building. What’s the point of tearing up environmental protections, to consent more homes that developers can simply add to their land bank. The rules we need to change are ones that will get more homes built - not consented. Planning rules are fine (1.4m homes consented says so) we need changes that will oblige building. Make the developers build or pay. And they will surely build.
Dale Vince
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/04/labour-mps-poised-to-rebel-over-planning-bill-amid-concerns-for-nature?fbclid=IwY2xjawKznWRleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFOamdwOEgzNFRoTHFOUHBlAR4Qhwk268KUyskj41klkabaaM7BEr5SPrPldSWQnYSBBnIE135kkjfFfontjA_aem_AWi0K2JN6_Nbf017mTDwhw
Labour’s 1.5m new home target is vital but we don’t need new planning laws to achieve it. Bats and newts are not the blockers - property developers are. There are 1.4m homes consented and waiting to be built in Britain right now - why?. Property developers operate like the oil and gas cartel OPEC - which restricts supply to keep the global price of fossil fuels high - exactly the same is happening in house building. We need to end it. Here’s how - charge local authority rates on land with permission for new homes - as if those homes have been built. This will impose a significant cost on land banking (which is currently free) - and incentivise building. What’s the point of tearing up environmental protections, to consent more homes that developers can simply add to their land bank. The rules we need to change are ones that will get more homes built - not consented. Planning rules are fine (1.4m homes consented says so) we need changes that will oblige building. Make the developers build or pay. And they will surely build.
Dale Vince
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/04/labour-mps-poised-to-rebel-over-planning-bill-amid-concerns-for-nature?fbclid=IwY2xjawKznWRleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFOamdwOEgzNFRoTHFOUHBlAR4Qhwk268KUyskj41klkabaaM7BEr5SPrPldSWQnYSBBnIE135kkjfFfontjA_aem_AWi0K2JN6_Nbf017mTDwhw
