Building for the future or building on the future? by Ian Tattersall

I can think of no better way of introducing this article than the quotation, “the beauty of our landscape; the particular cultures and traditions that rural life sustains, these are national treasures, to be cherished and protected for everyone’s benefit. It is not enough for politicians to say that – we need leaders who really understand it and feel it in their bones”. In light of these words from the Prime Minister, it seems surprising that David Cameron is advocating a planning system where the default answer is yes. Most alarming of these proposals is the threat to the greenbelt.

Currently covering around 6000 square miles of the country, the benefits of the greenbelt are clear; it constitutes a protective barrier preventing expansion of the town into the countryside, known as urban sprawl. If this threat is not enough, the reasons for it are even more problematic.

The first reason claimed is that weaker planning restrictions will lead to improved economic performance in the construction sector. After the catastrophic global economic crisis, where a lack of regulation led to free rein, the so-called “cutting of the red tape” cannot be a good thing. This is evidenced by the countries with the weakest planning control (Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland) all being hit the hardest by the crisis. Surely this shows that deregulation is not appropriate.

The second reason claimed is that housing demand requires relaxation of planning laws. However, at the time of writing, there are 740,000 empty homes and 400,000 plots already with planning permission in the UK. There is also enough brownfield land to build over 1,000,000 homes. The reason why houses are not being built is not a planning system where 80% of housing proposals are approved; it is the economic conditions. These are of severely restricted credit, householders finding themselves cash-strapped and a lack of confidence and demand. To put it simply, until the economic position picks up, building will not.

The knee jerk reaction by the Government to increase economic performance and satisfy housing demand achieves neither. Instead it threatens the countryside like never before. Just as alarming, it shows a complete failure of the Government to understand the reasons for the lack of building and economic problems. As the Government announces this week that it has not met deficit targets, it is further evidence that they are clueless as how to solve the economic situation in this country.

Ian Tattersall

Law Student 

BPP University College