‘We don’t just need to build more houses but good neighbourhoods to live in’

Michael Gove gives speech on housing policy The Government’s bold new long-term plan for housing shows that ideas still matter. Today’s announcement is a radical rethinking of housing policy, turning it from a simple numbers game to a mission to create the neighbourhoods of the future. As the great Sir Roger Scruton once wrote for Policy Exchange, “Not enough new homes are built with beauty in mind.” The concept of ‘Building Beautiful’ is now well established – but as Scruton would have been the first to say, building beautiful places isn’t just about the building, but about the whole neighbourhood. Are there bus routes, community halls, parks in which children can play? Are there dark corners where muggers can hide – or well-lit footpaths and cycle paths to encourage healthy living? ‘Increasing housing supply is fundamental to solving the housing crisis’ People don’t just live in houses, they live in neighbourhoods. That’s why last month Policy Exchange designed and published a new Placemaking Matrix – a tool to encourage better dialogue between developers and planning authorities, to help get better places built faster. The Housing Secretary endorsed the Matrix when it was published, saying ‘If we can move beyond the poor-quality developments that still blight too much of our urban environment, we can increase public confidence in both our planning system and design standards,’ Today saw the first major incorporation of placemaking into Government policy. Michael Gove’s comprehensive vision to get Britain building again includes plans to upgrade derelict sites in northern towns, a new ‘super-squad’ of top planners to unblock delays and a grand vision to make Cambridge the science capital of Europe. Crucially though, the concepts of beauty, place and neighbourhood are at the heart of these plans – demonstrating that Gove is not just the Housing Secretary, but also the Communities Secretary. It isn’t just about more homes, but better homes – and better places, too. As Policy Exchange has long argued, the key to getting local people to agree to new developments is to ensure that they are places that people actually want to live, rather than concrete eyesores that ruin the neighbourhood and depress property prices. Even better, there are signs that Britain may be on the brink of a brave new era in which neighbourhoods, and the power of place, are recognised as the fundamental issues in planning and development. Echoing themes she first explored at Policy Exchange in 2019, last month the Shadow Housing Secretary, Lisa Nandy, put the importance of place at the centre of her speech to a major housing conference, saying, ‘Developers are given too little incentive to compete on quality or innovation. Leaving us with poor quality development in the wrong places.’ Both Gove and Nandy recognise that if we want to build more homes – and we need to build more homes – they have to be in neighbourhoods that are good places to live. Michael Gove This matters. Most of the announcements made today by Michael Gove are long-term projects that will take many years to complete, well beyond the span of any single minister’s tenure – or even that of a whole government. It is right that the Government is coming forward with such ambitious, long-term plans: making Britain once again a nation that can think big and build for the future. But if such plans are not to be bedevilled with the rows and delays that have beset our nuclear programme, we need a degree of cross-party consensus on these matters. With interest rates rising and increasing pressure on both rents and mortgages, the need to build more homes is becoming ever more acute. The failure to build does not just hurt homeowners and renters – the critical under-supply of housing in Cambridge imperils its position as a global science powerhouse. A recent Policy Exchange report, Homes for Growth, found that building an extra 100,000 homes a year would add £17.7bn a year to GDP – that’s the equivalent of £250 for every person in the country. But equally, the British people will not accept the reckless tarmacking of our green and pleasant land. Increasing housing supply is fundamental to solving the housing crisis and it remains to be seen whether these measures will enact this on a national scale. However, only by putting place-making at the heart of the country’s approach plans can we build the quality as well as quantity of new houses, neighbourhoods and towns that Britain deserves. Ike Ijeh is Head of Housing, Architecture and Urban Space at Policy Exchange