Grant Shapps promises incentives to turn NIMBYs into YIMBYs

YIMBYs being Yes, In My Back Yard!

In a speech to the IPPR Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps MP said that not-in-my-backyard attitudes to new development were perfectly rational so long as there were no benefits to local communities:

"Extra homes require additional services and councils have to pick up the tab. Now of course, new Council Tax can be collected from each additional household, yet the mind-blowing complexity which is local government finance may mean that an area is actually worse off once the homes have been built. So let's see... More people... a loss of space and amenity... oh, and you may pay more, just for the pleasure. And they wonder why people object!"

Mr Shapps proposes a host of incentives to encourage local communities to accept new builds:

"A future Conservative Government will match pound-for-pound the Council Tax revenue received on all new homes for a period of six years. And in order to help fix Labour's affordable housing crisis, we will guarantee 125 pence for every pound received in Council Tax from new social homes... again in addition to the money already collected."

Using his own experience Mr Shapps calculates that a new development of 10,000 homes would bring new matched funding of £100m.  He proposes reforms to the planning system to ensure that communities will have a transparent say in how that extra funding is used.

Today's Times quotes industry sources who are sceptical about this "incentivised localism". Read Grant Shapps' full speech.

Tim Montgomerie

> 12.45pm Lawrence Kay on CentreRight highlights Policy Exchange's success in moving Tory policy on housing