Boles is right to say that social justice means new homes. So let's hope his localist housing plan pays off.

By Paul Goodman
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The average age of a first-time home-buyer is now 35, compared to 28 ten years ago.  Policy-makers can respond to this continuing rise in one of three main ways.  The first is to do nothing, and watch the British dream of home ownership become the preserve of the middle-aged and elderly.  The second is for the state to impose new housing on local communities by central diktat.  This would be incompatible with a free society, and is in any event impossible under the present planning framework, in which local authorities have played such a large part since 1945.  This was none the less the approach tried by the last Labour Government, with its regional spatial strategies and hosuing targets and all the rest of it.  The result was the lowest level of housebuilding since the war.

The third was set out on this site last year by Alex Morton of Policy Exchange.  Essentially, it envisages central government offers local communities money in exchange for new developments.  This is the approach that Nick Boles, who became Planning Minister last September, is taking.  Yesterday evening, he set out some of the details on Newsnight: neighbourhood groups will be offered a slice of the Community Infrastructure Levy in return for approving development plans, and local people will be asked to back them in a referendum.  Boles is a former Director of Policy Exchange, and the move reflects its long-held localist convictions.  I have been supportive of the scheme on this site and in the Daily Telegraph, though I was doubtful whether Boles would get approval either from CLG or, more importantly, the Treasury.

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Nick Boles’s proposal for solving Britain’s housing shortage? Build beautiful

By Peter Hoskin
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Judging only from the headlines in today’s papers, you might get the impression that Nick Boles wants to pour ugly, ugly concrete over Britain’s countryside. They’re taking their cue from the minister’s claim, spoken in a Newsnight interview which airs tonight, that:

“In the UK and England at the moment we’ve got about nine per cent of land developed. All we need to do is build on another two to three per cent of land and we’ll have solved a housing problem.”

But, actually, it’s beauty — not ugliness — that Mr Boles is keen to spread. In a speech that he’s delivering to the Town and Country Planning Association’s annual conference tomorrow, he suggests that a lot of the resistance to new housing developments comes about because the developments are often “pig ugly”. This creates a “vicious cycle”, which he describes thus:

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Stormed at with shot and shell, Nick Boles rides into planning's Valley of Death

By Paul Goodman
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Gunfire greets the new Planning Minister and his views on building more homes...

Consider the prospect that Nicholas Boles, the new Planning Minister at CLG, surveys as he takes up his new duties, like some epaulette-garnished light dragoon peering towards the Russian guns at Balaclava.  Cannon to the right of him, cannon to the left of him, and all that.  On the one side are George Osborne and the Treasury, urging instant housebuilding, a purging of green belt rules and regulations, Growth Now.  On the other are CLG and the massed ranks of Conservative councillors in the shires and the Mail and Telegraph stables - plus those who tend to vote for those councillors and read those papers: the pressed voters of the town and suburb extremities who, understandably, don't want to lose the little green space they've got.

Somewhere amidst the smoke and fog of war David Cameron can be glimpsed roaming restlessly, his mind on many things.  And at the end of the valley are the most deadly guns of all: those of the town hall planners who have run the system since the era of Clement Attlee, and thus have everything to lose from change.  Indeed, Mr Boles has the distinction, perhaps unique even to this Minister-battered age, of coming under fire before his appointment was actually confirmed.  The mere rumour of it sent those so disposed scurrying to Google Search, where they rapidly dug out some colourful remarks of the kind politicians craft to give fizz to a speech (he had described opponents of planning reform as "hysterical, scare-mongering, latter-day luddites").

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Housing - if not radical reform now, then when?

By Paul Goodman
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Policy Exchange's housing plan might have been written to offend vested interests...

In our Comment Section today, Alex Morton of Policy Exchange urges the creation of a Secretary of State of Housing in the coming reshuffle, so that this new Cabinet appointment can drive through radical planning reform.  He also argues that the current centralised system has failed and that localism will succeed: under his scheme, set out in the think-tank's paper Cities for Growth and in previous Policy Exchange papers, planning would be taken away from local councils and given to local communities.

In short, these would vote on development proposals for their own backyards, and yes votes would bring compensation for those affected.  NIMBYs would thus have an incentive to become YIMBYs - Yes-In-My-Back-Yardies.  Local plans would be stripped down.  Section 106 agreements would go.  Quality control would be more about local material, less about high density and zero car spaces.  When supported locally, building would be easier on brown field and green field sites - but there would be a green belt improvement levy to improve the parts of it that aren't built on.

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As the growth row over Heathrow goes on, don't forget the one over housing - and building on the Green Belt

There was more in ConservativeHome's newslinks this morning about Ministerial disagreements over Heathrow, which are being projected by suggestions that Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, may be moved.  The report was from the Financial Times (£).

The lobby is writing less about the other big divergence of view over building and growth - namely, over housing and the green belt  This is probably because are no suggestions that Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, will be moved in the reshuffle.

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Grant Shapps, sounding like a Party Chairman, says David Cameron should be judged only after a full term of office

By Matthew Barrett
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It's worth noting Grant Shapps' Daily Telegraph article this morning. There are a trio of reasons for this. Firstly, Ministers don't write for newspapers all that often, so it's interesting when they do. Secondly, Shapps is the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government, but he writes not about housing, but about government in general, and what constitutes successful governance:

"Getting a full term is more important than you might think because governing comes in three distinct stages ... First you’ve got to tell people what you intend to do. Second, you have to legislate to make it happen. Third you need to follow through to turn all those new rules and laws into real life outcomes. Only then can the electorate truly judge how your pledges stack up against reality."

The final, and most notable part of Shapps' article is the section in which he assures the Telegraph - and Conservative voters - that the Prime Minister knows how to ensure Ministers perform:

"David Cameron knows delivery means everything. As one of those ministers hauled into Number 10 to have my feet held to the fire, I’ve born witness to the PM’s sheer determination to get the job done….The Prime Ministerial interrogation presses ministers into detail that might surprise some."

This is the sort of thing a Chairman of the Conservative Party might write, and funnily enough, one of the top tips for the job - should the Prime Minister see fit to reshuffle the Cabinet - is Shapps. His article today will do nothing to decrease the speculation.

The Government's planning reforms look like another policy that will anger the Tory grassroots

By Matthew Barrett
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There's a section of James Forsyth's Mail on Sunday column that's worth noting:

"George Osborne regards forcing through changes to the planning rules as one of his most significant Budget measures. They will now be published on Tuesday and, in the words of one Government source, will be "unashamedly pro-growth’" Downing Street knows the reforms will be controversial, but believes they are crucial to the economic recovery. But it seems the effects of these changes might not be anywhere near as dramatic as intended. Lawyers at the Department for Communities and Local Government have already told officials in other departments that they do not expect the new system to have that much impact."

Can you guess why the planning reforms won't be "anywhere near as dramatic as intended"? Europe! Forsyth continues:

"The problem is that Whitehall lawyers believe the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into English law could stymie the changes. They expect residents opposed to developments will attempt to use the Convention’s stipulation that people have a right to a "family life: to prevent building near them."

This is yet another area of Coalition policy where some Labour-implemented or invented layer of government pops up to interfere and stop growth. Whether it's quangos, domestic human rights lawyers, or some European resolution/convention/court/directive, there are very few policies the Coalition has been able to get on with and carry out without a strange, unaccountable, and often foreign body intervening.

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Boris Johnson's re-election budget presents his manifesto for transport, housing and crime

By Matthew Barrett
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Earlier today, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson addressed the London Assembly with his proposed budget. Boris' re-election campaign has said the draft budget "could not have made the choice for the next Mayor of London any clearer".

The most noticeable thing about the speech is that instead of focusing on exciting projects City Hall can show off (the Olympics, etc), Boris instead talks about crime, transport and housing most prominently. The budget closely follows the advice of ConservativeHome columnist Stephan Shakespeare, who wrote yesterday:

"Our poll showed the least important issues to Londoners were ‘Promoting London’s image’ and ‘Promoting the Olympics’... What London voters really care about is crime, transport, and cutting the high cost of living in the city. Crime is already a plus for Boris; now he needs to concentrate on winning the argument on transport. And he can best show he cares about easing the financial burden on Londoners by lowering its price."

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The largest state under Queen Elizabeth and the smallest army since Queen Victoria

By Tim Montgomerie
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Today, sandwiched between Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, we have two very different insights into the Coalition's policy towards Britain's armed forces. The front page of the Daily Mail records the good news that the Government is going to instruct local authorities to put servicemen at the front of the queue for social housing. The Telegraph, in contrast, says that defence cuts may produce a bigger reduction in the number of military personnel than was first suggested. 

The Telegraph has a leaked document which suggests that twice as many military personnel - 16,500 - will lose their jobs as originally thought over the course of this parliament and that 2,500 of these will be wounded personnel. This story led this morning's Today programme. Thomas Harding, The Telegraph's Defence Editor, claims that the Government has not been honest with soldiers serving in warzones:

"When the Army cuts were first announced the Government made it clear that no one serving in Afghanistan would lose their jobs. But that was really not quite the case. The Daily Telegraph disclosed evidence that soldiers serving in Helmand would receive “at risk” letters that would allow them to take voluntary redundancy. Soldiers have gone into to battle to do the politicians' bidding in the knowledge that those same politicians were more than likely to remove their jobs once the fighting was done. But what today’s revelations in the Telegraph show is that the redundancy business has got a lot worse. Despite the Army’s back-tracking it cannot get away from the point that soldiers in the front line have been told that if they get wounded they stand a greater chance of losing their job."

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Anti-planning campaigners urged to stop scaremongering, as Greg Clark MP promises to listen to constructive suggestions

By Tim Montgomerie
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In an interview with The Times (£) Greg Clark MP attempts to take the heat out of the controversy surrounding the Government's attempt to introduce a presumption in favour of sustainable development. Dr Clark is proposing to sit down with critics of his plans and consider all reasonable amendments that will protect the environment but will still address the need for more housebuilding and other jobs-creating developments.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme he said that countryside groups like the National Trust had been very "abstract" in their criticisms so far and he noted that their campaign had featured a photograph of urban sprawl in Los Angeles as if that would happen in the UK. He said that it was time for the Trust to become "forensic" and say specifically how they think the Bill might be improved.

In yesterday's Telegraph Clark explained that the "presumption" is a mechanism that will ensure all "proposals that don’t present problems should be approved promptly." Controversial proposals will still need local consent but uncontroversial developments shouldn't get bogged down in red tape.

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