In the rush to build houses, let's remember what communities need

The Guardian

17-03-2025

The rationale for the planning and infrastructure bill is that planning is the main reason for the tardy rate of housebuilding (The Guardian view on the planning bill: new towns must be for people who need them, 11 March). Removing red tape, it is supposed, will facilitate the market speeding up housebuilding. In reality there are more than 1m plots of land that have planning permission and have not been built on. That's because housebuilding is dominated by large-volume builders that build at a pace and scale to maximise profits and shareholder dividends.
The solution to what's called the 'housing affordability crisis' does not lie in the market. It lies with making social-rent council housing the priority, as the Attlee government did. Angela Rayner cannot deliver a 'council housing revolution' without funding it. Instead, Labour has maintained the Tory definition of affordable housing that includes funding affordable rent, shared ownership and affordable private rent.
None of these tenures should be funded by the government. Funding should only go to social-rent homes. It will save money on the benefit bill and is most affordable to tenants.
As we approach the 80th anniversary of Attlee's government, we should remind ourselves that, in far worse economic conditions, Aneurin Bevan managed to persuade the then chancellor Hugh Dalton to triple funding for building council housing. To facilitate it, he followed a policy of cheap money (low interest rates). Councils got grants for 60 years and were able to borrow from the Public Works Loan Board to pay the costs of building.
The funding of grants for building/acquisitions on the scale of 100,000 a year can be found, if it is a political priority, by returning to a progressive taxation system, taxing wealth and ending corporate welfare.Martin WicksSecretary, Labour Campaign for Council Housing
The success of planning reforms will hinge on creating sustainable communities. In the government's rush to build houses, we can't forget that what we actually need is homes for people – and people need to be part of a community. Schools, healthcare and essential retail are often left out of the conversation or abandoned to the whims of the market, but this social infrastructure is vital, as are energy, transportation and water. With more than 1m empty homes in England and the significant carbon impact of construction, the focus should be on incentivising retrofitting of empty homes and upgrading existing infrastructure – especially when it is already at the heart of a community.
We must address the housing crisis, and home building could unlock economic growth. But our lodestar must be growth that is sustainable.Rebecca Dillon-RobinsonPrincipal urban planner, Ramboll
I read your editorial and was amused by the thought that 'protection of nature' should be an essential part of proposals. The Labour-controlled council in Lincoln has begun a development (with a local building company) of 3,200 homes, plus necessary infrastructure. The first part of the project was to create a new road and 52 houses. In doing so, eight magnificent oaks were felled (at least one ancient) – all with tree preservation orders. Dozens of other trees were destroyed and hundreds of naturalised bulbs dug up. I walk past the site daily and am still mortified 18 months later. I have resigned from Labour in protest.Pip SandersLincoln
As a leaseholder myself, I strongly agree with Harry Scoffin (A two-tier housing market will be the result of Labour's half-baked leasehold reform plans, 13 March) that this medieval system needs to be abolished once and for all – not just for new and future homes but for all the millions of homes currently trapped in it. The whole concept of leaseholding is, when looked at objectively, a grotesque financial con trick: how can it be said that I and my wife are 'homeowners' when a few decades down the line the leasehold runs out and presumably we will be dispossessed of our legally purchased property? What is stopping the government doing the decent thing? Daniel GriffithsColchester
Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.