Every now and then one hears a quote that is both hilarious and depressing at the same time. I was listening recently to a Spectator podcast where journalist James Heale said: “The great American dream is the white picket fence and the new home. The great British dream is to stop that home being built.”
Readers of PropViews will likely have the same reaction I did which was to guffaw with laughter and then be overcome by a profound sense of sadness. Those of us in the ‘delivery’ business of our industry have a driving purpose to build great buildings, create great places, deliver new infrastructure, but it is harder than ever to avoid anti-development campaign groups, let alone garner support for new development.
It never used to be this hard, so what has changed? There are those who promote the concept that what is needed is more consultation, more engagement. I disagree. There has never been more ways to contribute to and debate planning applications beyond the traditional lamp post notice and neighbour letter:
- Developer consultation events
- Developer mail outs
- LPA email mailing lists
- Resident Facebook groups
- Resident Instagram
- Resident X
- Resident WhatsApp groups
These platforms allow anyone wanting to stop something to build up opposition from their sofa and attract supporters regardless of whether they are next door the development site or the next suburb over. And that is before we get to the anti-development charter of Neighbourhood Planning introduced by the Coalition Government. I get the logic – giving locals a voice and role in shaping their local neighbourhoods to support good development – but it fundamentally fails to take account of the uncomfortable truth that a lot of the people who are willing to be involved in these enterprises are pettifogging curtain twitchers, hellbent on stopping change.
None of this would be the delivery-stopping problem it has become if it weren’t for the fact that the pettifogging curtain twitchers are voters. Politics and politicians have always been a part of the system that shapes the built environment, but can the imagine the fear a councillor or MP has when there is an X/Facebook juggernaut pile-on coming at you before an election?
To demonstrate the point I can relay my experience as an Independent member of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation planning committee. Back in 2016 we finally had our first planning application before us that was approved with one exception – Cllr X from Hammersmith and Fulham had voted against. The following month I was talking to Cllr Y from Ealing before the meeting and I asked how he was. His reply was: “My constituents are up in arms – they think Cllr X is a hero.” And it struck me – as an independent committee member, I didn’t have to worry about votes.
Politics has always been a part of planning, and always will given the need for democratic accountability. But the world of social media has amplified the cultural trend of stopping new development. When you layer in the assumption by the public that developers are evil and that some LPAs and politicians believe seeking a profit is morally wrong, it means achieving success is in spite of the system, not because of it.
Obviously there have been good leaders and good planners that have pushed good development schemes through the system despite sustained opposition. But do you know what happens? Nothing. My street includes mostly Edwardian terraces and across from me a large Council estate (a cursory glance at my Bomb Damage Map coffee table book explains why) and, until a few years ago, a development plot. On this plot was proposed a 1 to 11 storey retirement home. Local residents took to the barricades to stop it and, through iteration after iteration, refusals, appeals, the applicant eventually secured permission and it was built. No one notices it now.
But what to do? How can we change the culture of a society that doesn’t want change and doesn’t like anything new or different? One where it is now a national sport to stop new homes being built? A big driver of change comes from leadership – culture comes from the top. We need our leaders to be bold and brave, making the case for new development and not pandering to the shouty voices. A series of leaders put their necks on the line to support 20,000 new homes and 25,000 new jobs – Steve Reed, Eddie Lister, Simon Milton, Boris Johnson – and Vauxhall Nine Elms is on track to deliver those new homes.
We need to bring back the cultural spirit of supporting change, supporting growth, and being an aspiration country. To the barricades!
