the times | Friday August 7 2020 1GM 27
Leading articles
loaded. Local councils will be required to divide all
land in their areas into three zones: growth,
renewal and protection. The presumption will
then be that projects in areas earmarked for
growth and renewal that meet building regula-
tions and locally agreed design codes will get the
go-ahead. The existing green belt, areas of scien-
tific interest and “heritage sites” would continue to
be protected. Meanwhile councils will continue to
be required to make sufficient land available to
meet housebuilding targets.
In theory these reforms should introduce
greater predictability into the system. Political
battles would in future focus on the strategic
decision-making in the local plan. Developers
would no longer face the planning risk inherent in
a system in which every application is treated on
a case by case basis. That would be a particular
benefit for smaller housebuilders, which until
30 years ago used to account for nearly 40 per cent
of the market but now just 12 per cent. It should
also make it easier for individual homeowners to
redevelop or even rebuild their own homes,
providing they comply with local design rules. It
could furthermore make it easier to turn commer-
cial property into housing. That should reduce
demand for new greenfield developments.That said, many details of how the proposed
new system will work in practice remain unclear.
In particular, the government needs to spell out its
plans for a national framework for design codes,
including a “fast track for beauty”, and say how
these will be adapted to local preferences. These
could potentially be welcome if they lead to more
aesthetically pleasing terraces and garden squares
that are popular with the public providing they
don’t create new layers of red tape. There are also
legitimate questions over the future provision of
social housing given the proposal to raise the ex-
emption from affordable housing obligations from
developments of more than 10 units to more than- Most rural developments are less than 40
units. The government also appears to have ex-
tended the deadline for all new houses to be
carbon neutral to 2050. That seems too far away.
The government now needs to flesh out these
details and press ahead with the necessary legis-
lation. There were 178,000 new homes built in
England last year, which suggests that whatever
its failings, the current system following recent
reforms has not been as big a block as feared. But
it is still well short of the pledge of 300,000. What
the country cannot afford is a prolonged period of
uncertainty that leads to plans being stalled.
country exits the transition period without a trade
deal with the EU. Indeed it is Japan that has most
to gain from a deal. The DIT estimates that British
exports to Japan would increase by 21 per cent
relative to no deal but Japanese exports to the UK
would jump by 79 per cent.
Even so, a deal would mark an important
warming of relations with an important strategic
ally and Britain’s fifth biggest inward investor.
Those relations were badly damaged by Brexit,
which Japan saw as a breach of faith after so many
of its leading companies were lured to Britain as a
base from which to access the EU’s single market.
Since 2016 there have been signs of Japanese com-
panies pulling back from Britain, including Hon-
da, which announced it was closing its Swindon
car plant last year. Even a limited deal now would
help to boost confidence at a time when the west-
ern alliance needs to work together to confront
the challenge posed by an expansionist China.
The government’s challenge is to follow up a
deal with agreements with other big economies.
This is proving harder than ministers had antici-
pated. While two of the EU’s trading partners,Switzerland and South Korea, have agreed to roll
over their deals with Britain, many have not.
Among those that have failed to do so are Canada,
Mexico, Ukraine and Turkey. In some cases,
countries are waiting to see what Britain agrees
with the EU before sitting down to negotiate
terms. Meanwhile hopes of a comprehensive trade
deal with the US before this year’s presidential
election have faded in recent weeks. If Donald
Trump loses, it is unclear how committed a Presi-
dent Biden would be to a deal with Britain.
Of course none of these deals could compensate
for the economic cost, at least in the short-term, of
failing to do a deal with the EU. In recent weeks
some of those costs have started to become clearer
as the prospects appear to be receding. Indeed it is
the prospect of no deal, and the implications that
this might have for the supply chains of Japanese
manufacturers given the prospect of increased
costs of sourcing components from the EU, that
appears to have brought a reluctant Tokyo to the
table. In this respect, celebrations over any UK-
Japan deal should be tempered by reflection: that
this is a deal borne of weakness not strength.Goop. Yet both the phrase and the sentiment have
endured, a fact she is not sorry for. “Instead of
people approaching me with, ‘Why did you say
that?’, they now approach me with, ‘How do you
do that?’” she writes in the current issue of Vogue.
It is undoubtedly easier to separate amicably
when you have a selection of mansions in which to
do so, or to honeymoon together when you remar-
ry. But the desire for a blameless separation should
be celebrated, not ridiculed. Besides other man-
tras have attracted derision before their utility was
acknowledged. Donald Rumsfeld was mocked for
dismissing the lack of evidence about SaddamHussein’s weapons of mass destruction with his
musings on “known unknowns”. While he
popularised the phrase it was already familiar to
security planners. One mused that Rumsfeld had
only missed out: “what we do not like to know.”
Yogi Berra, the baseball star, was known for his
“Yogi-isms”, pithy musings often mocked as
tautologies. Yet they have rightly endured.
Nobody needs “it’s deja vu all over again” ex-
plained. And what could be truer than “it ain’t over
til it’s over”? Berra himself was unduly reticent
about his lexical contributions. “I really didn’t say
everything I said,” he insisted.Bricks and Mortar
Proposed new planning reforms should lead to more and better
quality homes being built. But important details remain to be resolved
There’s a simple test to evaluate the government’s
proposed new planning reforms. Will they lead to
the building of more, better quality, better
designed homes of the sort that people actually
want to own in parts of the country where they
want to live? There’s no question that Britain
needs more housing. It’s not just that the popula-
tion is forecast to grow to 70 million over the next
ten years, putting further pressure on housing
stock. But due to demographic changes, including
an ageing population and the rise in single-
occupancy households, the number of homes
needed is rising too. Yet building rates, at least
until recently, have been too slow, while much of
what is being build comprises ugly developments
sprawled across greenfield sites miles from where
people work. That puts pressure on infrastructure
and leads to increased pollution.
On the face of it, the proposals published yester-
day do pass this test. In truth, they are not quite as
radical as Boris Johnson, in a characteristically
bombastic introduction to the white paper, or the
prime minister’s critics, claim. They do not “level
the foundations” of the entire postwar planning
framework, nor do they deny local residents a say
in what can be built and where in their areas.
Instead the system will be streamlined and front-Trading Places
A UK-Japan trade deal would be an important win for post-Brexit Britain
The arrival of the Japanese trade minister in
Britain for intensive talks is a signal that a new
trade deal could be close to being reached, perhaps
as soon as today. It seems likely that what event-
ually emerges after an intensive two months of
negotiation is essentially a rollover of the existing
EU-Japan trade deal. Britain will of course cease to
benefit from this when it exits the transition
period at the end of the year, but nonetheless a
new deal is a significant moment for the country.
It means that the UK can continue to trade on
preferential terms with at least one of the world’s
top economies rather than being obliged to adhere
to World Trade Organisation terms. If the deal
includes some added benefits in areas such as
agriculture, data and professional services so
much the better.
But the real significance lies beyond the imme-
diate boost to trade. These are by the govern-
ment’s own analysis likely to be minimal. The
Department for International Trade (DIT) has
estimated that a deal would boost Britain’s GDP by
0.07 per cent. That compares with the 5 per cent
hit to GDP that the Treasury has forecast if theConsciously Wise
Even the most mockable of phrases can contain important truths
Utter the phrase “conscious uncoupling”, even in
polite company, and you may be met with a
derisive snort. Gwyneth Paltrow, high priestess of
wellness-related psychobabble, now admits that
even she balked at the construction when she first
heard it, thinking it “a bit full of itself”. Australia’s
Plain English Foundation declared it the worst
piece of jargon to surface in 2014. The Sunday
Times called it “a fresh spin on the old ‘we can still
be friends’ chestnut for the quinoa generation”.
Paltrow recalls the “ire and derision” that greet-
ed her introduction of the phrase when she an-
nounced her divorce on her lifestyle website,UK: Halifax house price index is published;
Sundance Film Festival, London, hosts
a digital event featuring the premiere of
Uncle Frank starring Paul Bettany.
US: Employment statistics are published.
For the first time in
nearly 250 years,
the dog-like yapping
of the white-tailed
eagle can be heard
over North
Yorkshire. A pair
from a reintroduction scheme in the Isle of
Wight have wandered north and decided to
stay. The biggest of all British bird species,
these eagles, with their unforgettable white
tails and 2.5m wingspan, are soaring over
the fastnesses of the North Yorkshire Moors:
Kildale, Bransdale and Farndale. Another
restoration plan has already brought them
back to Scotland. It is hoped that they
spread, allowing millions to experience
their sheer wildness and marvel at their
legendary sky dancing. Yet obstacles remain.
An eagle was poisoned recently in
Aberdeenshire. jonathan tulloch
In 1840 an act of parliament under Viscount
Melbourne prohibited the employment of
boys as chimney sweeps climbers.
Anne Richards, pictured,
chief executive, Fidelity
International, 56; Greg
Chappell, cricketer,
captain of Australia
(1975-77, 1979-84), 72;
Brian Conley,
entertainer, 59; Dominic
Cork, cricketer, England (1995-2002), 49;
Bruce Dickinson, singer, Iron Maiden, Piece
of Mind (1983), and airline pilot, 62; David
Duchovny, actor, The X-Files (1993-2002,
2015-16, 2018), 60; Garrison Keillor, writer,
Lake Wobegon Days (1985), and broadcaster,
78; Sir Andrew Large, deputy governor,
Bank of England (2002-06), 78; Zane Lowe,
radio and TV presenter, 47; Owen Luder,
architect, president, Royal Institute of British
Architects (1981-83, 1995-97), 92; Seema
Malhotra, Labour MP for Feltham and
Heston, shadow employment minister, 48;
Robert Mueller, special US counsel who
investigated allegations of Russian
interference in the 2016 US election,
director of the FBI (2001-13), 76; Matthew
Parris, Times columnist, broadcaster and
Conservative MP (1979-86), 71; Sir Nicholas
Patten, lord justice of appeal, who retires
today, 70; Charlotte Ronson, fashion
designer, 43; Nick Ross, presenter,
Crimewatch (1984-2007), 73; Alexei Sayle,
comedian, The Young Ones (1982-84), 68;
Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of
Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services,
65; Sir Michael Smurfit, chairman, Smurfit
Kappa Group (2005-07), 84; Sir Richard
Sykes, chairman, Royal Institution, and
chancellor, Brunel University, 78; Charlize
Theron, actress, The Cider House Rules
(1999), Monster (2003), 45; Craig Tregurtha,
group managing editor, The Times and
Sunday Times, 49; Jimmy Wales, co-founder
(2001) of Wikipedia, 54; Prof Michael Wells,
gynaecological pathologist, 68; John
Woodcock, cricket correspondent of The
Times (1954-1987), and editor of Wisden
Cricketers’ Almanack (1981-1986), 94; Adam
and Simon Yates, road and track racing
cyclists, 28.
“Meek wifehood is no part of my profession;
I am your friend, but never your possession.”
Vera Brittain, First World War nurse,
writer and pacifist, Married Love (1926)
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