The Economist - USA (2021-07-17)

The Economist July 17th 2021 Britain 51

Breach,  will  require  “every  expensivearea
to do their bit”. 
There  has  also  been  too  littlethought
about  the  mix  of  new  housing,saysMr
Hudson.  Britain  isn’t  suffering from a
monolithic housing crisis, butseveraldif­
ferent  ones.  Some  big  citiesstruggleto
build  anywhere  near  enough; Liverpool
has  too  few  homes  for  well­paidprofes­
sionals;  the  north­east’s  existing stock
needs  upgrading;  much  of  thesouth­east
needs more homes for young families.
Mr  Johnson’s  government briefly
seemed  ready  to  tackle  these problems
head­on. A white paper last Augustprom­
ised  the  biggest  shake­up  of  planningin
decades. Every council would havetowrite
a  ten­year  plan  consistent  withproviding
its  share  of  the  national  target,categoris­
ing  all  land  as  protected  (no  buildingal­
lowed),  or  earmarked  for  renewal(some
building)  or  growth  (proposalsthatcon­
formed  with  the  plan  would  beautomati­
cally approved). Locals would losetheabil­
ity to comment on individual applications,
but  would  still  get  a  say  on  thenewten­
year plans that underpin the zones.Build­
ers  reckon  such  a  streamlined system
would  allow  more  development in the
highest­priced areas. 
But such places are preciselywhereop­
position  is  stiffest.  In  local  electionsin
May the Green Party and the LiberalDemo­
crats,  both  opponents  of  manybuilding
projects,  made  inroads  in Tory­voting
counties such as CambridgeshireandSuf­
folk.  The  next  month  the  Lib  Demswona
by­election in Chesham and Amersham,a
pair  of  pricey  London  suburbs,byoppos­
ing new housing and a high­speedrailline
running through the constituency.
In a speech on July 7th to thelgaRobert
Jenrick,  the  housing  secretary,gave the
strongest  signal  yet  that  the  planningbill
expected in Parliament this autumnwould
fall far short of the radicalism oflastyear’s
white paper. He promised thatthecurrent
planning  system  would  not  berippedup,
and  hinted  that  English  councilswitha
track  record  of  permitting  lots of new
housing  could  retain  greater  controlover
planning.  Analysts  fear  that  thenational
target  could  thus  be  retained,evenasthe
areas where demand is highestareallowed
to shirk their duty. “The 300,000homesa
year  target  is  useless  if  you  justendup
building  300,000  micro­apartments in
Sunderland,” says Mr Hudson. 
It is hard for any governmenttotakeon
vested interests who have alwaysvotedfor
it.  For  a  Conservative  government,how­
ever,  the  dilemma  is  particularlysharp.
The fight to build more housingisnotjust
a fight between existing homeownersand
would­be ones: it is a fight betweenthose
who vote Conservative now andthosewho
might in the future—if their aspirationsfor
a home of their own are satisfied.n

ThenewNIMBYs

Eco-warriors

I

njuly 1998 theReadingEveningPost, a

now­defunctpaper,rana storyaboutop­

positiontohousebuilding.RhodriHughes,

a councillor,wasconcernedthatnewflats

wouldovershadowresidents’gardensand

that“thelossoftreeswouldchangethe

lookofthearea”.Lastmonthanotherlocal,

theReadingChronicle, rana similarstory

about housing in nearby Wokingham.

CliveJones,a LiberalDemocratcouncillor,

is exercised about the ecological crisis,

railingthatdevelopersaredestroyingthe

wildlife and habitats of “muntjac deer,

badgers,birds,rabbits”.

Thesharpincreaseinhousebuildingin

recentyearshasgivena filliptonimbys,

people whodon’t minddevelopment as

long asitisNot InMyBack Yard. This

monthYouGov,a pollster,foundthat47%

ofBritonswouldopposenewhousingin

theirarea,upfrom40%sincemid­2019.

Some43%wouldsupportit,a dropofsev­

enpercentagepoints.Butashintedatby

thistaleoftwocouncillors,today’snimbys

arecitingnewconcerns:notjust“myenvi­

ronment”but“theenvironment”.

nimbys have always worried about

wildlife,noise,pollutionandthelike,says

PhilipHubbard,a geographeratKing’sCol­

legeLondon.Andtheirconcernsarenot

merelymercenary:a recentsurveybyTom

O’Grady of University College London

foundthatBritonswhoexpressedopposi­

tion to localhousebuildingwere largely

motivatedbya desiretopreservethebeau­

tyandamenityoftheirarea,ratherthan

thevalueoftheirhome.

Suchattitudescanbecharacterisedas

environmentalism,albeitofanintensely

local,personalsort.Buta growingnumber

ofnimbys nowclaima broadergreen agen­

da.Somecitebiodiversity,sayingthey sup­

portnewhousingaslongasitdoes  not

spoillandteemingwithwildlife.Andrew

Stringer, who leads the Green, Liberal

DemocratandIndependentGroup on Suf­

folk CountyCouncil (and whohas  built

fourhouseshimself ),sayshehas  teamed

up with residents to get developers  to

change their plans. He claims to  have

stoppedtreesbeingfelledandbarn  owls

beingmadehomeless.

Green­tinged nimbys in Essex  want

landslatedforhousingtobe“rewilded”—

helpedreturntoa naturalstate.Elsewhere,

theyareseekingtoblockdevelopment  by

citing its impact on carbon emissions.

SomegroupsarealignedwithExtinction

Rebellion,aninternationalclimate  cam­

paign.InNewburyaplanto build  1,000

homesis beingopposed because  of  the

“climatecrisis”.CampaignersinChesham

claimitscarbonfootprintwouldrise  by  a

fifthif plannedbuildinggoesahead. 

An environment bill making its  way

throughParliamentaimstoprotect nature

despitehighvolumesofhouse­building.

Developers are supposedto ensure  that

biodiversityontheplotstheydevelop  in­

creases overall. One large housebuilder

saysithasresearchedgreenhousing in Ja­

pan,andfoundthatwildflowermeadows

can becreated cheaply.But some  green

nimbys dismisssuchmitigationmeasures

asshabbyandineffective. Onemocks  a

trendfordeveloperstofixbird­boxes  on

houses—likelytobeunpopularwith own­

ersbecauseof”birdpooondoorsteps”.

TheGreenParty’sgainsinMay’s  local

electionscouldbea signthatthenew eco­

nimbysare sincereabouttheirmotives.

JonathanBartley,a co­leaderofthe  party,

says that erstwhile Tory voters in  the

south­eastsawintheGreensa party “that

getswildlife,thatgetstheecological emer­

gency,thatgetsthecountryside”.But oth­

erswonderiftheconversiontogreenery is

merelystrategic.Localsmaynotshare her

environmentalism,saysWendyTurner,  a

GreencouncillorinSuffolk,butthey  see

supportingherpartyasthebestroute  to

stoppingnewdevelopment.Since 2019, at

least 230 councilshavedeclareda climate

emergency;somecampaignersmaysim­

plybeseizingona newweaponinthesame

oldfighttoprotecttheirbackyards.n

Opponents of housebuilding claim to care more about the environment

than about house prices

Won’t someone think of the rabbits?