Could Andy Burnham’s “circuit breaker” plans for devolution expose the biggest contradiction in housing policy?
Burnham’s wish to see a “circuit breaker” to transfer significant powers from Whitehall to regional mayors and local authorities raise an interesting question for planning.
For decades, governments of every political colour have gradually taken more control over housing numbers, for example through regional strategies, the Standard Method, Housing Delivery Tests and local plan examinations. This is because of a long-held belief that local politics, left entirely to its own devices, rarely plans for enough homes.
The reason isn’t difficult to understand. The people who object to development live there today and vote today. The people who need somewhere to live often don’t. So increasingly governments have stepped in, not because they know every community better than local politicians, but because housing need rarely stops at local authority boundaries.
Burnham is encouraging us to imagine a more devolved England. If regional mayors are given greater control over housing, skills, transport and economic growth, who decides how many homes a region actually needs?
If Whitehall continues to set the numbers, is it really devolution?
But if Whitehall steps back completely, what happens when regional leaders face the same political pressures that councils have wrestled with for decades?
Every mayor will want economic growth. Every mayor will want younger people to afford homes. Every mayor will also hear from thousands of existing residents who would rather development happened somewhere else.
That isn’t a criticism of devolution, it’s simply the political reality of planning.
Perhaps an answer might be for government to continue to set the standard method housing target but on a regional basis, while devolving responsibility for deciding where those homes should go.
Regional mayors and combined authorities could then distribute that requirement across their local authorities, with each council responsible for planning for and delivering its share.
My suggestion is that national government decides how many homes are needed and regional leaders decide where they go. To me, that feels like a better devolution without losing sight of tackling our housing crisis.
Lawrence Turner is a director at Boyer.
