The housing dilemma—our new special report
How can Britain build more homes?
June 4, 2021
Successive governments have known that Britain has needed more housing and the construction industry agrees. So why hasn’t it happened?
That is the question behind this collection of articles by experts, politicians and architects. The picture that emerges from what they have to say is a frustrating one. At the centre of it all is the planning system, designed to make sure new developments are socially and economically suitable, but which acts as a brake on progress. Politicians instinctively suspicious of large companies like the restraining influence of regulation—but in this case, one of the consequences is a shortage of places for people to live.