Ireland has an acute housing shortage, and a political class determined not to solve it. Politicians in Ireland are not controlled by big business, as is so often alleged, but by the people who can vote for them. That is people who live in their constituencies - and the people who have somewhere to live appear to be united in their opposition to any development in their area.
Because the original planning system was designed to give voters what they wanted, developments of our towns pushed outwards into greenfield sites, increasing commuting times, traffic, and air pollution.
The result is that too many of us now live in low-density suburban housing.
The Conservatives have failed young people (and themselves) on housing – again cam.ac.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cam.ac.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
City A.M..
Dr Samuel Hughes is a senior fellow at Policy Exchange and a research fellow at the University of Oxford, and his focus at Policy Exchange is on understanding why the quantity and quality of new homes and neighbourhoods is so inadequate, and on developing policy instruments to improve them.
The report proposes that residents of a street should be able to agree by majority on new “strict” rules for designs to make better use of their plots.
A street plan, the report suggests, would greatly increase the value of residents’ homes which would be strong grounds to agree to such proposals.
Proposals for ‘street votes’ offer an incentive for suburban residents to increase housing density, writes architect Ben Derbyshire, chair of HTA Design.