Cllr Joseph Baum a councillor on Buckinghamshire Council and the Deputy Chairman (Political) of the Chesham and Amersham Conservative Association.
Two weeks ago was New Homes Week 2024, a key awareness date for the industry to praise the benefits of building news homes. Although less celebratory, it’s also an opportunity to reflect on the broader and more divisive conversation about housing.
Before you read on, let me be clear – I am not in favour of building homes everywhere. As a Councillor, I have experienced the impact that inappropriate development has on communities. But, as a Conservative, we do need to confront an issue that risks holding our country back – socially, economically, environmentally, and politically too. As Paul Goodman wrote in a recent piece, it’s time we talked about housing.
According to John Burn-Murdoch’s analysis, the most common situation for 18–34-year-old Brits used to be living and coping as a couple with children. Today, most of that age bracket are living with their parents. Some, which includes many of my own friends, have simply given up on ever being able to own a home of their own.
The Conservative Party, which has historically been on the side of these people, faces a precarious opportunity to reset this imbalance and reassert its commitment to housebuilding. Not addressing the issue is itself a choice and one which runs the risk of creating a generation imbued with the idea that hard work no longer leads to a better life, with graphs and surveys showing a cliff-edge collapse in ownership among young people.
The impact of this means that young people in Britain are bucking a global trend and deserting conservatism. After all why, some would some begin to wonder, should people vote for capitalist party if they themselves are without capital?
The benefits of expanding the choice and quality of homes across our country extend across economic, environmental, social, and political spheres, and align closely with our core Conservative values. Values of aspiration, opportunity, family and fundamentally getting on in life.
Economic growth and prosperity
The UK’s construction sector, an essential pillar of our economy, is currently restrained. By championing housebuilding, we enable not just the construction industry but also the broader ecosystem of small builders, contractors, engineers, and entrepreneurs to thrive. This effort in turn supports skilling our workforce domestically, helping to address our acute skills shortages and reducing our reliance on unsustainable levels of immigration to fill that gap.
Furthermore, increased housing leads to higher council tax receipts and business rates, a key income stream for Local Authorities already struggling with rising costs. This shift could also usher in a regeneration of our town centres, reviving high streets and signalling that our local economy is open for business.
New homes don’t just lead to income generation, however. They can deliver savings too. Despite the recent changes to the NPPF, Local Authorities that struggle to demonstrate a sufficient housing land supply will continue pay a heavy price when rejecting planning applications which are inevitably overturned at Appeal. Imagine how much taxpayers’ money could be saved if we took back control of the planning process and decided where the new homes were built, rather than having an Inspector decide it for us through the appeals process.
Environmental stewardship
The Conservative commitment to the environment extends beyond preserving the green belt, important though that is. New developments offer a chance to enhance biodiversity, improve energy efficiency, and make land accessible to the public – the very issues that are so often raised by those care about the environmental agenda, not to mention the millions of voters who expect us to respond with clear action.
By empowering the private sector, we can provide innovate solutions to address the climate emergency. Restrict their ability to deliver, however, and we will continue to experience a nation with low-quality and low-energy efficient homes.
Even if you don’t accept that new development has the power to improve the local environment, the decision not to take proactive steps to address our housing crisis also has negative consequences for our existing green spaces. Local Authorities that don’t have an up-to-date Local Plan are often those that have the highest level of speculative development.
Far from protecting our green spaces, therefore, the failure of the current planning process has often failed to protect truly valuable green spaces. This makes it imperative for Councils to take control and responsibly allocate development sites, protecting our environment while accommodating growth.
Social responsibility
Our duty to support the most vulnerable in society is compromised by a failure to deliver new homes. With over 1.2 million households on Local Authority waiting lists and many living in substandard conditions, the need for quality housing is hard to deny.
New developments not only offer better-quality homes, with an adherence to more modern standards and additional features such as electric vehicle charging points, but also provide significant open spaces, improved living conditions, and community well-being. As Conservatives, we must champion the dream of homeownership, extending opportunities for secure, quality living to everyone. If we do that, as Mrs Thatcher did when she gave millions the right to buy, then future generations will thank us for it.
Political imperative
The correlation between property ownership and Conservative support is well-documented. Yet, as younger generations grow increasingly disillusioned with the prospect of homeownership, the party faces the challenge of appealing to those people. By fostering an environment where more people can own property, we not only secure our political future but also uphold the principles of capitalism and individual prosperity.
In conclusion, as we navigate the complexities of today’s housing debate, the Conservative Party needs to lead with a vision that is pro-growth, pro-business, and pro-community. That doesn’t mean that we build homes everywhere (the Local Plan process enables us to protect spaces as well as invest in them), but it does mean that we take the bold and long-term decision to build somewhere.
Our party has a history of empowering individuals and communities, and by championing housebuilding, we can continue this legacy, ensuring a prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive future for all.
Let us reaffirm our commitment to not just building more of the right homes, but rekindling the Conservative spirit of innovation, spreading opportunity, and, above all, believing in our people and in their dreams.
The post Joseph Baum: The Conservatives are doomed without a sensible approach to housebuilding appeared first on Conservative Home.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Joseph Baum
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, http://www.conservativehome.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.