A lament over the easing of planning permission:

“The new legislation fundamentally undermines the notion of a democratic, professional and accountable planning system,” says Dr Ben Clifford, professor at UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning, who co-led the research. “Not only will it continue to produce more tiny flats with poor living conditions, but it also means the developers are not required to provide any affordable housing or make any contributions to local infrastructure, like parks and playgrounds. It’s placing a huge burden on local communities, while at the same time making more profit for developers.”

That democratic, professional and accountable planning system is incapable - as the number of houses not being built shows - of producing the dwellings the nation desires in either number or type. Thus the idea that perhaps we should change it.

For example, if we desire housing to be built then perhaps we shouldn’t make permission to do so subject to having to bribe for the issuance of the permission. Sorry, we mean promises to build affordable housing and build local infrastructure.

One of the joys of the experiment being conducted at present being that house building numbers are going up as we dismantle that professional planning system. Of course, this will disgruntle those whose position relies upon the continued existence of the restrictive and counterproductive system - say, those who are professors in teaching people how to constipate the economy through planning - but the rest of us might rather like having more housing, at better prices, in the form people desire to live in in places people would like to live.