Utter rubbish being spouted here. You can trust the Guardian to give someone a contrary platform. Oh its all about benefiting the construction lobby. This statement belongs on Tiktok sandwiched between the "flat earthers who think we didn't go to the moon" and the "Trump set up his own botched assination." Housing is just consumption???? What! No!!! investing in housing of course acts like other cash investment into the economy. This from someone who read Economics 🙈. Its an investment in our future also. We have a housing crisis if not a housing emergency. Private for sale housing to get planning consent HAS to deliver a proportion of affordable housing (contracted under the s106 as a form of land value capture) timed to be built to coincide (it cannot be left to last) whether that housing is subsidised rent or shared ownership. It also provides financial resources via CIL and other S106 benefits for the community. Then you have the societal benefits of a decent home and its impact on well being and the NHS bill. Embodied carbon? - honestly the next NIMBY exploitation after the Great Crested Newt Look at the G15 research on the cost benefits of affordable housing. https://lnkd.in/eDDYABih Having checked what else Simon Jenkins has pontificated on I shouldn't be surprised I guess.
If you ever need to explain the planning system to someone, just direct them to Simon Jenkins' many commentaries on it, and tell them that the complete opposite is true. How his fundamental misunderstandings of policy, process, and evidence, continue to be published by reputable outlets is a persistent mystery.
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4moBlimey! Jenkins seems to have no grasp of reality here. I usually find the Guardian both entertaining and thoughtful. This was neither.