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Homes on the Right Tracks

How we can grow our commuter towns affordably and sustainably

By Shaun EnnisPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Releasing green belt land for development can enrich communities and heal divisions.

The British housing crisis has been brewing for several decades. It is a crisis of unaffordability that has complex ‘knock on’ effects for social mobility and inequality in our society. The solution is remarkably straightforward. We need to build more homes.

What Needs to Change?

The crux of the housing crisis is supply. Between 1959 and 1988 around 7.5 million homes were built in England yet between 1989 and 2018 the number of new homes built was only 3.3 million, suggesting a shortfall of 104,000 homes every year, for three decades. Demand based solutions such as ‘help to buy’ schemes only serve to drive up house prices further if the housing stock is not growing enough year by year.

Restrictions like Greenbelts prevent towns and cities expanding horizontally and height restrictions and view corridor concerns stop suburbs from expanding vertically. Added strains on local services without the cash for infrastructure investments mean that local authorities like Trafford Council have virtually no incentive to approve residential developments on any meaningful scale. In England, when we do build, decisions are not driven by demand but by the cost of land, so developments spring up in places where there is less of a call for them simply because the value of land is lower.

Homes on the Right Tracks

I want to see the Government and Greater Manchester leaders to implement the recommendations of the ‘Homes on the Right Tracks’ report produced by Centre for Cities in 2019. The recommendations outlined in the report will enable truly affordable and sustainable developments to take shape in areas within commuting distance to major cities whilst simultaneously providing much needed cash flow for investment in infrastructure and transport links.

Firstly, the scheme would release all greenbelt or agricultural land within 800 metres of our rail and Metrolink stations provided the land is not of significant environmental value. No building on National Parks or Areas of Natural Beauty required. Secondly, infrastructure investment funds can be secured by introducing a Land Development Charge at a fixed percentage of the market value of all new developments when sold. This money would be used exclusively to ensure that local facilities are improved. Next, the development rights to the new land is given to the companies that own the transport infrastructure. They would be required to set up specialist development companies to handle the projects but since only these organisations would be able to develop the land, they will be able to buy it cheaply. With less costs to recover for the developers, property prices will be lower.

The final step would be to set up a ‘Green Development Corporation’ (GDC) for the Greater Manchester region. These GDCs would have planning powers over the land released for development. This would make it possible to make quick decisions maximising both the environmental and social benefits of the development, including optimising and improving the use of the rail system.

Tinkering with the edges of the housing problem is not going to drive the change that Trafford’s next generations deserve. A development of only 1.8% of English Greenbelt land would account for around 2 million new homes – or 15 years of building at recent rates – even with 10% of all newly released land set aside for accessible green space and wildlife preservation. These would be truly affordable, new green homes, built to modern insulation standards within a stone's throw from transport links – cutting down on vehicle emissions. Manchester can and must build its way out of this problem before an entire generation falls victim to runaway house prices. Political inertia over affordable housing will only serve to widen the social and generational inequalities which currently plague us. Trafford must play its full part in the realisation of affordable and sustainable communities for all.

politics
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About the Creator

Shaun Ennis

Shaun from Manchester. Liberal Democrat Councillor representing Timperley Central on Trafford Council.

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