Three growth-friendly reforms for the UK’s broken planning system

Abstract:

The owners of land in the UK have pocketed too high a proportion of benefits from the investment that others, especially taxpayers, made in infrastructure and other development. The privileges granted by the 1961 act have contributed to the high costs of land in the UK and constrained growth. High land costs are part of the reason for the UK’s housing problems: lack of affordability gives us the highest average commuting times and least well-insulated homes among major northern European economies. All this must change.