My new paper to be published soon in Housing Studies Volume 35, Issue 3 explores the democratic practices through which housing site allocations are made in neighbourhood plans in England. “The production of a neighbourhood plan for housing site allocations … Continue reading
Author Archives: Quintin Bradley
Will building more homes solve the housing crisis?
Do we have a housing crisis of under-supply, or a crisis of affordability? We seem to be confusing the two things. The current government target of building 300,000 new homes a year depends on the assumption that increasing supply will … Continue reading
The worst vested interest?
In February 2019 the Secretary to the UK Treasury, Liz Truss MP, one of the contenders to replace Theresa May as Prime Minister, described communities objecting to housebuilding as ‘the worst vested interest we’ve got’. Communities resisting development, she said … Continue reading
The use of direct democracy to decide housing site allocations in English neighbourhoods
Research with communities objecting to new house-building
In 2019 I am carrying out national research with groups objecting to housing development. I would like to hear from any community groups who would be interested in taking part in this research through interviews or group discussions. For my … Continue reading
Green Belt – a capacity to engage
Green Belt is an environmental designation internationally adopted by spatial planning regimes, and famously associated with the arousal of passionately loyal identification. The passions aroused by Green Belt are often disparaged by the planning profession, but the capacity to arouse … Continue reading
Public support for Green Belt: common rights in countryside access and recreation
Public support for Green Belt is legendary. It is unquestionably the most popular planning policy, and perhaps the only one that is readily recognised and fiercely defended. This passionate support is often dismissed as sentiment or as an attachment to a … Continue reading
The use of direct democracy to decide housing site allocations in English neighbourhoods
In this new paper I want to investigate the use of direct democracy to decide the location of new housing in England as part of a suite of participatory practices known as neighbourhood planning. I am not satisfied with the way … Continue reading
Neighbourhood planning and the production of spatial knowledge
This paper explores the production of what counts as authoritative knowledge in neighbourhood planning in England. Its aim is to evidence the process through which the intelligibility of place was established in neighbourhood planning and to chart the exclusions and … Continue reading
The impact of place identity in neighbourhood plans
My latest paper to be published in Planning Theory and Practice discusses how neighbourhood plans represent a sense of place and how a convincing narrative of place impacts on policies for housing development. It argues that neighbourhood plans invoke the subjectivities of … Continue reading
The new normal: is a planning orthodoxy being imposed on neighbourhood plans ?
Does it matter that three neighbourhood plans failed examination last year? With over 2000 neighbourhood plans underway and 240 now passed referendum, are these failures to be expected as the number of plans increases? Or is it, more worryingly, the … Continue reading