- Wed Jul 23, 2025 9:09 pm
#93269
As I said above, some Yimbys can be just as crazy as Nimbys.
https://conservativehome.com/2025/07/23 ... fused%20to
https://conservativehome.com/2025/07/23 ... fused%20to
Planning reform was once championed by Robert Jenrick, whose white paper led by Jack Airey acknowledged the brutal reality of land economics. Labour eventually embraced some form of it.
As founder of Labour YIMBY, I battled against “Developer’s Charter” smears and pushed planning reform as a growth strategy. Rachel Reeves echoed that message, until Labour pulled the plug. A government minister recently called the U-turn on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill a “win-win,” just days after appearing at a CPRE event. CPRE, whose alumni include suspended MP Chris Hinchliff, would rather protect hedgerows than house young families.
Hinchliff, a self-professed socialist darling of the progressive vegetable lobby, had just published an article calling for Labour to stand up to “vested interests.” Yet he championed more power for unaccountable quangos like Natural England, who is now proposed to wield veto power through new “Environmental Delivery Plans.” This is governance by unelected lawyers and activist bureaucrats. Britain is no longer governed by the rule of law, but by the rule of lawyers, who lick their lips at the prospect of juicy high-cost judicial reviews.
Labour had a chance to change Britain. But they blew it.