London shows how localism can work
Neil Hadden’s resistance to housing localism sounds hackneyed and outmoded (‘Housing boss claims localism is a ruse to stop investment’, www.insidehousing.co.uk, 5 July).
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He seems wedded to a centralised command and control system, run from Whitehall, that has resulted in an all-time low in new homes built in Britain in the past decade.
Housing desperately needs innovation. Localism gives local authorities the much-needed incentive to build new homes. It will also afford communities a real say and stake in what is built and where, rather than the current situation in which every new development is met with opposition and resentment.
In London, under the mayor’s ‘delegated delivery’ programme, local control of housing has already been granted for Westminster, Croydon and Hackney, with house building likely to meet or exceed goals. Localism will also help authorities cope with funding reductions by enabling them to make their money work harder and by giving them the power to borrow more.
No one pretends that solving the housing shortage will be easy, but innovation and new localist thinking should be welcomed, not maligned.
Steve O’Connell, housing spokesman for the London Assembly Conservative Group and assembly member for Croydon and Sutton