Unsustainable development

That more new homes are needed to combat the housing crisis is widely accepted (though there are other aspects to the solution - perhaps most notably, measures to bring existing empty properties back into use). But it's also critical that those new homes should have the necessary infrastructure to be able to create communities.

As this Guardian article by Harriet Grant underlines, the prevailing attitude seems to be "If you build it, they will come" - regardless of what amenities are accessible. Vast estates are being thrown up - often to questionable standards - without the provision of outdoor recreational spaces such as playgrounds as well as shops, schools, nurseries, doctors' surgeries, pubs and public transport links. This is the case even where such amenities have been promised as part of the planning application, with developers assuming (not without reason) that they can simply renege on agreements and bully overstretched local authorities into submission.

The results are depressingly soulless places where people live atomised lives and are dependent on the car for any kind of connection. It doesn't have to be this way - and indeed it shouldn't.