Maurice Lange

Come watch me & colleagues discuss my latest research on where housing densities should be higher in British cities.

Lots of fun maps

And the long-term questions are different to the short-term ones.
- Social housing needs to be more independent of private sector and backed by more grant funding
- Costs could fall further and the diversity of builders increase if the new London plan makes the system more spatial and rules-based

Outside of the emergency measures, sorting out delays at the BSR = a key issue.

The main issue, maybe? If my back of the envelope calculations are correct...

There are other changes which affect viability could help both public & private builders.

Gov and the Mayor should do more on these cost issues

Costs up + prices steady = crunch time. What was viable yesterday isn’t today.

Land prices could absorb these shocks, but this will take time.

In this context, time-bound changes to requirements seem a reasonable split-the-difference kind of approach

London isn't building houses and now we've got some emergency measures to fix things?

What to make of them? ...

my partner is a lawyer

Enjoyed this appearance on GLA TV a lot!

Lots more research on density in British cities coming from CfC soon. Sign up to the launch event here: www.centreforcities.org/event/report...

🚨 This is a huge victory for the organised tenant movement after YEARS of organising.

We need to go further, and we’ll keep fighting for more, but the biggest change to renters rights in a generation is worth celebrating.

This wasn’t handed to us from above, we won it💪

Matthew Pennycook MP speaks at the dispatch box in the House of Commons

The Renters' Rights Bill has been APPROVED by the House of Commons!

This is the final step before the Bill receives Royal Assent, which we expect shortly.

No more amendments, no more debate - renters' rights are coming.

Today, Analyst @mauricelange.bsky.social attended @londonassembly.bsky.social #AssemblyPlanning to discuss how mid-rise residential development could help London’s housing needs👇

All credit my graphics colleague at CfC

There's chart number 2 for the 5% figure

Centre for Cities on: The New Towns Taskforce report - Centre for Cities Centre for Cities' housing and planning experts break down the New Towns Taskforce report and answer your questions on what it means for where and how we deliver housing.

📅 Centre for Cities on: The New Towns Taskforce report

Our housing and planning experts @antbreach.bsky.social and @mauricelange.bsky.social will introduce key takeaways from the report and what they mean for the Government’s housing delivery plans.

Register here👇
buff.ly/QM52C1a

Come watch me and colleagues chat more about new towns - next Wednesday, 11am: www.centreforcities.org/event/centre...

🏘️The New Towns Taskforce report understands what new towns are for, but now it’s up to Government to deliver.

This blog reviews the report's recommendations and the Government’s response👇
buff.ly/eZwN2iJ

The New Towns Taskforce report makes for pleasant reading. They've selected locations where fast, large-scale housebuilding is needed.

But I'm left wondering whether it'll all have been worth it. Three starting by the end of this parliament isn't very many...

Primary school closures in Inner London have hit the headlines. This is understandable: pupil numbers have fallen; journalists live in London; and people love to believe Londoners are weird.

But I think the story is a broader one: falling pupil numbers are the new normal

City Minutes: A year of planning reforms - Centre for Cities Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Maurice Lange and Ant Breach to discuss planning reform.

NEW PODCAST | A year of planning reforms🎙️

@andrewcities.bsky.social, @mauricelange.bsky.social and @antbreach.bsky.social discuss how the government has been doing over the last year as they implement planning reforms to try and meet the housebuilding target.

Listen now🎧👇
buff.ly/9FtSQP5

NEW CAMPAIGN 🚨

Right now, people are pushed into poverty when councils send in bailiffs for council tax debt.

But there’s another way.

Together, we can stop this. Together, we can have dignity not debt. Together, we can make Britain Bailiff Free👇

🔗 acorntheunion.org.uk/bailiffs/

In this blog @antbreach.bsky.social and I set out the rationale for legislating for a zoning system

A key weakness in the English system is that it doesn't establish clear rules in local plans, and there are limits to how effectively policy-making from the centre (i.e. NDMPs) can override this

Why? Unis are big international exporters in their cities - they bring in overseas student fees and spending.

9 of top 10 English cities where universities are most important for exports are outside the Greater South East. Leicester will feel this far more than Oxford.

The New Towns Taskforce is expected to report to Government in the next few weeks.

Ahead of all the likely commotion, which I expect will focus on locations rather than the big picture questions, I've written about what @centreforcities.bsky.social is hoping to see:

That's why 1.5 million homes and planning reform is so important - the electorate want the homes, but reform is needed to deliver them.

You can read much more on the flaws with local planning in the UK in this overview by @mauricelange.bsky.social 👇
www.centreforcities.org/publication/...

How does England's planning system compare to international peers?

Big Q that my colleagues @mauricelange.bsky.social and Luka Kovacevic admirably address.

well worth a read

Today on the blog ✍️

🏛️ Tourist taxes are not about keeping museums free.

Why? Their aim should be to raise revenue that places can invest in their visitor economic and wider amenities.

Read @rjson.bsky.social's post here ⬇️
buff.ly/cRP5xpJ

🚨 Work for ACORN!

We’re hiring a:

- Birmingham Community Organiser
- Hull Community Organiser
- Junior Membership Organiser
- Leeds Organising Assistant
- Leicester Community Organiser
- London Community Organiser

To find out more/apply👇

acorntheunion.org.uk/join/work-fo...

Is Britain’s net-zero push to blame for its high energy prices? A mighty rise in electricity costs has complicated the drive for clean power

I want to come back properly on this Economist piece that questions Britain's approach to net zero.

It gets three things wrong imo:

1. Ignoring periods of v cheap renewable energy
2. Misdiagnosing the relative costs of renewables
3. Looking backwards, not forwards.

Me on why city regions should carry on pushing for powers to tax tourists - it's not about the tourists themselves!

A local, flexible, and fully retained tax could demonstrate the growth principles of fiscal devolution in microcosm - for city regions, this is an opportunity to not pass up 👇