As citizens of a democratic nation, we all bear the collective responsibility to support ‘place based’ development solutions in order to secure a sustainable future for our cities, towns, villages and communities.
As a nation we are facing a housing and development crisis; the insufficient supply of new homes, employment space and the supporting infrastructure continues to constrain economic and social opportunity for communities right across the country. The shortage of new homes alone is preventing national, regional and local employers from creating new jobs. Research by ‘Crisis’ and the ‘National Housing Federation’ highlights the following three key facts:
- There are over 8.5 million people in the UK with some form of unmet housing need.
- In England alone, there are 2 million children living in overcrowded or unsuitable homes.
- We need at least 340,000 new homes per year for the next 15 years to house the nation.
Many local places, neighbourhoods and communities continue to stagnate or even decline due to a lack of investment. Quite often a vocal minority of local people oppose any opportunity for new development without first considering the overwhelmingly positive economic, social and environmental benefits.
These communities can easily promote their long term sustainability and prosperity by accommodating a logical and proportionate amount of new development and supporting infrastructure, and in doing so secure the future of essential local services such as shops, schools and public transport.