The Yorkshire Post Says: The ugly truth behind our housing crisis

If local residents could vote on planning applications in their own road, the radical proposal made by the right-wing Adam Smith Institute in a bid to end the nation's housing crisis, there is one certainty '“ proposals to build 3,000 new homes at the North Yorkshire village of Green Hammerton would be defeated by a landslide.
Will all this be housing one day?Will all this be housing one day?
Will all this be housing one day?

That much has been made abundantly clear by the strength of local opposition to Harrogate Borough Council’s planning blueprint and stream of well-argued letters to The Yorkshire Post in the past week highlighting the extent to which the character of this village will be altered radically. The think-tank’s report, Yes In My Back Yard, will receive short shrift here.

Yet its principles have merit. Like so many affluent towns, Harrogate has a housing crisis – there is a desperate shortage of starter homes within the price range of first-time buyers and the district needs to recognise this.

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There’s certainly a case to be made for smaller-scale developments if existing residents can be convinced of the benefits, and the bigger picture, rather than mini-towns being foisted upon communities like Green Hammerton. However, would streets agree to this in sufficient numbers? Probably not. And that’s the difficulty.