By Alex Morton and Richard Ehrman.

More Homes: Fewer Empty Buildings proposes that, as part of a strategy for growth, the government should reform the Use Classes Order to make it much easier to move buildings and land from Use Classes A (retail) and B (employment) to C3 (dwelling houses). Such a step would be part of a wider programme of planning reform for which Policy Exchange has been arguing since 2005, the aim of which is to move away from the current top-down ‘plan-led’ system towards a collaborative and flexible model that delivers both more and better development.