Ben Southwood
Head of Housing, Transport and the Urban Space 2020-2021
Ben was Head of Housing, Transport, and Urban Space—three things that he believes inherently move together in lockstep. He intends to continue Policy Exchange’s paradigm-setting work in the housing area as part of an integrated plan to make British towns and cities clean, beautiful, and functional. Before he joined PX he was a management consultant at KPMG, an economics correspondent for City A.M., and for five years Head of Research and Head of Policy at the Adam Smith Institute. He has written for academic journals, every major newspaper and magazine, and appeared on every major radio station and television news programme.
Related Publications
Provably Popular Homes
Download Publication Online Reader Following the announcement that the words ‘beauty’ and ‘beautiful’ were to be effectively stripped from the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) — no longer to be strategic planning requirements for new housing — this Policy Exchange report calls for a new polling mechanism to establish public popularity of new buildings. This is a vital tool in getting Britain building and to provide a blueprint […]
A New Deal for Drivers
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Download Publication Average road speeds around the UK’s cities are painfully low, damaging economic growth and forcing people to endure long commutes or to miss out on the best jobs. In this report, Policy Exchange argues that road pricing could improve the lives of drivers as well as commanding public support. Drivers […]
Planning for Net Zero
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Download Publication Two of the Government’s top priorities for reforming the planning system are: to deliver more and more- beautiful homes, and reducing carbon emissions so that Britain is emitting no more carbon than it is absorbing (‘Net Zero’). Though each of the priorities affects the other substantially, they are often considered […]
Strong Suburbs
Download Publication Online Reader Britain needs more housing. But, so often, local residents justifiably believe that new housing in their area means a loss of public goods and amenities for them. This has led to a zero sum struggle where the debate is over who ought to be a winner and who ought to be a loser. Policy Exchange’s new paper Strong Suburbs cuts through that false dichotomy, providing a […]Related Blogs
Chesham and Amersham shows which parts of the Government’s planning reforms will work best
The Conservative Party have lost the Chesham and Amersham by-election: their majority of 16,223 at the 2019 election turned into a Lib Dem majority of 8,028. A cursory glance over the Liberal Democrats’ election literature suggests that they won by highlighting that various Conservatives oppose the Government’s planning reforms. While this might be true, it would be wrong to pronounce planning reform out for the count – the Planning Bill […]