Blogs
Opinion and Editorial from the Policy Exchange team.
Choose A Category
Arts and Culture
Demography, Immigration and Integration
Crime and Justice
Demography, Immigration and Integration
Economics and Social Policy
Education
Environment and Energy
French Presedential Election
Foreign Policy and Security
Government and Politics
Housing and Urban Regeneration
Industrial Strategy
International Trade
Security and Extremism

Housing and Urban Regeneration Blogs

Reviving high streets through planning reform
Changes to the planning system can make it easier for high streets to adapt to prevailing trends in how we live, work and shop.

Announcing Building Beautiful Month
We’re delighted to announce that this November will be “Building Beautiful Month” at Policy Exchange, the next stage of our efforts to address the housing crisis, the major domestic policy issue of the day.

Government’s council housing policy is welcome, but it also raises questions
Policy Exchange’s Jack Airey looks at Government’s council housing policy and sets out the challenges ahead for building a new generation of council homes.

Policy win for Policy Exchange but Government’s insistence for good design should also be extended to style
Policy Exchange’s Place Research Fellow, Jack Airey, assesses the Government’s new planning framework and its implications for the design and style of new homes.

Housing: why we need more than numbers
Policy Exchange’s Susan Emmett welcomes the PM’s speech but says the Government is missing a trick on style and design

Money alone will not fix the housing market
Ahead of the Budget, Policy Exchange’s Head of Housing and Urban Regeneration Susan Emmett wrote for Huffington Post about how “Money alone will not fix the housing market”. She says “Local backing for developments is more likely if they have regard to the aesthetics and impact on local infrastructure” and calls for “consistent direction, not only from Whitehall but also from all levels of government up and down the country”.

Only taking politics out of Grenfell will solve housing crisis
Susan Emmett — Policy Exchange’s Head of Housing and Urban Regeneration — reflects on the country’s housing situation following the Grenfell tragedy. Having pointed out that ‘decades of insufficient housebuilding have left us with an undersupply of housing’, she concludes that ‘it is only by looking beyond partisanship and adopting a pragmatic and practical approach, that we will deliver lasting solutions to the housing crisis’.

Why Government Plans to Revive the Garden City Tradition Are Welcome
Warwick Lightfoot — Policy Exchange’s Director of Research and Economics and Social Policy — discusses how the Government’s proposal picks up on thinking that Policy Exchange has long encouraged

House building in the North
Policy Exchange’s Housing and Planning Unit examines the importance of house building to the ‘Northern Powerhouse’.

The local support we found for the garden villages Britain needs
Christopher Walker, Policy Exchange’s Head of Housing, Planning and Urban Policy, summarises the growing support for his proposals in the report Garden Villages, and through his survey found local authorities to be in favour.