New public polling commissioned by Public Exchange has found a preference for traditional hospital design that favours natural light and private rooms.  This work in hospital design is part of a bigger project looking at the future of the hospital in Britain in the post COVID era, which will evaluate how new hospital building can better meet the needs of the NHS in the 21st century.

The Government means to reform planning in order to allow more houses to be built. The Local Government Association tells us the Government is wrong.

Changes to the planning system are unnecessary, they argue, for it is developers who hold back housing delivery, not planners.

This collection of essays is published alongside Policy Exchange’s report Rethinking the Planning System for the 21st Century. It brings together economists, architects, urban designers, campaigners, developers, lawyers and researchers to consider how the planning system can be reformed in a way that addresses the challenges of our modern economy and society.

The planning system has little relevance to the country’s 21st century liberalised economy and society facing continuous change. It increases the costs of housing, living and doing business. Although the planning system has regularly been tinkered with in the past few decades, its fundamental principles are the same as when it was established in 1947 as part of a government program to establish a command-and-control economy.

To remain a competitive economy and to address the country’s housing shortage, the planning system is in urgent need of wholesale reform. This report puts forwards a blueprint for doing that.

A major new Policy Exchange report has called for a complete overhaul of the planning system by the Government. The report was covered in The Times whose article said Policy Exchange’s proposals were being “seriously looked at” by the No 10 policy unit. It was also featured in The Sun, ConservativeHome and on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.