Manifesto

END RISING HOUSE PRICES

Since the Second World War, England has failed to build enough homes to meet the
needs of the population, thanks to the creation of a discretionary planning system
that makes it inordinately difficult to build new homes. Consequently, house prices
have soared, pricing out individuals and families from moving to the places that best
meet their needs.

The economic solution to this is obvious: we need to build more homes. However, this
has been known for decades. This solution has failed to work because campaigners
have not managed to create a policy platform that addresses both the need for more
housing and the potential consequences of development on neighbouring
communities. This manifesto seeks to rectify this by focusing on both policies to
make housing more popular with individuals, and policies to make it more popular with
local authorities.

To make housing more popular with individuals, we recommend:

1. Trialling Community Land Auctions to allow the massive uplift in land value unlocked
   through planning reforms to be better captured by the community
2. Reforming leasehold tenure to encourage a shift towards commonhold developments in
   new units and greater protections for those in leasehold estates.
3. Introducing design codes agreed upon via Street Votes to provide a simplified route for
   delivering new housing that enhances the character of local areas.

Furthermore, to encourage local authorities to be more supportive of housing, we
recommend:

1. Replacing Community Infrastructure Levies and Planning Obligations with a
   Development Tax.
2. Introducing a scheme similar to California’s Builders’ Remedy to encourage authorities to
   update their local plans.
3. Introducing low-income housing tax credits to allow authorities to benefit directly from
   building affordable rented accommodation.

In addition to these ideas we also recommend:

1. Abolishing council tax and stamp duty in favour of Fairer Share’s proportional property
   tax.
2. Releasing greenbelt protections from land within walking distance of train stations.
3. Reintroducing legal aid for housing disputes for those unable to obtain independent legal
   advice.