The much-trumpeted revisions to England’s central planning rulebook published last month confirmed – among other things – the government’s continued focus on improving the rate of build-out of housing sites. By doing so it picked up where former cabinet minister Sir Oliver Letwin left off in June, when he published an initial analysis of the reasons behind the slow build-out of many big housing schemes.

Letwin’s report contained a very clear finding. Developers, he said, must produce a much bigger range and diversity of housing types on large sites. Doing this, they will deliver faster build-out because more homes will be absorbed by any given local housing market without affecting prices. So rather than, say, just building homes designed for sale to young families, Letwin’s analysis envisaged large projects including homes for young renters, older people, established families, and others – vastly increasing the number of people in any area that might be interested.

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