The Conservative Party is facing a housing crisis. Not the one gripping the country, making homes unaffordable and stifling economic growth, but their own internal challenge of what to do about it. It represents a conflict between two of the party’s core values – tradition and ambition.

Older people are much more likely to vote in elections, and they are much more likely to vote Conservative. This age groups is very likely to live in a home they own, and to have engaged with the planning system – probably to object to a development proposal. They also form the core of the party’s vote.

Scarred by 2021’s Chesham and Amersham by-election result, where they were defeated by an unashamedly anti-development campaign by the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives’ have been pursuing a more restrictive planning agenda.