Demographic support in East of England 

A report for the East of England Local Government Association (EELGA) and a joint venture with the Department of Geography and the Department of Economics.

This is a state of knowledge report on Dynamics of Population Change Across the Wider South East to inform interaction between Local Planning authorities in the South East/East of England and the Mayor of London in relation to the imminent. 

Making more of the Metropolitan, Green Belt

A report by about establishing the conditions for Green Belt reform. A joint venture with the Department of Geography & LSE London. Find out more.

Devolution is a Capital Idea

A report for the Mayor of London, in which the key argument is: ‘a broader tax base with stronger fiscal controls at the local level will support the delivery of more integrated and efficient services and increased infrastructure investment, while allowing for the reform of individual taxes’. Read the full report. 

Raising the Capital : The Report for the London Finance Commission 

A report for the London Finance Commission. Recommendations include planning the infrastructure need for a growing city; allowing investment to generate economic growth; rethinking housing finance; devolving property taxes to London government; devolving business rates to London government. Read the full report.

Market vs Planning: is Deregulation the answer?

This report examines two new moments of planning deregulation, These are the loosening of regulation around Short-Term Letting (STL) in London and the new Permitted Development Rights (PDR), which allow for office to residential conversion without the need for planning permission.

Whilst these may be viewed as rather innocuous or unthreatening reforms on the surface, the authors argue that incursions directly and profoundly illustrate how planners are often trapped between their legal duty to promote public values as dictated by national planning policy and the government’s desire to set markets free.

The question then is how a regulatory profession like planning would be able to promote public values once it is deprived of the very tools it needs in order to achieve this goal. 

Read the full report.