Section 106 clauses are the only way to build social conditions into the development process, sitting employment and training targets for local labour and diverse groups in society, as well as equality objectives. These cannot be replaced by an Infrastructure levy.

The Lawton Report of 2010 called for “more, bigger, better and joined-up spaces for nature.” A decade later this lack of habitat has still not been addressed. In his letter of September 2020 to the Prime Minister, Professor Sir John Lawson calls for bringing nature to people: “We need a focussed programme of ecological restoration within and surrounding our towns and cities.” This is what we now need to be building. Some of the poorest-designed new settlements are Urban Extensions. These are often driven by large housing targets being imposed on local councils, who attempt to dispatch them with high volume houses on a greenfield site. So imposed housing targets create unwanted consequences. Better to resource initial planning at the landscape scale, involving the Wildlife Trusts, and organisations such as Building for Nature and Transport for New Homes, or the wealth of planning expertise that does exist. It needs to be joined up with transport planning, environmental planning, and agricultural planning – these have to connect, because we can use our landscape to provide simultaneously for both people and nature and agriculture and climate change mitigation, if we plan our land use wisely. Enlightened innovative design with community-creation, place-creation and making space for nature are what it needs to make great places.

It makes sense for Local Authorities to have control of the development of their boroughs and for residents to have a say in the planning applications that affect their areas. It is important that the London Plan and local plans are the policies that local authorities adhere to. The government is giving too much say to developers.