Housing & Planning
41mentions · last 12 months↓
View full analysis →The Built Environment Committee in the House of Lords examines policy and practice across architecture, planning, construction and the design of public spaces. Operating as a select committee, it conducts inquiries through oral evidence sessions with witnesses from government, industry and civil society. The committee has focused sustained attention on the government's new towns programme, examining implementation in specific locations including Enfield and Adlington, with particular emphasis on inclusive design principles and the role of social infrastructure in fostering community and cultural life. It has also investigated how the built environment sector develops its workforce, scrutinising curriculum design and career pathways in built environment education. More recently the committee has explored youth engagement in placemaking processes, recognising the importance of involving younger generations in decisions that shape their local environments. Throughout these inquiries the committee has taken evidence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government alongside practitioners and stakeholders across the sector.
15 sessions published in the last 12 months
Click any cell in the heatmap to see the sessions held that day and the insights extracted from them.
177 insights
14 Jul 2026
The committee scrutinised whether the new towns programme can be delivered as a genuine long-term nation-building project, rather than a sequence of announcements. Dr Alexander Budzier and Professor Juliano Denicol argued repeatedly that success depends on infrastructure-first sequencing, clear funding and land-value capture, and—above all—central governance or a single accountable delivery body with Cabinet-level support. They warned that current sequencing, consenting and planning processes, together with land speculation and fragmented accountability, are making the programme slower and less viable. The witnesses also said the UK needs better data on costs, scope changes and benefits, and that NISTA could be strengthened to become the evidence base for major-project decisions. They disagreed somewhat on the planning system: Denicol stressed proportionality and trade-offs, while Budzier focused more on structural blockers such as judicial review, gold-plating and the lack of anyone able to say no.
07 Jul 2026
The committee scrutinised whether water, electricity and related utilities would constrain new towns, and what would make delivery faster, cheaper and more resilient. Witnesses broadly agreed that the technical solutions exist, but stressed that success depends on very early site-wide planning, certainty for regulated investment, and joining up water, electricity, heat and transport rather than treating them separately. The strongest policy asks were for legally binding national resilience standards for water, faster planning and consenting for upstream infrastructure, better forecasting that includes data centres and other emerging demand, and clearer regulatory support for anticipatory investment and smart flexibility. Witnesses also argued that new towns should be used to embed innovations such as rainwater/greywater reuse, smart meters, heat networks, demand-side response and low-carbon heating, while ensuring benefits reach lower-income households.
30 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised whether new towns and expanded settlements can be delivered at scale, focusing first on construction skills and then on housing delivery by Homes England and Clarion. Witnesses described severe skills shortages, weak teacher recruitment, out-of-date qualifications and the need for earlier employer engagement, while also arguing that new towns could become testbeds for new training routes, digital methods and better progression. On housing, the key issues were viability, inflation, funding flexibility, infrastructure-first delivery, brownfield remediation, and the need for stable public investment and better coordination with local partners. Homes England said its new place-based structure and National Housing Bank are intended to speed and de-risk delivery, while Clarion pressed for faster affordable-housing cash flow and more certainty on regulation and infrastructure.
23 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised whether new towns and major housing programmes can be delivered on time given construction materials, capacity, skills and cost pressures. Witnesses said there is no general material shortage, but there are acute risks from mothballed capacity, energy costs, mineral reserves, steel tariffs, and weak demand; they repeatedly called for early engagement, a visible pipeline of schemes, and a national materials strategy. They also pressed for standardisation, whole-life carbon regulation, reuse and recycling, stronger college links and more flexible training, and government acting as an exemplar in procurement and innovation. The witnesses backed embodied-carbon regulation, including Part Z, and argued new towns should be used as test beds for low-carbon and locally sourced materials, while managing viability and insurance risk.
09 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised how planning reform, youth strategy and digital tools can better embed children and young people in the built environment. MHCLG said the draft NPPF and design guidance now contain stronger hooks for play, safe streets, community facilities and inclusive public spaces, while DCMS described the national youth strategy as a co-produced, cross-government framework with accountability, annual hearings and a Power of Youth Charter. Witnesses also discussed the social value framework, local authority capacity, planning careers, and the use of digital planning, PropTech and AI to widen participation and improve decision-making.
28 Apr 2026
This session scrutinised how the built environment is taught and promoted in schools, focusing on the national curriculum, careers and skills, and how to connect industry and teachers more effectively. Witnesses outlined current outreach programmes (notably, the Built Environment Schools Trust’s My Environment My Future), argued for cross‑subject integration (beyond geography into physics and maths), and pressed for more systemic, scalable coordination across the sector. The Committee heard proposals for a central coordinating body, increased teacher support, and a national platform to link schools with industry, plus vocational routes (e.g., DEC qualifications) alongside traditional academic pathways. Legislative context cited includes Every Child Matters as a reference point for cross‑cutting responsibility, while witnesses emphasised travel/exposure to real environments and inclusive, hands‑on learning as core to engagement. Key barriers identified include time within the curriculum, resource constraints, regional disparities, and the need to depersonalise perceptions around construction to broaden appeal of the built environment as a field of study and work.
14 Jul 2026