HOUSING, PLANNING AND PETER HALL: UNFINISHED BUSINESS Housing, Planning and Peter Hall: Unfi nished Business

PETER WILLIAMS

There is an acute housing problem in England with constrained housing and land supply and planning at the heart of the issue. Peter Hall typically engaged with housing as part of a wider strategic view and his direct housing contributions have probably been overlooked. In part this refl ects the continuing unhelpful division of labour between housing and planning in both practice and academia. This article refl ects on current issues, Peter’s contributions and my own entry into this world of unfi nished business.

Housing and land supply and the role of of Bristol. In Canada, after a period working planning remain critical issues for England for the Provincial Department of Natural today just as they have for the last 50 years. Resources in Saskatchewan, I combined Despite numerous att empts at reform, end- working for a planning consultancy on two less policy initiatives and a never ending suc- Federal and Provincial government research cession of housing and planning ministers, projects, fi rst on the rationalization of the it would probably be fair to say we are no western Canadian railway system and second closer to solving the problems of securing an on the economic base of the Qu’Appelle adequate and appropriate housing supply region in Saskatchewan, along with doing that fully meets demand and need and which a Master’s degree at the University of Sas- properly supports social and economic katchewan. My Master’s thesis was on central objectives. This article seeks to explore some place theory and its application in the prairies. of the current issues. It does so with a refl ec- With this background in the economics of tion on Peter Hall’s own contributions in this land use and a renewed appetite for study specifi c area in the context of his extraordinary and research I then returned to the UK in and outstanding lifetime of work on urban 1972 to start a PhD around transport and and regional planning and much more. My economic growth at Aberystwyth University own work on housing markets and housing under Professor Harold Carter, but after policy began at Reading in 1972 and it is 6 months (and a season of playing rugby appropriate to begin with a refl ection on the for a Welsh speaking hall of residence) I formative role played by that experience. decided that London should be the focus of my research and that the impracticalities of working on London from Aberystwyth Reading Refl ections were too great. Correspondence with Peter I arrived in Reading in late 1972 to begin a Hall indicated that as a self-financed student PhD supervised by Peter Hall or PH as we I was very welcome to move to Reading – all came to know him. I had emigrated to albeit, shortly after he secured me a Reading Canada in 1969 after my degree at Oxford and university scholarship through which I was following a short stint in planning at the City employed as a University Demonstrator (an

BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 17 PROFESSOR SIR PETER HALL: ROLE MODEL assistant to the lecturing staff, but a constant butions, and acquired considerable status.1 source of confusion at immigration controls). Reading Geography in the 1970s was really Thus began one of the more academically a very good department and almost a model stimulating experiences of my career (to date!). of what academic departments should be Along with an annual intake of Master’s in terms of the commitment to teaching, students there were around forty PhD students research and publication. Peter was central to split between physical and human geo- this. His unbounded energy and enthusiasm, graphy. On the ‘human side’ this included his probing and challenge, his ability to Mike Hebbert, Ray Wyatt, Ian Twinn, Mark think synoptically and to bring the worlds of Ebery, Des Bonnar, Ron Botham, Peter Clark, academia and policy together, and his vast Louis Alonso and John Grant. Together we network of contacts meant we were constant- covered a spectrum of interests and back- ly being pushed to think outside of the box. grounds though urban planning, theory and Peter was, of course, interested in the policy was a strong thread. We fed off a very starting point for my PhD: the impact of strong staff team led by Peter and including the opening of the Victoria Underground Brian Goodall, Dave Foot, Mike Batty, Sophie line on London’s housing market (it opened Bowlby, Erlet Cater, David Starkie and John in 1972). However as I progressed I found Silk. As Mike Batty has written (Batty, 2014) myself being drawn inexorably into trying to the highlight of our busy week was the understand the workings of the inner London Wednesday seminar at 5pm when a string housing market in which transport was just of distinguished visitors would arrive, make one of the factors at work. I resolved, in presentations and be grilled by the assembled discussion with Sophie Bowlby my primary staff and postgraduates before we then (and outstanding) supervisor and Peter, that retired to the Queens Head for another hour I would shift my focus to a detailed examina- or so of informal discussion. Peter of course tion of change in the Islington housing was master of ceremonies and often then market, an area self evidently undergoing drove the guest back to London. a gentrification process and not unrelated The postgraduate group was very ener- to the Victoria line and the role played by getic, organizing our own seminars to cover key institutions such as estate agents and developments in theory and method as well mortgage lenders. as operating a somewhat clandestine and Thus began an ongoing career around hous- satirical newsletter produced on the Gestet- ing markets, housing finance and housing ner machine and deposited in pigeon holes. policy, blending work in academia (Centre We occupied a separate wooden hut which for Urban and Regional Studies, Birming- provided a great home for both bonding and ham University; Urban Research Unit, Aus- serious study. It was formerly the home of tralian National University; Centre for Housing the Urban Systems Research Unit (USRU) Management and Development in the Depart- which had been integrated back into the ment of Town Planning Cardiff University, department (see Ray Wyatt’s contribution in and where I rejoined Mike Batty and Cam- this issue) and provided part of the strong bridge University; Cambridge Centre for Hous- base in quantitative methods so dominant in ing and Planning Research in the Department geography in that period, albeit that David of Land Economy) with work in the lend- Harvey’s Social Justice and the City was pub- ing industry via the Building Societies Associ- lished in 1973. ation, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and The postgraduates were also active contri- currently the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders butors to and editors of the Reading Geo- Association and government through the graphical Paper series which managed to get National Housing and Planning Advisory some top authors (including Peter) and contri- Unit, the Housing Corporation, Tai Cymru and

18 BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 HOUSING, PLANNING AND PETER HALL: UNFINISHED BUSINESS various Ministerial task forces and advisory and urban planning, covering the demand groups. for housing, housing for whom, development I was personally inspired by Peter’s ability and redevelopment and a housing plan. The to cross these divides and to produce top last was a radical think about housing with quality academic work alongside his more an oddly contemporary feel. He focused on populist commentaries in New Society. There the case for better standards in the private were many in academia who looked down on rented sector (PRS) and the municipalization him because of the latter – I can recall being of run down PRS housing; and he set out a told he was not a serious academic – but proposal for a common rent policy covering history has very clearly proven them wrong both the social and private rented sectors, and not least via his output of more than fifty with subsidy being applied where there books over a career of some 60 years. was demonstrable need. He suggested that local authorities should provide the gateway to lettings in the two sectors and that the Peter Hall and Housing authority should collect all rents. A new Peter was clearly very interested in housing Rent Act was proposed with rents as a fixed and not least via his concern with land percentage of the rateable value of the home. markets, transport and planning. Indeed one Alongside arguments for regional planning, can certainly argue it is these wider inter- new towns and redevelopment, Peter argued connections and concerns rather than the for a capital gains tax on housing and for a detail of housing policy and practice that rethink around tax reliefs with a proposal to have been so poorly developed in policy tax landlords and other wealthy owners to terms over time. In part this is a product of a greater degree. This was without doubt a the continuing unhelpful separation between bold set of proposals reflecting his political housing and planning – in which most of us alignment and was firmly wedded to an in this broad area still fi nd ourselves caught extension of municipal power. up. Despite the early work of the National Housing remained an ever present issue Housing and Town Planning Council2 and in his work whether authored or edited, and the fi rst legislation in the UK in the form of reflected in the title or not. The 1965 book the 1909 Housing and Planning Act, the two The Land Values Problem and Its Solution (Hall, worlds have moved apart. Indeed, though 1965) struck at the ever present problem of we share disciplinary origins in Geography, the price of land and the issue of betterment Peter was fi rmly in the latt er camp while I am – noting that the land market will control rooted in the former. So despite housing and land use and that this was in ‘the gift of planning sharing a starting point, the housing the planner’ (p. x). The report discussed the focus in planning has understandably been planned role of the Crown Land Commission very fi rmly around housing requirements which would acquire freehold land and lease and the consequences that has for land and it out under an incoming Labour government. infrastructure. It was during this time Peter was also an This division of labour has meant that active contributor to the non-partisan New Peter’s housing contributions have been Society magazine published between 1962 and seriously overlooked – probably ignored by 1988 (fifty-nine substantive articles over this ‘housers’ and planners alike. In that context, period). In 1964 he contributed an article on somewhat neglected is the volume he edited ‘Housing, Pressure on London’ and in 1965 in 1964 titled Labour’s New Frontiers. This two articles on the Labour Government’s was policy thinking out loud for the Labour Land Commission. In 1973 he wrote about Party by a range of distinguished authors. the ‘Anatomy of the Greenbelt’, signing off Peter contributed the chapter on regional in 1978 with articles on planning for no growth

BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 19 PROFESSOR SIR PETER HALL: ROLE MODEL and spending priorities in the inner city. This with the publication of this national report. last was a prelude to his involvement in It included specialist contributions by Alan the Social Science Research Council’s Inner Hooper and Alan Holmans. In Chapter 4 Cities Working Party which he chaired. This ‘National Question, Regional Answers’ the ran from October 1977 to November 1980 editors rightly highlight the fact that the solu- and culminated in the book The Inner City tions are delivered regionally and locally in Context edited by Peter and in which he and that housing must be dealt with in the authored or co-authored seven of the eight round, not tenure by tenure. Then in Chapter chapters 5 ‘Findings and Recommendations’ they Perhaps Peter Hall’s most notable New argue that assessments of need are neglected Society contribution was as a co-author of and that the view the market will provide ‘Non-Plan: An Experiment in Freedom’. for needs alongside demand is mistaken. Paul Barker, New Society’s deputy editor They highlight the weaknesses of migration brought together Rayner Banham, Cedric statistics in developing a proper assessment of Price, and Peter Hall to explore what Britain housing requirements and that the planning might look like if there was no planning. A system deals poorly with the question of special issue was published on 20 March 1969 housing need and the requirements for with each of the authors exploring what the social housing. The national report is then British countryside might look like if covered accompanied by regional reports. All in all it with roads and low-density sprawl. It was is an impressive report though with hindsight a heretical piece going firmly against the I would argue it has been neglected as a planning establishment and all it stood for. source of clear thinking and analysis. Once As this may suggest, Peter’s housing contri- again the separation between housing and butions typically blended with his stronger planning is at the root of this with this report planning strategy interests. Indeed, it was firmly lodged in the planning arena. not uncommon for him to draw in housing The second contribution I would highlight specialists to contribute more detailed assess- is in Good Cities, Better Lives published in ments, e.g. Harry Gracey’s chapter ‘Housing 2014 some 50 years after his chapter in New Trends and Urban Growth’ in The Contain- Frontiers, Peter again returned explicitly ment of Urban England (Hall et al., 1973) to the fray when he offered two chapters and most notably Della Nevitt’s ‘Issues in – ‘The Second Challenge: Building New Housing’ in Issues in Urban Society (Davies Homes’ and ‘The Fifth Challenge: Fixing and Hall, 1978). Having said that, Peter was Broken Machinery’. In the first of these not averse to offering a housing view, e.g. Peter highlighted the failure of housing ‘People and Homes’ in chapter 4 in London supply especially in England – not enough 2000 (Hall, 1963), his articles in New Society homes being built, the wrong sort, the referred to above and in Town and Country wrong locations and poor standards. Then Planning magazine. in the second chapter he launched into a However, perhaps two stand out as bold discussion of why we have failed and probably his best and most sustained housing here he works through what he called five contributions. First, his edited report with obvious suspects – homeowners, bankers, Mike Breheny for the Town and Country landowners, builders and planners. He found Planning Association’s Regional Inquiry into some largely innocent but focuses on land Housing Need and Provision in England in supply and its relationship to house prices, 1996. Drawing upon Ebenezer Howard’s the risk averse nature of the housebuilding question posed in 1896: The People – where industry and the planning system. Noting will they go? Hall and Breheny led a TCPA the many planning reforms that have been inquiry which started in 1992 and concluded made he asked ‘will it work?’. He concludes

20 BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 HOUSING, PLANNING AND PETER HALL: UNFINISHED BUSINESS by arguing that we have tired and outdated progress in specifi c areas but the overall models of development and that we need position of housing has probably worsened. a new model drawing upon our more In terms of the overall situation in England successful European partners. True to his in 1961 there were just 13.8 million homes irrepressible curiosity he concludes – ‘a study of which 44 per cent were owner occupied, visit to these countries is a vital first step’. 32 per cent were in the private rented sector These two contributions perhaps set out (PRS) and 24 per cent were public housing. most clearly Peter’s ideas regarding housing. By 2012, there were 23.1 million homes of He rarely attempted to engage in the detail which 63 per cent were owner occupied, of housing policy and practice and his focus 18 per cent were in the PRS and 17 per cent was always more synoptic and built around were local authority and housing association. cities, the economy, transport and the role So we have seen major shifts in tenure and that planning could and should play. He was these fi gures understate those dynamics as clearly of the view that the housing crisis as the PRS shrank to as low as 9 per cent in 1985 it might now be called was derived out of a and home ownership peaked at 69 per cent malfunctioning supply system. This in turn in 2005. was a consequence of a land market where Housing conditions have improved sharply we have a continuing stand-off between in terms of basic facilities – hot and cold owners ultimately seeking residential land water, indoor toilet and bathroom, central price returns and a planning system which heating. In 1964 there were 2.5 million house- is slow moving and restrictive. He clearly holds in England and Wales without a fixed saw merit in what might be described as the bath or shower, 1.6 million lacked an indoor more partnership-based approaches that exist toilet and 3.5 million lacked a washbasin. in some other European countries. By 2012 the numbers without had become In the excellent book edited by Mark Tewdr immaterial and the focus had shifted to other Jones, Nick Phelps and Rob Freestone, The issues such as central heating and insulation. Planning Imagination, Peter’s ‘Apologia pro However housing supply and housing space Vita Sua’ (a defence of his life) is the conclud- standards have not improved. Current levels ing chapter. This is a fascinating journey of output suggest a home in the UK will be through his life, work and influences. Hous- replaced once every 1,000 years, a testament ing does not get a direct mention but is a not to the quality of the build but rather to shadowy presence throughout as he very the supply situation. much focuses on planning and cities – but In terms of space standards UK homes always as liveable places. That is a reality – are getting smaller on average (RIBA, 2011) housing and homes occupy spaces and help though the distribution has widened as many create places. It is possible to discuss them larger homes now have a wide array of extra in the abstract but ultimately they are rooted facilities as standard. Moreover, as Tunstall in a location, even a geography as some (forthcoming) has shown, after several economists have finally discovered! decades of sustained improvement in space standards, there are growing inequalities in terms of the space available to households: The Housing Questions In 2001, the Gini coeffi cient for housing space was There have been nine prime ministers since 0.36, similar to the fi gure for income. While there Labour’s New Frontiers in 1964 and twenty- was rapid housing production 1911–2001 and eight housing ministers, many rarely lasting dramatic falls in absolute low consumption of space, the Gini coeffi cient was almost unchanged. more than a year in offi ce, typically just long The group with the greatest absolute and enough to get one short-term initiative away. proportionate gains were those who were most Over that 50-year period we have seen some spaciously housed in 1911. The least spaciously

BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 21 PROFESSOR SIR PETER HALL: ROLE MODEL housed tenth only achieved one room per person been delivered), creating stronger financial by 1991, and saw no improvement 1991–2001. incentives for development, new settlements Measures of inequality more sensitive to the and expanded towns and taxing undeveloped bott om of the distribution show reductions in inequality 1921–1981, followed by increases 1981– land. She also suggests other tax measures 2001. including the reform of VAT and Council Tax and exploring Capital Gains tax on the Recently in response to an Australian Senate main residence along with the introduction of Economics Reference Committee Inquiry into more regulation of the private rental market, housing, Saul Eslake, a respected long-term echoing to a degree the issues Peter raised in analyst in that country submitted a response his 1964 chapter. titled Australian Housing Policy: 50 years of Also published at roughly the same time failure. Though there has clearly been progress was the substantial report of recent Housing on a number of fronts – housing conditions Inquiry led by Sir Michael Lyons for the being the most obvious – it is difficult not to Labour Party (Lyons, 2014). This had some conclude that the situation in England (more of the same ingredients including building so than in Wales, Scotland and Northern more homes, releasing more land via an Ireland) is rather similar. active place-shaping role by local authorities, Two recent contributions highlight the rebuilding the housebuilding industry ongoing tensions and the continued search (especially the SME sector). The report sets for solutions. In a recent book titled Housing; out a roadmap to tackle these underlying Where’s the Plan? Dame Kate Barker, author issues and increase house building to at least of the 2004 Review of Housing Supply offered 200,000 homes a year by 2020 (though it her view of what good policy might look like also recognizes it must go further over time with a long list of elements including a better and ensure that both the public and private spatial balance of economic activity across sectors develop the capacity they need). the UK, a planning system that responds to Lyons puts great emphasis on government market signals and infrastructure investment providing long-term political leadership by which is more equally distributed (Barker, making housing a national priority. The 2014). Barker highlights four key factors report argues that, while decisions about in what she sees as the UK’s intractable how and where new homes should be built housing problems. First, the demand for must be taken locally by local authorities and housing space rises with incomes and with their communities, there must be the tools, insufficient supply the price of space will flexibilities and devolution of funding needed rise. Second that Nimbyism is a reality and and a clear commitment that housing need must be addressed. Third, the availability of will be met. To achieve this Lyons proposes land is a ‘fundamental problem’ requiring a new cross government task force to support more land with planning permission to be ministers; with an independent commission released and for landowner expectations to to provide scrutiny and evaluation of be reduced. Finally, she highlights regional progress; and stronger objective information imbalances which continue to mean there is on trends in housing supply through the excess demand to live in the South East of creation of a housing observatory. England. The report argues that constraints on the Her policy recommendations include the supply of land limit both the number of preparation of sound local housing plans, building plots available and also encourages making planning more responsive to market a developer business model which slows signals such as house prices, affordability the rate at which plots are then built out. and waiting lists (rather than simply self- It suggests the responsibility of councils to referring to whether the planned target had identify sufficient land for new homes in local

22 BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 HOUSING, PLANNING AND PETER HALL: UNFINISHED BUSINESS plans should be strengthened along with garden cities would be expected to meet so their ability to deliver them. It recommends that local authorities can come forward with that councils in the same housing market proposals to be developed in partnership. be required to produce a joint strategic Proposals from private promoters would be plan, with the Secretary of State having the acceptable, but only where there was local ability to intervene and instruct the Planning support. Incentives would include the ability Inspectorate to ensure that it happens. for new garden cities to retain 100 per cent To speed up development Lyons recom- of business rates for 30 years to invest over mends that councils should have ‘use it or the longer term, as well as providing financial lose it’ powers to incentivize development guarantees to support up-front delivery. with the ability to levy council tax on plots This locally-led development model would allocated for housing in plans where homes be able to play a central role in building a are not built within reasonable timescales new generation of garden cities. This would (and compulsorily purchase such land where be combined with a rolling programme of necessary). Such powers would operate in garden suburbs. As part of this, the report conjunction with shorter life planning per- proposes separate negotiation of develop- missions and greater transparency around ment gain on large sites and greater use of land ownership (including which developers contracts to assist land assembly and develop- have taken out options on land). ment partnerships. A reformed compulsory Key to putting local authorities at the heart purchase order power would be used to of housing development, the report suggests incentivize landowners to invest in land some councils may need new powers to bring partnerships, and allow for a greater share of forward developments via Housing Growth the increased value created by development Areas where they can be lead developers to be used to fund the infrastructure. with greater control over where the homes Both Barker (2004 and 2014) and Lyons should go, the rate of development, the (2014) rightly focus on housing supply as design, quality and the specification of the the big issue facing housing in England but mix of tenures. New Homes Corporations unravelling how that might be improved would be set up to act as delivery agencies is very clearly a complex task as Peter Hall working across housing market areas with would have accepted and both of these con- a particular focus on development in Hous- tributions show. Land supply, local authori- ing Growth Areas. These would have a range ties, planning and infrastructure sit at the of powers including a stronger role in land heart of this and not least local authorities and assembly and a capability to ensure that infra- planning. With the creation of the National structure is provided upfront. A revolving Planning Policy Framework in 2012 we have infrastructure fund would pool central and already been through a period of significant local funds and be able to attract private change and most commentators would investment in infrastructure to support new argue for a period of stability. However the development. pressure for further change is considerable. Lyons argues the brownfield first policy Without doubt a number of key weaknesses should be strengthened while recognizing remain and not least of these is the variable that building garden cities, garden suburbs capacity and appetite of local authorities to and expanding existing towns will be tackle their local housing situation seriously. essential to meeting housing need over the Given the strong opposition to further medium to long-term (with strong echoes of development (and the uncertainties regarding many of Peter Hall’s contributions and not demand), in many areas councillors and least Hall (1998) and Hall and Ward (1998, their officers are understandably tempted to 2014). Government would set out criteria that opt for the lowest estimates of supply. This

BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 23 PROFESSOR SIR PETER HALL: ROLE MODEL then may mean that any unmet demand is output. The process of land release is still far displaced to other authorities, adding to too problematic with the consequence there is the problems there. In London, despite the a clamour for more punitive ways of ensuring efforts of the Greater London Authority and land comes forward. This in turn could result some boroughs, much demand is exported in making it less available. Other countries into neighbouring counties, in turn adding have tackled supply through local authority pressure for further housing along with land assembly so that developable sites are transport and infrastructure improvements. regularly brought to market. It was no surprise to see that Lyons, though At the same time it would be foolish putting local authorities at the heart of the to assume that simply producing many solution, also then backed that with new more homes will solve the current housing powers and central government oversight. crisis. It is clearly part of the solution – a Both Lyons and Barker call for the return necessary but not sufficient condition. Going of a National Housing and Planning Advice forward we need to see an expansion of the Unit type function with a small but effective speculative house building market along with secretariat – the scrapping of which by more supply being delivered via contracts the Coalition has been the source of much with local authorities, housing associations criticism from all sides of the political and other investors, more self-build/custom spectrum. build. However prices and affordability are With the new focus on localism, central driven in the short term by demand, wage government has stepped back from research growth, credit supply and interest rates and and guidance around the housing situation in the state of the second hand rather than new England and passed all responsibility to local build market which only contributes around government. This has opened up a huge gap 10 per cent of transactions in any year. At in analysing the current and future trends in present we have excess demand in some the market with the upshot that key players markets though not all and relatively low such as builders and lenders are left with liquidity, i.e. low rates of turnover reflecting inadequate objective strategic information later entry into home ownership, affordability about the market and where it might go in pressures and the difficulties of accessing a the future. This then plays to them adopting mortgage. a more cautious approach at the very time when the call is for a more expansionary Taxing Housing? stance. Increasing land supply is also a key issue The consequence of this is that prices in the whether it be land in public or private traded housing market have been rising and ownership. Despite successive efforts to in some areas rising very fast. They have unlock public sector land supply progress also been underpinned in some modest part has been slow. Savills (2014) recently sug- by government programmes such as Help gested that there might be capacity for around to Buy. As this might suggest, the English two million homes – 700,000 on known market continues to be characterized by and useable central government and GLA considerable volatility. The Joseph Rowntree sites and a further 1.3 million homes on the Foundation (Stephens, 2011) identifi ed four guesstimated land holdings of local authori- boom and bust cycles since the 1970s and with ties and the NHS. Inevitably rebuilding a fi fth potentially underway. Such volatility and expanding the housing supply pipeline imposes considerable costs on households, after the global financial crisis has been the market and the economy and needs to challenging but it is clear it must be done if be curbed. While the report recognizes that we are to have a steady upward trajectory in supply is the key to reducing the risks of

24 BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 HOUSING, PLANNING AND PETER HALL: UNFINISHED BUSINESS market volatility in the longer term, there safeguards. Barker (2014) discusses the case are other factors to consider in the short term. for introducing a capital gains tax for the These include the case for credit controls, primary residence but then steps back on the the reform of Council Tax and Stamp Duty, grounds of political risk. There is a good case a bett er safety net for homeowners and for moving forward on the housing related investment in the social rented sector. tax agenda. Given that increases in housing The conclusions regarding the tax treat- supply only become market transformative ment of housing were similar to those of the over the long term then, if there is a desire to Mirrlees Review undertaken through the limit volatility, other controls will be needed Institute of Fiscal Studies and published in in the short term. 2011 (Mirrlees et al., 2011). Council tax as cur- We now have a raft of new measures rently structured is highly regressive with an coming into place around the supply of credit open ended upper band and using property to the housing market via the Financial Policy values in England and Wales that were set Committee’s macro-prudential housing mar- in 1991 in England and 1993 in Wales. Wales ket controls and the Financial Conduct subsequently uprated its valuation basis to Authority’s new micro-prudential mortgage 2003 and introduced a further upper band market rules. However credit controls of while Stamp Duty is being replaced in one sort or another may not be enough, thus Scotland (2015) with a more progressive Land the case for exploring the role taxation can and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) for play. This is inevitably a deeply sensitive properties worth over £135,000 (with Wales issue and one where ideally some kind of now considering similar changes). Belatedly cross party consensus should exist. Whether the Chancellor finally announced reform of that is achievable is another matter but it is Stamp Duty moving it from the problematic quite clear that if England is to move forward slab system to a graduated structure. This is with a better structured and more efficient an improvement though as the Institute of and effective market then reform of housing Fiscal Studies has commented it has moved taxation in all its manifestations has to be part from being a very bad tax to just a bad tax – of that agenda. a tax on mobility. The current arrangements remain unsatisfactory both in terms of Conclusions equity (Council Tax) and efficiency (Stamp Duty). Both need changing. Council Tax There is unfi nished business in terms of needs uprating to current values with more the reform of the housing market and the higher bands and/or a full scale migration to wider housing system in England. Peter a recognizable property tax which might then Hall periodically highlighted some of the bring some ‘braking’ power to the market continuing weaknesses in which land and when prices surge and Stamp Duty should planning remain key. We are now in the be scrapped altogether. midst of a tenure transformation, moving The evidence that change is possible in from a society dominated by home ownership housing taxation is very obvious when we to one in which renting, whether private or remember the scrapping of mortgage interest social, may become the majority tenure in the tax relief in 2000 under Gordon Brown, next 30 years. This rebalancing is coming at (though this was a process begun in 1988 some cost to younger households who, if not under Margaret Thatcher). It is constantly permanently excluded from home ownership, argued that attempting to change the tax may fi nd that their entry into homeownership arrangements for property owners is political is much delayed. Equally, older households suicide. The evidence says otherwise and not may fi nd the liquidity of the market and their least if it is phased in over time and with full own capacity to downsize and adjust their

BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 41 NO 1 25 PROFESSOR SIR PETER HALL: ROLE MODEL housing requirements in older age is much REFERENCES diminished. Barker, K. (2004) Barker Review of Housing Supply. The fragmentation of professional disci- London: HM Treasury. Available at:htt p://www. plines and working arrangements in central barkerreview.org.uk/. and local government, the seemingly intract- Barker, K. (2014) Housing: Where’s the Plan. able nature of the housing and land questions London: London Publishing Partnership. and the failure to plan for the long term have Batt y, M. (2014) Obituary – Peter Hall 1932–2014. all been part of the problem. Governments Environment and Planning A, 46, pp. 2263–2267. and ministers come and go ushering in Crookston, M. (2013) Garden Suburbs of Tomorrow? new short-term initiatives which are at best A New Future for the Cott age Estates. London: ‘sticking plasters’ in terms of sorting it all Routledge. out. Peter worked tirelessly to shine lights Eslake, S. (2013) Australian Housing Policy: 50 Years of Failure. Submission to the Senate Economics on the array of urban problems and to bring References Committ ee. Available at: htt p:// forward solutions drawing on his unrivalled www.sauleslake.com.au/Topics/Housing/ global experience, but even his herculean Australian%20Housing%20Policy%2050%20 efforts have been to limited effect in relation Years%20of%20Failure.html. to housing and planning. Though we may Freestone, R. (forthcoming) An ‘old fashioned’ have seen some progress over the last 50 geographer: an appreciation of Peter Hall years much more needs to be done. (1932–2014). Progress in Human Geography. In the meantime the failures of the housing Gracey, H. (1973) Housing Trends and Urban Growth in Hall, P. (ed.) The Containment of Urban system are undermining social cohesion, England. London: Allen and Unwin. reinforcing inequalities and damaging social Hall, P. (1963) London 2000. London: Faber and mobility and the economy and the UK’s Faber. competitive position in the global economy. Hall, P. (ed.) (1964) Labour’s New Frontiers. London: Despite that we still find government and Andre Deutsch. political parties standing back. Housing Hall, P. (ed.) (1965) The Land Values Problem and Its has gone up and down the political agenda Solution. London: Sweet and Maxwell. – currently it is out of the top 10 according Hall, P. (ed.) (1973) The Containment of Urban to the Economist/Ipsos MORI Issues Index England, 2 vols. London: Allen and Unwin. December 2014 and the politicians willing- Hall, P, (ed.) (1981) The Inner City in Context ness to embrace radical long-term structural (Final Report of the Social Science Research reform remains very limited. There is no Council Inner Cities Working Party). London: Heinemann. single solution to the housing problems Hall, P. (1998) Cities in Civilization: Culture, Tech- of England and a myriad of complex and nology, and Urban Order. London: Weidenfeld related issues requiring sustained attention. & Nicolson. Finding a genuine solution to housing Hall, P. (2014) Good Cities, Bett er Lives; How Europe questions remains a top priority with the re- Discovered the Lost Art of Urbanism. London: unification of housing and planning an Routledge. important starting point. Hall, P. and Breheny, M. (1996) The People: Where will They Go? National Report of the TCPA Regional Inquiry into Housing Need and Provision in England. London: TCPA. NOTES Hall, P. and Ward, C. (1998) Sociable Cities: The 1. See see htt p://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/ Legacy of Ebenezer Howard. Chichester: Wiley. geographyandenvironmentalscience/catalogue Hall, P., Banham, R., Barker, P. and Price, C. (1969) 2002.pdf. Nonplan: an experiment in freedom. New 2. Founded in 1900 as the National Housing Society (Special issue), no 338, pp. 435–443. Reform Council in 1900, but renamed the National Harvey, D. (1973) Social Justice and the City. Athens, Housing and Town Planning Council in 1909. GE: University of Georgia Press.

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Lyons, M. (2014) The Lyons Housing Review: Tunstall, R. (forthcoming) Relative housing Mobilising Across the Nation to Build the Houses inequality: a century of decline in housing Our Children Need. Available at: htt p://www. space inequality in England and Wales and its yourbritain.org.uk/uploads/editor/files/The_ recent rapid resurgence. International Journal of Lyons_Housing_Review_2.pdf. Housing Policy. Mirrlees, J., Adam, S., Besley, T., Blundell, R., Bond, S., Chote, R., Gammie, M., Johnson, P., Mylesm G. and Poterba, J. (2011) Tax by Design. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Oxford: Oxford University Press. My thanks to Professor Robert Freestone at the Nevitt , D. (1978) Issues in housing, in Davies, University of New South Wales and colleagues R. and Hall, P. (eds.) Issues in Urban Society. in the City Futures research centre for helping Harmondsworth: Penguin. me sort through Peter’s contributions in this area RIBA (2011) The Case for Space: The Size of England’s along with the helpful guidance and support from New Homes. London: Royal Institute of British Professor Mike Hebbert at UCL, Ann Rudkin and Architects. an anonymous referee. Savills (2014) Public Land could Deliver Two Million Homes. Available at: htt p://www.savills.co.uk/ research_articles/141274/184666-0. Stephens, M. (2011) Tackling Housing Market Volatility in the UK. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Available at: www.jrf.org.uk/sites/ fi les/jrf/housing-markets-volatility-full.pdf.

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