Some commentators are hailing the death last week of the UK housing “mutant algorithm”, while others are criticising this significant Tory U-turn. The fact is, for years – too many years – investment was being pushed towards the south – and more specifically the south east, away from where it was really needed, where some of the least prosperous towns in the UK are: the north west. Nearly a quarter of children in the north west currently live in poverty. Why then create an algorithm that leads to investment in one of the most prosperous? It is time to even the load or to start “levelling up”, as the government so graciously put it.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick’s announcement last week came at a key time. Even without a global pandemic, the country was looking for alternatives to urban expansion that were not only viable but sustainable, both economically and environmentally. Gone are the days of urban sprawl and we now must focus on a compact urban approach with brownfield development becoming the superhero to save the day.

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