Silly season, but a sensible policy

And so the silly season is upon us. With politicians on holiday, the High Court in summer recess and much of the property industry seemingly ensconced in the south of France, a rash of ridiculous stories are taking over the (much thinner) newspapers.

Among the revelations of the last few days is news that caterpillars dance to evade predators, a ‘sea monster’ has been spotted off the Devon coast and Jesus has appeared in a crop circle near the M4.

But occasionally among the filler is a news story with merit. Boris (and how many public servants are recognisable by their first name?) has unveiled plans to devolve housing budgets to the capital’s 32 separate boroughs.

The proposals would be voluntary, but any borough signing up would receive an agreed indicative budget, in return for committing to make better use of resources, provide more affordable housing and help deliver the London Housing Strategy. These proposals clearly have the hallmarks of the Tories’ localism agenda, but they could prove useful to developers operating within the boroughs.

The theory is that the boroughs understand the housing needs of their residents better than a centralised body ever could. By making decisions about housing provision at a more localised level, borough councils can in theory spend cash more wisely and get more bang for their buck.

But they can’t do this on their own. As previous blog entries here have discussed, the private sector has a crucial role to play if housing provision is to meet the population’s requirements. JVs, greater flexibility and increased private tenancy will be the order of the day.

Councils need an effective institutional private rented sector to pick up the slack in housing provision, but the landlords will need something in return. Sensible councils will realise this and work with the institutions to identify solutions. And, in theory, a borough council will compromise more to meet local priorities than a government body with a grand plan for the whole of London.

If the devolving of powers and budgets to a more local level leads to more efficient use of funds, the direction of resources to where they’re needed most and co-operation with the property industry that is more appropriate to the times we find ourselves in, then Boris’ policy will prove to be a sensible one. And during the silly season, a sensible policy (and news story) is needed more than usual.