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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith
@pmsmith.bsky.social
880 followers 170 following 430 posts
Developer, land promoter, planner, surveyor, cyclist, YIMBY. MD of The Strategic Land Group, director at LPDF, advisor to PricedOut and columnist for Housing Today. I write longer things on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/longwall
open.substack.com
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · Oct 18
This is Brooklands, in Greater Manchester.

It's where Sir Patrick Abercrombie used to live.

And it can teach us something about why our suburbs aren't denser, and how we can fix it.

Find out here.
👇👇👇

open.substack.com/pub/longwall...
Why we're failing to increase the density of our urban areas and how we can fix it
Brooklands, Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Auckland and Croydon
open.substack.com
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 22h
One from the archive.

A Michael Gove piece from 2009 for Building Magazine, warning of the dangers of loading too many regulatory requirements onto new homes.

www.building.co.uk/comment/buck...
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 2d
Slightly odd report, this.

It identifies viability as the biggest obstacle to delivery.

Then proposes some things that will reduce cost but a whole load more that will increase them.

🔗 keycities.uk/wp-content/u...
pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 3d
If you’re interested in how other countries’ planning systems work and what we can learn from them, here’s a podcast I recorded with @ebwhamilton about the approach in America.

There are more episodes about other countries in the pipeline too.

open.spotify.com/episode/7EqH...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 3d
This is a great summary of the steps taken in New Zealand to increase housing supply, and the lessons we can learn for England.

At its core is a simple premise - if the planning system allows permission for more homes in a predictable way, then more will be built.

www.express.co.uk/news/politic...
New Zealand shows how UK can end housing crisis | Politics | News | Express.co.uk
Empty words do not build homes. Supply does. That means freeing up land where people want to live.
www.express.co.uk
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Reposted by Paul Smith
adamcobb.bsky.social
Adam @adamcobb.bsky.social · 4d
My favourite ridiculous example of this is the Manchester United credit card in Malaysia and Singapore (yes really) which used to give extra rewards only when they won now also gives rewards when they draw as people were churning due to lack of victories milelion.com/2025/07/17/h...
Hooray: Maybank Manchester United Card enhanced; now rewards draws - The MileLion
For the 2025/26 EPL season, earn 2.8 mpd for every Manchester United win, 1.6 mpd for a draw, and 1.12 mpd on all other occasions where they teach us that winning isn't everything.
milelion.com
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 5d
From this research by Deloitte: www.deloitte.com/content/dam/...
www.deloitte.com
pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 5d
And we’re building far fewer than they are too.
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 5d
We have far fewer homes relative to our population size than other European countries.
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 10d
Here’s the full piece, which looks at Burnham’s record as Mayor more generally.

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Andy Burnham promised 10,000 council houses. Guess the tally so far
Greater Manchester is a success story but that has little to do with the mayor, still less the economic model he is touting for the country
www.thetimes.com
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 10d
He’s braver than me though - would you cross this man?
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 10d
A summary of Andy Burnham’s housing record from @rcolvile.bsky.social in today’s Sunday Times.
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 10d
One from the archive, on why new towns are really hard.

www.housingtoday.co.uk/comment/weve...
We’ve been here before with New Towns – they are difficult
With the parties gearing up for a snap election, Labour has put New Towns at the heart of its housing policy. Paul Smith explains why they are unlikely to have much of a short-term impact
www.housingtoday.co.uk
pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 10d
Here are the locations of the next wave of New Towns.

It’s an interesting mix of enlarged settlements, most of which seem to be centred on railway stations, and inner urban regeneration.

www.gov.uk/government/p...
Initial government response - September 2025
www.gov.uk
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 11d
Best one I ever received was “I’m away from the office and will be deleting all emails received while I’m away without reading them. If the matter is important, please contact again when I’m back.”
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 16d
If you were going to speak someone about the way the Dutch planning system works, what questions would you ask?
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 21d
Labour will miss its 1.5m homes target by 2030.

But missing the number doesn’t have to mean missing the chance to change direction.

I’ve explained what’s been done, what still needs to happen, and how delivery can rise again.

🔗 open.substack.com/pub/longwall...
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 28d
You can read the piece here - it’s free with a sign up, I think.

www.house-builder.co.uk/news/plannin...
Planning for puddles
Paul Smith, managing director of The Strategic Land Group, looks at the growing problem of surface water flood risk
www.house-builder.co.uk
pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 28d
I've written about puddles again, this time for Housebuilder magazine.

We've found ourselves in a position where the planning system is actually doing a *worse* job of protecting homes from surface water flooding than it used to, despite it being a really easy policy fix.
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Reposted by Paul Smith
jburnmurdoch.ft.com
John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 29d
British NIMBYism is truly a sight to behold.

“We are rejecting this solar farm, because one time I saw an electric vehicle on fire, which reminded me that decades ago a coal mining disaster killed lots of children”.
170 540 1.7K
pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · Sep 7
Although even that isn’t as good as this spell from Jofra Archer.
pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · Sep 7
Whatever the result of the actual game might be, I think we can all agree that South Africa’s kit is far, far better than whatever it is that England are wearing.
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · Sep 2
This is fascinating.
rentouljohn.bsky.social
John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · Sep 2
Catch-up from May: Twitter is not the real world, but it is more like it than Bluesky veriangroup.com/en-gb/news-a...
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · Aug 31
Got a chance to actually say Yes In My Back Yard today.
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pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · Aug 29
And developers are, of course, told they should reflect affordable housing requirements in the land value.

Even though you sometimes don’t even now for sure what they will be even *after* the application is submitted.
pmsmith.bsky.social
Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · Aug 29
When we say the planning system is discretionary, here’s an example of what that means.

It’s the last section of an actual consultation response from a council on a live application.

Essentially “this is what we think right now, but we reserve the right to change our mind.”
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