Backyard blues

It’s great news that David Cameron used his conference speech to criticise nimbys and call for more homes but does he really get the problem?

In the week that has seen the launch of the pan-housing Homes for Britaincampaign it was significant that the prime minister went beyond the odd dutiful word in his leader’s speech at Birmingham. The bit that really struck me was this:

‘There are those who say “yes of course we need more housing”…but “no” to every development – and not in my backyard.
 Look – it’s OK for my generation. Many of us have got on the ladder.
 But you know the average age that someone buys their first home today, without any help for their parents? 
33 years old. We are the party of home ownership – we cannot let this carry on.
’

Read the rest of this post on Inside Edge, my blog for Inside Housing