On The Abundance Agenda this week:
* Martin debunks the myth of ‘land-banking’ – and explains why all of the incentives for housing developers are totally broken.
* James explores a new paper which sets out how the government could conceivably build Heathrow’s notorious third runway… before the next election!
* And we speak to the excellent Michael Dnes about how a focus on time can speed up infrastructure planning – and breaks James’s brain with tails of Britain approving a nuclear plant in a national park… in just three days.
You can find “Getting Britain Off The Ground” at Labour Together or the Centre for British Progress.
The IPPR paper Martin was not a massive fan of is here.
Michael Dnes’s paper on “Making Britain Build Again” is here.
Michael also mentions a thread he did on the prospects of reviving HS2 to Manchester – you can find it here.
Ian Mansfield’s piece on the case for closing Heathrow and building Boris Island is here.
James’s latest is on Nigel Farage and the threat a Reform government might pose to Britain’s institutions.
Martin’s latest is on the troubles at the ONS and how weirdly precisely we measure GDP.
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The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!
You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.
00:21 The Housing Crisis: Greedy Developers or Systemic Issues?
02:10 Debunking the Land Banking Myth
07:22 The Realities of Slow Build-Outs
10:09 The Economics of Land Value
13:02 Government Intervention and Housing Market Solutions
18:43 Heathrow's Third Runway: A Controversial Expansion
23:49 Global Comparisons and Feasibility of Rapid Airport Construction
25:56 Proposed Reforms for Infrastructure Development
31:20 Proposing a Shorter Third Runway
32:20 Controversies and Government Decisions
32:36 Infrastructure Ideas Beyond Heathrow
32:52 Government's Role in Decision Making
33:54 Housekeeping and Listener Engagement
35:18 Introducing Michael Ness and His Report
36:20 Historical Context of Britain's Infrastructure
37:55 Challenges in Modern Infrastructure Planning
43:54 Proposed Solutions for Faster Planning
51:30 Specialist Infrastructure Tribunals
53:45 HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail Discussion
57:06 Conclusion and Listener Call to Action
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