When Redrow founder Steve Morgan accused the government this year of acting like it “wants to destroy the industry”, it was pretty clear what he was mainly taking aim at: the English planning system. Morgan was just one of a myriad of housebuilders and developers to complain in recent months about the operation of a system made even worse by Michael Gove’s December 2022 plans to water down local housing targets.

In response to mounting evidence of the dire state of the planning system – and the extent to which it is now holding back delivery of new homes – the Building the Future Commission decided to launch a review of the system. Doing so proved an enormous challenge, but it also unearthed a surprising degree of consensus, and prompted some far-reaching recommendations.