Radix Big Tent are inviting experts involved in the real estate sector to provide evidence that will contribute towards the discussions and proposals of the new Commission aiming to tackle England’s housing shortage.
Dame Kate Barker CBE will head up the Commission on behalf of radical centre think tank, Radix Big Tent, with the support of law firm Shoosmiths.
The Radix Big Tent Housing Commission will specifically focus on responding to England’s housing shortage. Its aim is to make recommendations soon after the anticipated General Election.
During its work, the Commission will address four distinct, but connected issues: how to free up more land for development; the role of specialist housing, for example for students and older people; approaches to sustainability; and ensuring affordability.
The Commission will be meeting publicly and privately over the coming months and are now inviting experts involved in the real estate sector to provide evidence that will contribute towards their discussions.
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Commission members
- Dame Kate Barker CBE (chair), chair of the 2004 ‘Barker Review’ on Housing Supply and the subsequent review on Land Use Planning (2006); author of Housing: Where’s the Plan (2014), non-exec Director at Taylor Wimpey plc and formerly member of the National Infrastructure Commission
- Lord Richard Best, social housing leader and member of House of Lords Built Environment Committee
- Richard Blyth, head of policy at the Royal Town Planning Institute
- Paul Brocklehurst, chair of the Land, Planning and Development Federation and former head of Catesby Estates
- Tom Chance, CEO, Community Land Trust Network
- Rick de Blaby, CEO, Get Living
- Melissa Mean, director at WeCanMake, a community-based project to create affordable homes by unlocking micro-sites for development
- Alexandra Notay, placemaking and investment director at Thriving Investments
- Elsie Owusu OBE, founding chair of the Society of Black Architects
- Vicky Pryce, chair of Radix Fellows and leading economist
- Ben Rich, CEO, Radix Big Tent and former secretary to Lord Rogers’ Urban Taskforce
- Dr Catriona Riddell, expert in strategic planning issues working with local authorities
- Jackie Sadek, director at Urban Strategy and urban regeneration expert
- Andrew Taylor FRTPI, group planning director at Vistry Group
- Lisa Tye, partner and living sector co-head at Shoosmiths
- Doreen Wright, commercial director at A2Dominion Group
Commission researchers
The Commission’s researchers:
David Boyle and Lesley Yarranton are co-authors of Edge City UK Abomination or new urban form? published in 2022.
David Boyle has been writing about new ideas for more than a quarter of a century. He is former editor of Town & Country Planning, co-director of the New Weather Institute, policy director of Radix UK, a fellow of the New Economics Foundation, has stood for Parliament and is a former independent reviewers for the Cabinet Office.
He is the author of Alan Turing, Scandal and Before Enigma, as well as a range of other historical studies.
Lesley Yarranton is a former journalist, television researcher and translator. She and David co-produce the (usually) annual Radix Festival ‘Big Ideas’ report and they have co-written and researched several Radix papers, including Tickbox Infrastructure on the construction industry.
She was one of the first western journalists to live in and report from East Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She has since worked in Paris and Washington DC. Publications she has written for include The Times, The European, the Mirror and the Evening Standard. She has also been a freelance contributor to the French business magazine Challenges, the financial pages of the Mail on Sunday and EuroProperty.
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About Radix Big Tent:
Radix Big Tent is a registered charity. As such it is independent and non-partisan. It’s board and fellows include former Health Secretary Lord Lansley, former Business Secretary, Sir Vince Cable and shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock. It was formed in 2022 from the merger of the Big Tent Foundation founded for George Freeman MP and Baroness Sally Morgan and the Radix think tank.
About Shoosmiths:
Shoosmiths is a law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for its ability to focus on what matters. The firm serves UK and international clients from its offices across the United Kingdom and Brussels.
Shoosmiths’ real estate team - featuring more than 400 legal advisers, including 70+ partners - is one of the largest in the UK and provides multi-disciplinary support across transactional real estate, construction, planning, real estate disputes, environmental, tax, real estate M&A and regulatory.
In the news
- Inside Housing - Dame Kate Barker to lead new study of England’s housing shortage
- Property Week - Dame Kate Barker to lead commission into England’s housing shortage
- Planning, Building & Construction Today - Dame Kate Barker to lead new commission into England’s housing shortage
- Construction Index - Think tank sets up housing inquiry
- Property Industry Eye - Dame Kate Barker to lead new study into England’s housing shortage
- BNN - Dame Kate Barker to Spearhead Commission Tackling England's Housing Shortage Crisis
- Real Property - Dame Kate Barker leads new study into housing shortage in England
- BE News - Dame Kate Barker appointed to lead new commission into England’s housing shortage
- Housing Today - Dame Kate Barker to lead new housing inquiry
- Housing Digital - Dame Kate Barker to lead commission on housing shortage
- Today's Conveyancer - Radix Big Tent launches Housing Commission to tackle housing shortage
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