The Intermediary – September 2026 - Flipbook - Page 44
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
Great power, greater
responsibility
D
evolution is usually
discussed as a
question of political
power, but some of
its most profound
consequences could
be – quite literally – much closer
to home.
Housing is increasingly becoming
one of the areas where English
devolution becomes tangible. The
English Devolution and Community
Empowerment Act gives Strategic
Authorities responsibilities across
housing and strategic planning
including greater influence over
developments and the ability to shape
Spatial Development Strategies.
There is a compelling logic to this.
It seems eminently reasonable the
right housing policy for Manchester
cannot surely also be the right housing
policy for Cornwall, Birmingham
or Newcastle. Devolution creates the
possibility of matching housing policy
much more closely to local economies,
demographics, infrastructure
and need.
Greater Manchester offers an
interesting glimpse of what that might
mean. The city region has already
made housing a central part of its
economic and social strategy, with
an ambition to deliver 10,000 energy
efficient homes for social rent by 2030.
Across the nine authorities covered
by Places for Everyone, there is also an
ambition for 50,000 affordable homes
by 2039, including 30,000 social or
affordable rented homes. That is a
significant intervention in the shape
of a local housing market.
Our own data provides some
fascinating context. Government
dwelling stock figures show that
between 2011 and 2025 Salford
increased its dwelling density by 2.77
homes per hectare and Manchester by
2.64. They are the two highest placed
local authorities outside London and
the South. The tenure story is equally
interesting. In Manchester itself,
42
The Intermediary | September 2026
private renting accounted for around
15% of households in 2001. By 2021
it was more than 30%. Meanwhile,
the proportion of households owning
with a mortgage fell from around
24% to 21%.
Case in point
Perhaps Greater Manchester is
an early indication of what more
devolved housing policy could achieve.
A mayor able to connect transport,
regeneration, employment, planning
and housing can potentially make
decisions that are considerably more
coherent than policies designed
separately in Whitehall.
Homes can be directed towards
areas benefiting from infrastructure
investment, brownfield land can be
unlocked, and tenure can reflect the
needs of the local population.
Burnham’s approach certainly
appears to be moving in that direction.
Greater Manchester talks explicitly
about delivering the right types and
sizes of homes in the right places.
But greater discretion also creates
greater responsibility. Housing
cannot simply become a numbers
game conducted at regional rather
than national level. Building 20,000
homes is not necessarily a success
if they are the wrong homes, in the
wrong locations.
Housing is both social
infrastructure and an asset market.
Decisions intended to solve one
problem can inadvertently create
another. A substantial increase in one
form of tenure within a relatively
small geography can change the
balance of supply and demand and
potentially influence the values of
surrounding homes.
Equally, excessive concentration
of small apartments may meet a
numerical housing target while doing
lile for families wanting to remain
in an area.
That should not become an
argument for restricting supply to
STEVE GOODALL
is managing director at e.surv
protect existing property values.
England unquestionably needs more
homes, but it is an argument for much
beer information and scrutiny at a
local level before decisions are taken.
Local authorities and Strategic
Authorities need to understand
existing tenure, transaction volumes,
affordability, rental demand,
development pipelines, local
incomes and changing valuations at a
sufficiently granular level to identify
unintended consequences before they
become embedded.
The same evidence should inform
decisions about infrastructure.
If thousands of new homes are
planned around a transport hub,
the question should not be whether
the land can accommodate them,
but what mix of homes creates a
sustainable community.
Close to home
There is an appealing principle at the
heart of housing devolution, namely
decisions about places should be made
closer to those places. But proximity
does not automatically produce beer
decisions and, lest we forget, the
real prize comes when local political
accountability is combined with
sufficiently sophisticated evidence
to understand the consequences
of intervention.
Greater Manchester may be
giving us an early glimpse of the
opportunity. Its experience may also
demonstrate why the next stage of
housing devolution needs to be about
more than transferring powers from
Westminster. It needs to transfer
responsibility for understanding
the housing market those powers
will reshape. ●
