“There isn’t enough water.” There is.

And humanity learnt how to tame and channel it at scale thousands of years ago. Middle Eastern kingdoms are able to raise cities in the middle of deserts, so it is implausible to claim that one of the rainiest islands in Europe should stop building houses because water is too scarce. What prevents us building in modern Britain is not water, but process. What has prevented the UK building enough water capacity in the East of England are delays of planning and Ofwat signing off the business case. Any plan to deliver 1.5 million new homes must solve this problem, and will.

“There will not be enough power.” There will be.

Britain is undertaking the greatest reworking of its grid ever attempted as the route to delivering the nation’s goal of net zero. With or without new housing, this task is essential. As a result, substantial additional capacity is already under construction, and will be delivered in the years ahead. The grid connections necessary to take this where it is needed are also being rolled out with a similar scale of ambition. With the Government pursuing an ambitious energy agenda, power should not be a barrier to housing. As with water, delivery of the specific infrastructure needed to deliver housing at scale on these sites is a function of paperwork, rather than practical difficulties.

“There is no space on the trains.” There is space on some. There will be space on others.

The railway is carrying 120 million fewer passengers than pre-covid, services that were suspended during the pandemic have yet to be restored, and the pattern of demand has spread travel away from the historic peak. While this leaves points of continued pressure, overall it represents an unprecedented opportunity to set in motion an ambitious housebuilding programme. In addition, many of the sites in this paper are served by regional lines that have never been pressed for capacity. Others are underwritten by extra capacity (such as East West Rail and the capacity freed up by HS2) that is already being delivered.

“New houses mean new roads.” Not these sites.

Housing on this scale does not require the construction of new motorways, only local roads connecting people to the existing network. Any modern place-building should place a priority on travel by foot, bike or public transport, meaning that these sites do not require a Milton Keynes style highway network. This paper’s unrelenting focus on creating gentle density places implies compact, walkable communities with the coherence of a traditional town. Many of these sites are chosen because they make use of road upgrades that are already planned or under construction. They therefore require no additional roadbuilding.

“We cannot afford to create trams.” We could.

Trams in the UK cost on average two to three times as much per mile to build as in continental Europe. But they do not need to. As we set out in our joint report, Back on Track, we could reduce our average cost per mile to a European average by properly empowering their creation at scale and by reducing the needless gold-plating of the design and development process.