1/x One thing that has consistently amazed me is how serf-like the assumptions of the UK debate about planning and housing are. It’s either “planning should be liberalised so that developers can build more” or “councils should provide more affordable housing”... but...

2/x This is Flair 152 RE, the best selling house type in Germany. Available in various colours and customisations, with special red brick editions for North Germany. I say “house type” because... 70%, yes 70% of all new houses in DE are built via self-build or self-procurement

3/x You simply find a plot of land and choose your house type. There’s a huge industry devoted to providing options and designs for this self-procurement. So where does this land come from I hear you ask.. ?

4/x Well councils in Germany provide as a matter of course large numbers of affordable parcels in appropriate places for individual or cooperative self build, often done through buying land at agricultural prices , providing planning consent and dividing it up.

5/x Now this might not work easily in the UK, and in cities and for large and complex sites of flats you need developers. But I don’t understand why so much of our debate is based around how people have to be provided for, rather than enabled to provide for themselves.