Prince William – King of the YIMBYs

There has been so much sad news from the Royal family with the King’s health and the Princess of Wales’s health and Fergie’s health. I was absolutely delighted to read a very cheery story earlier this week about Prince William (a.k.a. the Duke of Cornwall) planning to build 24 homes in Nansledan in Newquay on Duchy of Cornwall land to help eradicate homelessness.

The first phase of the development will focus on "creating high quality temporary accommodation that feels like home” and then it will provide "wrap around support" by St Petrocs, a homeless charity, to help residents access training and employment opportunities.

In an interview, Ben Murphy, the Duchy's estate director, said "As one of his key priorities for the Duchy of Cornwall, Prince William asked us to address the homelessness challenge within Cornwall and other areas where the estate resides…The Duchy is well-known for integrating high quality affordable housing into the new communities built on its land, and Prince William is determined to ensure that we continue to be part of the solution when it comes to the housing crisis. The shortage of social rent and private rented properties are widely considered to be the main causes of increasing homelessness across the country, which is why we are proud to launch this project alongside ambitious plans to unlock more affordable and attainable homes across our estate.

The Duchy confirmed its future housing projects in Nansledan would aim to increase affordable housing from 30% to 40%, meaning up to 200 more affordable homes will be built on top of the existing 1,020. The estate further committed to building more than 400 social rented homes and a further 475 affordable homes on its new development of South East Faversham in Kent.

Now I imagine a large number of NIMBYs are going to turn into absolutely rabid Republicans overnight… they are no doubt working on the slurs already… The Duke of Concrete and Prince Will-ruin-my-view-of Wales (I did actually read a refreshingly honest objection today about a Solar Energy project we are working on where one of the NIMBYs said “It will ruin the view from my kitchen and lower the value of my house”).

This week we also a headteacher in London warn that school closures are creating “ghost areas” across London and destroying communities as many families are leaving London as growing numbers of families cannot afford to stay in the city. There will be 8,000 fewer children in London needing school places and the biggest reason is the lack of affordable housing in the city.

This will no doubt compound the problems in places outside London where the demand for housing and school places will go up.

So, my hope is that our future Monarch will continue to use his influence to create a generation of YIMBYs that will understand that house building is an essential for the betterment of our society as a whole.

Until next week,

Henry