So, we’re getting a new Prime Minister. As a local councillor, I’ve got three wishes. The first is around planning and housing. For decades, we have looked to the market to solve our housing needs. It hasn’t worked, and it’s not going to work now. The post-WWII Labour government did address the housing crisis. It commissioned councils to build 1000’s of houses. No use of the market or viability tests, just building the houses we needed. For some reason, we have passed the responsibility to developers who are only interested in the money. Surprise, surprise, it’s failed. We haven’t got the houses we need, just spiralling house prices and senior executives getting fat on taxpayers’ subsidies. No wonder they spend so much money lobbying the government.

To blame local councils and the planning regime is just wrong. Of course, there will be crucial infrastructure that is needed, and we get that, but to impose ridiculous top-down housing targets, combined with the removal of a democratic say in the process, is verging on madness. There are hundreds of thousands of planning permissions already approved, not being built. The idea developers will build at pace to increase supply and reduce the value of their product exhibits financial illiteracy. Yes, they may get more permissions, but there’s nothing to stop them from land banking. They’ll build them out as and when the market suits, not to address need. The government should introduce council tax on permissions granted and not wait for them to be built.

To remove the role of planning committees from the planning process is a denial of democracy. It’s the kind of regime Stalin would be proud of. Local communities will have development forced upon them with no say. I can see it now, with Westminster passing the blame onto local councils when they know full well the councils have no choice. It’s a bit like council tax rises, which we’re forced to implement. Please, new prime minister, sort this madness out.

If you want sustained growth, invest in our children. They are the workforce and engine of the future. The problem is, it won’t happen overnight, and we all want immediate answers. Gimmicks like enterprise zones or freeports are a joke and deliver nothing. Invest in pre-natal, post-natal, Sure Start, family hubs, schools, teachers, education, training, whatever it takes to make our children the best equipped to compete in the world economy. We need to be sure our most vulnerable children, many carrying the scars of trauma and deprivation, have the support they need. It won’t solve all the ills, but the earliest intervention or prevention will pay huge dividends in the longer term. More than money and economic growth, all our children deserve the best. It will take political vision and courage. I hope the new prime minister has these.

The latest round of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is a car crash waiting to happen. It’s going to cost council taxpayers over £1 billion. Of all the things we could be spending money on, re-arranging the deckchairs isn’t one of them. How many potholes could we fill with that amount? I’m not opposed to LGR, especially if genuine devolution comes with it, but what we have with the current process is a depressing example of how not to do it. The scale, the speed, and the changing criteria are the ingredients for disaster. And of course, the most vulnerable will suffer the most. The new prime minister needs to end this nonsense now.