Street votes are designed to help relieve the housing crisis that this country faces whilst ensuring community support for new projects. We believe they present an opportunity to deliver new housing without undermining local control. Drawing on the successes and limitations of the existing neighbourhood planning regime, street votes empower residents to allow more homes on their own street, and reap a substantial share of the economic rewards when they do so.
Street votes will give locals true control over development in their area, delivering better, more environmentally sustainable neighbourhoods. We believe that street votes are a liberal response to the housing crisis and urge you to support them when they come before the house.
Street votes demonstrate that it is possible to build the housing we so desperately need whilst working with local residents. It’s a win-win!
The plan was developed with significant input from Lib Dem, Baroness Olly Grender and has broad support amongst campaigners, architects planners and others, including:
- Baroness Thornhill, Liberal Democrat peer: “I am genuinely excited by a radically new approach to get residents to go from being BANANAS (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody!) to YIMBYs! … It’s so important that we change this anti development culture.”
- Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, Liberal Democrat peer: “Street level democratisation of development is a profoundly important idea that could have a key role to play in addressing both the housing shortage and creating more sustainable and attractive communities.”
- Chris Smowton, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Headington Ward in Oxford: “I welcome the ‘street votes’ approach, which should encourage development that provides more homes within cities, thereby contributing to housebuilding targets without urban sprawl, while ensuring that tenants and the local authority see a share of the benefits. I particularly welcome the micro-democratic mechanism that localises accountability and removes the need for a Local Authority to construct a top-down, one-size-fits-all policy.”
- Joshan Parmar, Chair of Cambridge University Liberal Association
Street votes are a progressive policy that will bring people together to solve the housing crisis. They will change the anti-development culture once and for all by giving local residents a say in local development and an incentive to build more homes. - Sam Raby, Liberal Democrat District Councillor
I absolutely support this. We need more and better housing and power should be devolved as far as possible. This should be embraced by the Liberal Democrats - Freddie Hoareau, Liberal Democrat Councillor
We desperately need more homes, especially in existing urban areas. Street votes would allow residents to say yes to more housing, ensuring broad local support for homes whilst enhancing our liberal commitment to listening to communities.