‘Enough ministers to fill a football team’: former Homes England boss laments housing department’s revolving door

UK planning policy needs a “period of stability”, according to the former chief executive of Homes England. 

Nick Walkley ran the government’s housing agency between 2017 and 2021, leaving his position amid rumours of a disagreement with then-housing minister Robert Jenrick. 

Speaking to Building at last week’s Mipim conference in Cannes, Walkley said the “political instability” around planning and the housing minister role was “not a good recipe for delivering a stable policy environment” and made it more difficult for housebuilders. 

“If you’re thinking about a permission for something that will guide development for 25 years, it’s very difficult to invest in something like that if the rules change on an almost annual basis [or] if there’s another attempt at a planning framework,” he said. 

Walkley, who was attending the conference on behalf of Avison Young, the real estate consultancy he now works for as president of its strategic advisory team in the UK, said the last year had seen “enough housing ministers and secretaries of state to put out a football team” and said constant tinkering with policy created “massive uncertainty”. 

“I’m much more in favour of having a period of a period of stability that allows decisions to work through, rules and responsibilities to be properly identified,” he said. “I think it is much more far more fundamental than another go at mixing the rules around.”