Converting offices into places to live will transform planning prospects
sir – Philip Johnston (Comment, August 5) is spot on with his analysis of the proposed planning reforms. The world has changed: the need for massive offices is a thing of the past.
The Government should spend its energy looking at turning offices into places to live. Ideally the design should be spacious and, to meet the increased demand for home working, include at least one small room for a desk.
The best way to regenerate jobs in city centres now is to bring people back through a massive conversion programme of offices to living space. Access to gigabit broadband, water, sewerage, electricity and gas is much easier in locations that already have these infrastructure connections. In the short term, companies with offices can improve their balance sheets by selling their unneeded space.
Encouraging people to live and work locally brings health benefits, reduces crime and saves them time. It gives people back control of their lives.
Sure there are risks. People can work anywhere in the world, but that is a risk whether people work from home or not. Many companies have, however, learnt from the debacle of offshore call centres.
So this is a real opportunity for the Prime Minister to show some of his positivity and zeal for freedom.
Councillor Simon Fawthrop
Bromley, Kent
sir – The real impact of home working (Comment, August 4) is mass unemployment. Working from home releases workers from the drudgery and expense of a daily commute, but it also invites companies to pursue home working from further afield.
Moderately skilled new homeworkers are connected to one another by means that can easily extend from rural Britain to Central Europe, India, Africa or other countries with moderately skilled but very cheap workforces. Highly skilled workers may be safe, as might those where a physical presence is necessary until, of course, robots replace them.
Saving money on commuting is the
sir – There has been concern about young people working from home and having to live where they were brought up. I think that, in the long run, this is beneficial as the only means for breaking the hegemony of London over the employment market.
Small towns and rural areas have long been denuded of young residents. Provincial cities also suffered, lacking the draw to compete. Perhaps this will help us to “level up” the country.
Alex Petherbridge
Halifax, West Yorkshire
sir – While the planning system in this country may be Byzantine, the reason for the housing crisis is immigration. Since 1997 millions have flooded into the country with the inevitable result of a housing shortage.
Simon Sherbrooke
Blandford, Dorset