We need more homes, but they must be places worth living in

This post is by Ruth Lin Wong Holmes, vice president of the Landscape Institute.

Britain’s housing crisis is real, urgent and deeply felt. Across the UK, people are struggling to find homes that are affordable, available and decent. In England, the government has pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes, an ambition that reflects the scale of the problem. As we attempt to meet that target, there’s a question we cannot afford to ignore: what kind of places are we building?

The latest figures suggest we’re already falling short on quantity. England added just 208,600 net new dwellings in 2024-25, a six per cent drop on the previous year, and well below what’s needed. Numbers matter enormously, especially for people unable to secure housing. Quantity alone isn’t enough. New homes need to create neighbourhoods, places people want to live.

The public gets it
New polling by Ipsos, commissioned by the Landscape Institute, makes something very clear: people care about the quality of the places being built around them. Among 2,246 UK adults surveyed in March 2026: 90 per cent of them valued green features between buildings and pavements; 89 per cent said access to communal green space matters when choosing a home; 89 per cent said nature conservation is important; and nearly four in five valued features that help manage rainwater.

Wildlife and biodiversity, space to relax and socialise, cleaner air, and a stronger sense of community all matter. Beauty and aesthetics play a part. Only two per cent of respondents said communal green spaces offered no benefits at all.

Other surveys back this up. RSPB’s polling showed that 72 per cent of people think more positively of politicians who say new housing should work with nature, not against it. CPRE found 84 per cent believe we can build the homes we need while still protecting the countryside. The mandate is for smoothing not blocking development. It’s a mandate for doing it better.

Landscape must be considered at the start
Landscape is about working within the context and stitching housing developments into the fabric of society and the environment. Here’s where much of our current development model goes wrong. Landscape is often treated as an afterthought – something to deal with once the important decisions have already been made about how to connect communities and support access to opportunities – particularly around health. In reality, landscape should be one of the first considerations, not the last.

The Landscape Institute’s response to the government’s New Towns programme makes exactly this case. Landscape should be treated as critical infrastructure, embedded in project design and planning from the outset and sustained throughout a development’s life. Without a landscape-led approach, neighbourhoods end up with leftover land that is wasted opportunity. Good spatial structure allows places to function, managing water, supporting movement, protecting habitats and giving people somewhere to breathe.

When landscape professionals are brought in too late, the options narrow dramatically, and the cost of work shoots up or costly retrofitting is needed. Early input means a development can respond to the land, rather than adapting green / blue infrastructure to whatever gaps remain.

Climate resilience can’t be an afterthought
The Climate Change Committee has warned that, by mid-century, the UK’s climate will look dramatically different. There will be more extreme heatwaves, higher peak river flows and greater pressure on infrastructure. Their modelling suggests 92 per cent of existing homes are at risk of overheating and peak river flows could be up to 45 per cent higher.

These are not abstract predictions. They translate into sweltering flats, flooded streets, overwhelmed drainage systems and public spaces that become uncomfortable due to perceptions of safety and the impacts of extreme weather. Street trees, parks, green roofs, rain gardens, swales and permeable paving are essential measures, as they are the solutions to extreme heat, excess surface water, poor air quality and declining biodiversity. When they’re not well planned together, added late or if measures are underfunded, they are at risk of failing due to their fragmentary nature.

Ambition without capacity is wishful thinking
Stronger national policy matters, but it won’t deliver quality on the ground unless local authorities have people with the right expertise and resources to enforce it. The Landscape Institute wants landscape expertise to be embedded in multidisciplinary teams at every stage of planning and delivery, and for councils to be properly supported with in house expertise. A rain garden that isn’t maintained can’t deliver its promised benefits. A park without long term stewardship deteriorates and can become a no-go area for some. Tree planting that fails after five years was never really an investment for environmental improvement or carbon sequestration, it was just a photo opportunity.

The government is right that England needs more homes and we should be learning from the wider UK context. Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 places the climate and nature crises at the heart of national planning policy. Wales has a more established statutory approach to sustainable drainage in new development. And Northern Ireland has opportunities to strengthen developments through nature recovery, water management and place-based planning.

A housing mission that undermines the ability to create liveable places will not hold public and political confidence for long and stores up problems for the future. People want development that is greener, better connected and better planned. Landscape led development isn’t a luxury, it’s how to give people the good homes they need.