Leo Gibbons
@Layo_FH
Failed politician. YIMBY. Linguistics student. Writer and presenter of The Stepping Out of Line Podcast.
I am also on the other place now. You can find me at @layog.bsky.social
Here’s another photo of the protected high street. And here is the shopping centre that was going to be developed. Somehow this ugly 1980s shopping centre doesn’t degrade this conservation area but new tower blocks in 2020s new London vernacular does. Someone make it make…
And who turned up the thermostat?
There were 33k asylum seekers in hotels at the last count, far fewer than 56k peak in Sep23. Main difference now is the political temperature.
140k! Thats pretty impressive!
In under 10 hours, 140,000 of you have signed up and sent a clear message: We’re not going to take this anymore. The time is now. Join us: yourparty.uk
The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible.
The biggest gentrification-haters are always gentrifiers themselves. What’s the classic line? "Unacceptable gentrification started the day after I moved in?"
"Director of Design" at a tech company complaining that new housing in her neighborhood is "gentrification". This is a religion: you recite liturgical phrases ("this is gentrification!") to show your commitment to the religion even if they phrases themselves no longer have any…
Displacement?!!! It’s replacing a Morrisons and a car park? Who is it displacing? Displacement in Peckham is caused by ever increasing rents. Rental increases that are caused by growing demand, while the housing supply stays static. Those new flats won’t create rich people…
There's an unspoken assumption here. It's the idea that there are two separate housing markets: a luxury market and an affordable market. That's true of many markets (e.g. more luxury cars don't make cars more affordable in general), but it isn't true for housing. 🧵
"Director of Design" at a tech company complaining that new housing in her neighborhood is "gentrification". This is a religion: you recite liturgical phrases ("this is gentrification!") to show your commitment to the religion even if they phrases themselves no longer have any…
My theory is… politically, Labour politicians in London put all their eggs in one basket on affordable housing quotas. They did this because most voters don’t understand basic economics. Politically they could go ‘yaaay 35% affordable housing’ and sell developments much more…
Fahnbulleh is an economist. Surely she knows why we need so many ‘affordable homes’, because the rents and the prices the market can charge are too high for most people on average or low incomes, in London and the SE, and that’s the case because housing supply doesn’t meet…
"There is little point in building housing that Southwark's residents can't afford." This is a toxic attitude based on a fundamental misunderstanding of economics and housing. New market-rate housing lowers rents for all. (Evidence in thread below)
The developer knows the rules: it was always unlikely to get permission if they did not provide the levels of affordable housing set out in planning policy (35%). There is little point building housing that Southwark's residents can't afford to live in.
It's easy to focus on names and party colours, but the establishment of a left-wing challenger to Labour is a serious threat. In other European nations (see France, Germany) the hard left has cost left-of-centre, social democratic parties dearly. In an increasingly fragmented…
I’ve done a mega thread on Southwark Council decision to harm everyone affected by the housing crisis in SE London, but this dumb website won’t allow me to post it. Is Elon now banning screenshots to articles or something?…
You realise that a lot of people live in market-rate housing, right? More than half of people in Southwark do. And you think there is "little point" in building homes for them?