Treat Planning Like Fantasy Football

Leading Think-Tank says using a Fantasy Football-style platform for Local Plans would give communities more choices over where homes are built;

• This would reduce objections to planning and increase the number of new developments, helping us to tackle the housing crisis;

• The existing local planning process gives residents a binary choice between supporting or opposing new developments. It does not allow them to suggest alternatives or have an insight into the decision-making process;

• As a result, people who get involved in the consultation process generally oppose development, preventing housebuilding;

• Learning from the Fantasy Football model, we should create a simple online platform which identifies all those sites assessed by the planning authority. Local residents could then select their preferred combination of sites that meet planning rules;

• By choosing between a variety of options, residents would be empowered to engage with real trade-offs, encouraging balanced and constructive local input;

• This simplified process would boost engagement and increase transparency, meaning residents would support, rather than oppose, the housing we need.

A new paper from the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) outlines how we can improve planning consultations by learning from Fantasy Football.

The UK’s planning system is complex and opaque, eroding public confidence and stymieing housebuilding. The current Local Plan system gives communities a binary choice between supporting or opposing the council's selected sites, with limited scope for alternative options. Rather than being a collaborative effort, the current process is top-down with planners imposing house building onto communities, creating a backlash that prevents development.

Fantasy Football, on the other hand, is intuitive and popular, allowing players to create a virtual team by selecting real-world footballers within a limited budget. The game’s appeal lies in strategic trade-offs - players must balance their finances and position choices to earn points based on the footballer's real-world performance.

By learning from this model, we can transform planning consultations. Instead of restricting residents' input, a user-friendly online platform would present all sites assessed by planning authorities with relevant information provided. Local residents could then select their preferred combination of sites that meet planning rules, with the platform clearly showing progress towards the settlement’s housing target. This would allow different options to be explored, drawing on local knowledge to build consensus around house building. 

This innovative platform could be introduced without new legislation, simplifying local consultations and enabling residents to easily explore, compare, and provide feedback on potential development sites. By making the trade-offs of site selection transparent, the system ensures that communities have a genuine say in planning decisions while reducing the outsized influence of objectors. Increased local input would also mean that developers would be incentivised to pursue plans that genuinely benefit residents.   

Ultimately, this model would build a stronger consensus around new housing projects, helping address the UK’s housing crisis from the ground up.

Paul Smith, report author, said:

“Learning from the success of Fantasy Football, we can transform how communities engage with Local Plans. An accessible online system would empower residents to take charge of development in their communities, fostering better relationships between local people, councils and developers. 

By offering residents a choice between development options, housebuilders can tap into local knowledge, meeting housing targets while making more informed decisions.

This innovative approach would use the success of a popular online game to increase community involvement in planning decisions and help get Britain building.”

Maxwell Marlow, Director of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“Our broken planning system underpins the UK’s housing crisis. Time and again, residents' vetoes block essential developments and limit housing supply.

By adopting a Fantasy Football-style system, we can maintain local input while accelerating house building, making the consultation process more open and effective in the process. 

While the planning system requires comprehensive reform, this paper offers a straightforward first step to boost housebuilding.”

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:  

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact press@adamsmith.org | 0758 477 8207

Paul Smith is the Managing Director of The Strategic Land Group.

The Adam Smith Institute is one of the world’s leading think tanks. It was ranked first in the world among independent think tanks and as the best domestic and international economic policy think tank in the UK by the University of Pennsylvania. Independent, non-profit and non-partisan, the Institute is at the forefront of making the case for free markets and a free society, through education, research, publishing, and media outreach.