Sir Peter Hall, a government advisor and planning expert, has called for the use of more greenfield sites to tackle the housing shortage. In a report for the Town and Country Planning Association Hall said that redundant agricultural land should be released for development since 9% of farmland in the south east receives European money to be left empty to prevent over production. Hall said the land would provide more than enough space to meet the current need for affordable housing. “The plain conclusion is that we have plenty of land for building, almost wherever we like.” Hall also criticised the current policy of building housing in higher densities. “We should be seriously concerned that we shall be developing all sorts of inappropriate sites, bad for people who live in them, bad above all for their children if they have them,” her said. (Guardian)