Good planning is underpinned by a simple economic logic: homes and jobs need to be broadly in balance. People should be able to live near their work, and businesses need access to a local workforce to grow. Yet over time, this aspiration appears to be drifting further out of reach. 

Iceni’s economics team has analysed the relationship between new homes and new jobs since 2011 in England’s 154 travel-to-work areas (TTWAs)– these are functional local areas defined by how people commute rather than by administrative boundaries.

Across England, the balance between homes and jobs is worsening. Per new home built, more jobs are being added in areas that are already well served with employment relative to their population, while fewer jobs are added elsewhere. 

Growth is therefore reinforcing existing imbalances: centres of employment are becoming more dominant, while dormitory areas are evolving into single-use places. This supports economic agglomeration but threatens sustainability.

This pattern is particularly stark in the biggest cities. England-wide, there are around 1.2 jobs per home, but since 2011, London has added 3.2 jobs per home, Birmingham and Manchester 2.8, Bristol 2.7 and Leeds 2.4. 

In many cases, this imbalance extends into surrounding areas, particularly in Hertfordshire and the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, and around Bristol, parts of the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and the Liverpool City Region.  

The planning implications are clear – we need more homes in our biggest cities and in their commuter catchments.

We equally need more jobs in dormitory areas. In recent years, only 0.9 jobs were added per home in areas with relatively few existing jobs per resident. This means more land is needed for key economic uses, as well as strategies to encourage productive investment.

However, all is not lost. If we want to build more balanced communities, homes and jobs need to be planned together.

The upcoming rollout of spatial development strategies presents a critical opportunity to redress regional and local imbalances. Strong pro-development voices will be needed to make this case through planning processes. 

Redressing imbalances will also depend on the availability of land for both housing and employment development. As more authorities adopt the Standard Method for local planning, there will be increasing opportunities for site promoters to deliver mixed-use communities. The current proposed changes to the NPPF also encourage development around well-connected railway stations, facilitating sustainable commuting.  

If you want to build a case for how development can restore the balance and help deliver more homes and/or jobs, get in touch with Iceni’s Economics team.