Governing the ungovernable: Spatial policy, markets and volume house-building in a growth region

The global rhetoric surrounding the role of private markets in the provision of new housing masks a more complex reality, highlighted in processes of spatial planning, in which public policy and private developers are deeply enmeshed. This paper discusses some of the tensions with the help of a detailed examination of plans for housing development on the edge of England's growth region (in Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire) during the period 2003-13. It critically reflects on the consequences of pursuing spatial policies that rely on light touch state involvement in a market shaped by the priorities of powerful corporate actors.