It's been a while since I wrote a blog article. I could say I've been busy. But in truth, it's because of the Election. Not the result (albeit I'll certainly come back to that), rather it being called in the first place. My initial instinct when I heard that Theresa May had called time on the Tory's 2015 mandate was to see if it was a wind up. Honestly, did anyone apart from political groupies and the young and optimistic, have the stomach for another election? Hadn't we had enough upheaval as a consequence of the Scottish referendum, the ’15 Election, and Brexit to keep us reeling for a good few years? And didn't we have more important things to focus on, such as salvaging what remains of this economic cycle before the burners start running low on gas, and how on earth to present ourselves as a credible, progressive nation whilst formally commencing Brexit negations?

Fast forward to Election night, and my apathy had well and truly been replaced by anger. Sitting on the wall of my polling station barely 12 hours earlier, for the first time in my life genuinely having no idea who to vote for, seemed a distant memory. The Exit Poll proved that we were destined to be an international laughing stock, seemingly hell bent on proving that the mess our forefathers made of the country in the 1970s could be mirrored, and beaten by some margin during the teens of this century. And to think, the last two years could certainly have been avoided if we had politicians that put the electorate before in party fighting and one-upmanship.

I was frankly still in this mind-set when I attended a Lodestone breakfast briefing on the Election last Monday morning, and in turn, when I was interviewed by Planning Magazine last Tuesday. By the time I was through, however, I felt strangely cathartic. Firstly, and with respect to my good hosts at Lodestone, I was reminded what it is to be within - or extremely close to - the inner circle of political life. A mainly labour-leaning focus, there was obvious glee and excitement in the recovery that Corbyn et al had made.  Six weeks earlier, they thought they were heading for oblivion.  Now they genuinely feel they could be seeing their leader (who continues to only enjoy qualified support) walking over the threshold of Number 10 before the clocks go back.  The bubble of politics, separated from the real world, is alive and well.

Secondly, to my conversation with Planning.  How did I feel the Election would change the order of business in respect of planning and housing? What might the next housing minister retain or jettison from the last administration? What were likely to be the priorities? I was reminded that the majority of us earn our crust, and go about our daily lives, far away from the Strangers Bar. We do not pander to every bend and weave of focus groups, or the changing shape of polls. And we also have to be realistic about what we can expect from any given politician to change the direction of planning, or more importantly, the pace of delivering development, particularly housing.

Moaning about housing (and the changing face of the minister with responsibility to do something about it) seemed facile even before the tragedy that unfolded at the Grenfell Tower - there simply seems to be more important things for our politicians to be tackling - and I was reminded, when speaking to Planning, that politicians neither build houses, nor need to tell us and our local authorities that we have a housing crisis. If councils are serious about changing delivery, they should adopt local plans, and allocate sites for development. They need to make use of the NPPF and existing powers on land disposal and land assembly. They need to stop trying to concoct the perfect model for joint ventures, which are great for the incumbent land owner, but stifle the ability for developers to make a profit, and consequently impact on delivery. We don't need any more announcements or initiatives to promise a magic solution, we just need to get on with it.