'Building Regulations have become overly complex. They need to be reduced." So said the Tories' planning rngreen paper, published last month. Although there is doubt whether this should have been in the planning document at all (see this week's Hansom, p19) both main parties have made noises in recent years about cutting through the red tape and allowing more self-certification. And as housebuilders struggle to stay afloat while chained by the neck to a sack of of rules and initiatives, the issue looks likely to stay on the agenda. But before anyone is tempted to look to the Building Regulations as an easy way to lighten the load, they may want to take note of what happened when one country took deregulation too far.
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