Last week saw a surprising and welcome intervention from three former footballers who plan to build a £400m housing scheme for rent and purchase at a mix of affordable and market prices. While there is some disagreement about whether the financial arrangements they have made with the council are the best way to deliver affordable housing, the sincerity of the footballers' belief in the importance of a good environment is obvious. Former England captain Rio Ferdinand, West Ham United's Mark Noble and ex-Brighton & Albion's Bobby Zamora recognise that families need more than just a house or flat: there must be enough space and prices must be affordable, but crucially there must be access to the facilities that children need to help them develop and learn. Residents of the new Luton development are promised sporting facilities, childcare services, and what appears to be good quality outdoor space.

This focus on access to quality facilities is fairly unusual in recent news stories about housing. This is partly a matter of need: in parts of the country where affordable housing is in short supply, easy access to a park or doctors surgery may feel like a luxury. But most would agree that ease of access to healthcare, education and work are important parts of a decent lifestyle: the government considers distance to a GP surgery, primary school and shop as part of its deprivation indicators, and they will be an important part of the equation for many people looking for a new home.

In important ways, we've been here before. The social housing built in the 1920s and 1930s was spacious: policy-makers thought families needed a kitchen, sitting room and parlour, and, unusually for the time, a bathroom rather than an outdoor privy. (Middle-class planners sometimes believed that working-class residents didn't really want an indoor toilet, and complained that baths were being used to store coal or breed rabbits – fortunately, they were over-ridden and the bathrooms stayed). Build quality was generally good, and a lot of the properties are still in use today. However, many residents were unhappy because their new homes lacked access to shops, schools and social spaces. Some even moved back to their old slum accommodation, feeling that cramped space, noise and lack of heating were preferable to the lack of facilities and transport in their comfortable new homes.

Too many families today are still being forced to make the same trade-off. Some have become homeless and are only offered local authority accommodation outside their area, and often distant from the facilities they need. Some find that the only affordable property they can find near their jobs and families is a cramped and poor quality private let, and a cheaper home requires money and time for transport which they do not have.

Britain needs more homes. We need houses and flats which are flexible enough to meet the needs of growing families, and to adapt when the children leave home and parents’ mobility begins to decline. But it’s not just about what’s inside the properties: like the footballers’ group, developers and councils must consider access to facilities, including childcare and outdoor play, right at the start of the planning process. Otherwise, apart from the extinction of the parlour and the growth of the shower room, we might as well be in the 1930s. 

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