Dear York Councillor,

I append the six parts of my emails “Bring back the prefab” as a PDF. These were the result of using various AI chatbots. Here is a summary:

Part 1 told how the post-war prefabs were socially successful. They were designed with people in mind: one-storey homes with green space and private gardens. “Compared to later tower blocks or cramped terraced housing, prefabs gave people space and light, creating a more relaxed environment for community life”.

Part 2 pointed out that the construction of modern wooden prefabs caused a fraction of the emissions of greenhouse gases compared to houses built in a traditional fashion. It also pointed out that prefab construction is much cheaper.

Part 3 concerned neighbourliness, which was high for the socially uniform populations of prefab and council house estates. The social fabric of council housing rapidly worsened in the 1980s driven by policy changes & economic shifts.

This led to a policy of mixed-income developments, where social housing for low income residents was mixed with private housing for more affluent residents. Critics argued that it could be seen as a form of “soft” social engineering—a way to manage or disperse poverty without addressing its root causes.

Mixing low income housing with market priced housing, means mixing high car ownership residents with low car ownership ones.

Part 4 concluded that out of town developments that provide one, two (or even three) car parking spaces are not suitable for lower-income people with limited car use. Such developments also have very high carbon emissions.

Part 5 concluded that new towns are not an answer. They take decades to build, and have high embodied carbon. Estates of car-free modern (mostly wooden) prefabs (with solar roofs, heat pumps &tc) are a good start. They should be placed next to existing settlements to provide low carbon services for them.

Part 6 noted that a plot of agricultural land big enough for a house is valued at less than £1000 – but when planning permission is granted its value leaps to between £100,000 to £150,000 so a large part of the cost of a new house is created by planning permission. This accrues to the land owner. For a £300,000 house on the fringe of York, Copilot has estimated:

Component	Estimated £	% of Sale Price
Landowner share	£100k–£150k	33%–50%
Build cost	£120k–£140k	40%–47%
Infrastructure	£15k–£20k	5%–7%
Developer margin	£30k–£50k	10%–17%

Best wishes

Geoff Beacon