Ben Hopkinson (@Ben_A_Hopkinson) / X

Ben Hopkinson

606 posts

Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

Head of Housing and Infrastructure @cpsthinktank Formerly @BritainRemade

London

benhopkinson.substack.com

Joined June 2014

Pinned
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Jan 22
There's a new Lords amendment that will give Mayors the power to approve new underground or tram projects instead of waiting 3+ years to get the Transport Secretary to sign off. That means Tracy Brabin could approve the Leeds tram or Sadiq Khan could approve the Bakerloo Line
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Oct 9, 2025
Strasbourg in France has a comprehensive tram network of 6 lines and 35 miles of track, which serves its population of 500,000. Leeds has a population of 812,000 and it goes without. What's the difference between the two? Mayors that have the power to build 🧵
163K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Aug 5, 2024
To re-open 3 miles of track to Portishead, the local council had to complete a 79,187 page long planning application. If printed out, that's 14.6 miles of paper (4 1/2 times the line itself!). Then they had to wait 3 years for approval. Yet now this project may be scrapped.🧵
380K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Aug 16, 2024
Why can Dijon, France plan, approve, and build a 12 mile tramway in 4 years, while it takes 13 years to build a 1 mile tram extension in Birmingham? Our new report, written with @createstreets, explores how Britain can make building new tramways cheaper and faster. 🧵
289K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Jul 13, 2023
Brescia, Italy (pop 196k) has a fully automated metro line built in 2013 with plans for two more. Leeds (pop 516k) is the largest city in Western Europe without a light rail or metro.
166K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Oct 23, 2024
In July, Rachel Reeves cancelled the Restoring Your Railway fund and now rail projects are going through stand alone reviews. I've written about five railway projects that will boost growth that the Government should commit to at the budget next week. 🧵
232K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Jan 26, 2025
There are so many stations near Britain's biggest cities where there's a town on one side of the tracks and nothing on the other side. This announcement will make it easier to build new homes in these mirror towns within walking distance of fast, reliable transit.
YIMBY Alliance
@yimbyalliance
Jan 26, 2025
NEW: The Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the Government will introduce a “zoning scheme” giving a presumption in favour of development around commuter rail stations, enabling hundreds of thousands of new homes:
95K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Dec 21, 2023
Adding solar panels to this council building "would introduce a modern and out of character feature (that would) be harmful to the architectural and historic significance of this building" So the council rejected their own planning request!
Britain Remade
@BritainRemade
Dec 21, 2023
Replying to @BritainRemade
Medway Council declared a climate emergency in April 2019. In 2022, the council rejected its OWN request for planning permission to put solar panels on its Grade II-listed 1970s concrete and brick HQ
69K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Oct 18, 2024
In 1846 alone, Parliament approved 9,500 miles of railway. Today it takes three years to approve three miles of track, only for the project to be in doubt after funding is pulled. @SCP_Hughes's new report has 16 sensible reforms to the planning system to speed up approvals.
Samuel Hughes
@SCP_Hughes
Oct 18, 2024
Replying to @SCP_Hughes and @BritainRemade
The Portishead Branch Line application runs to 79,187 pages. If printed and laid out end-to-end, that is 4 ½ times longer than the actual railway would be. It took three years for the Government to approve this application, after which it proceeded to pull the Line’s funding.
74K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Jun 4, 2024
Britain has been in a funk. Real GDP per capita hasn't reached its 2007 peak. Real wages have stagnated. Bills and rents are too high, and our transport infrastructure is creaking. It doesn't have to be this way. Today @BritainRemade is launching our plan for economic growth.🧵
215K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Dec 27, 2023
A nice Victorian hotel in Cornwall wanted to reduce its emissions and save money on fuel bills by installing solar panels. The council called its plans "diabolical and monstrous."
Britain Remade
@BritainRemade
Dec 27, 2023
Cornwall Council declared a climate emergency in 2019. In 2023 they refused permission for a solar farm that could power 30,000 homes with clean renewable energy. Councillors also unanimously rejected plans for a hotel in Newquay to install 450 solar panels.
157K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Jun 26, 2025
Britain used to explicitly link housing & infra; the Met railway would buy up land, run a railway there, and then sell the much more valuable land for development into new homes and towns. We've stopped doing this, but one small tweak would let homes & infra be built together🧵
66K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Nov 14, 2024
East West Rail is building two tunnels in Cambridgeshire to try to ease local concerns. In unrelated news, the cost of the project has risen by £700mn.
46K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Mar 19, 2025
Before the 1995 Madrid elections, the Partido Popular promised to build 30 miles of metro by the end of their 4 year term. The re-elected West Yorkshire Mayor pledged that construction would begin, not finish, on a tramline in Leeds by the end of her term Why the difference?🧵
56K
Ben Hopkinson
@Ben_A_Hopkinson
Dec 4, 2023
New @BritainRemade research has analysed data on every nuclear power station built in the 21st century. Our bleak conclusion: It costs more to build a new nuclear power station in Britain than almost anywhere else in the world. (Thread)
206K