EG FUTURE LEADERS 2024 Kitty Eyre, senior project manager, London Borough of Ealing
In real estate we all know the benefit that development brings, but how often do we find ourselves taking positive action in planning when it’s not our own development we are promoting? That was the question Kitty Eyre, senior project manager at the London Borough of Ealing, left us pondering with her opening EG Future Leaders speech.
“As real estate professionals, we are well aware of the impact of nimbyism on influencing our politicians and stopping new development coming forward,” said Eyre. “What we are less well aware of is the impact of nimbyism on increasing and reinforcing inequality in our society.”
Eyre highlighted how nimbyism had contributed to an uneven pattern of development in our towns and cities, with more affluent areas often having a higher number of nimbys and therefore a higher success rate in blocking development.
“Nimbyism has acted to drown out the voices of those most in need,” said Eyre. “People who have been waiting for an affordable home for years, who are living in overcrowded accommodation and squalor.”
However, Eyre’s speech was not focused on complaining about those who are anti‑development, but instead highlighted why we should all be pro‑development, why we all need to shout louder about the positive impact that property can have on people and place.
She urged: “It is no longer good enough to just be not anti-development. As real estate professionals and conscientious citizens, we have a responsibility to speak out for good developments in our neighbourhoods.”
It is real estate’s responsibility, she said, to become part of the yimby revolution and say yes in my back yard.
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