How Margaret Thatcher bulldozed over Britain’s urban landscape

By Owen Hatherley on The Guardian

That abruptly ended when Thatcher brought in the right-to-buy, with central government rather than councils pocketing the receipts and new building of council housing practically prohibited. Interventionist local governments were one of the many enemies within – either abolished, as in London, or crushed, as in Liverpool. Hardline Thatcher loyalist Nicholas Ridley’s assault on planning created “enterprise zones” outside of local government control.

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