Maybe a tongue-in-cheek comment but regulations are that way because you guys want it that way (maybe not you personally). If it wasn't like that, nothing would stop a garbage incinerator or a quarry popping up a few hundred meters from houses (which happens in European countries with more deregulated planning/zoning regulations).

You guys have all kinds of pro-individualistic, borderline nonsensical residental housing laws like "right to light" and "right to view". It's completely incompatible with "build more". Most British people view their privacy (or perceived privacy) as a higher priority than fixing the housing market. "It's so overlooked" is such common comment and it's almost bizarre to someone used to living in a higher density environment (like the UK very much is).

NIMBYism and BANANAs are certainly a problem, but this is the planning departments themselves acting capriciously , failing to even apply the law correctly, or having extremely onerous requirements. This applies to individual householders as well as large infrastructure projects. Just look at the lower thames crossing, where we spent £1.2 BILLION pounds of taxpayers money on pre-construction costs and compare that with the original Dartford tunnels and bridge which cost £191M TOTAL in 1990. It's just bonkers.

Waste disposal and planning for quarrying and mineral extraction are different functions, decided at a higher tier of local government, and are not directly comparable to development management/planning.