Housing Lunacy

Via The England Project a shocker for all expats with houses at home like myself. Basically, an MP wants empty property to be stolen by the local council and then rented out.
Alarming, no ?
Just had the local council inspecting my place in the UK as well. They're insisting on various upgrades, some of which are not technically feasible without a complete redesign of the interior. For which I probably won't be able to get listed buildings consent from the other side of the same council.
Two that really stand out. Interior walls must be 10 cm thick so as to be fireproof. Um, most of Bath is built with 4 inch ashlar : so they are actually proposing that internal walls should be thicker than external. Morons.
There's also the point that there is a shortage of rental accomodation in the UK. So these bright lads think that the way to increase the supply is to raise the cost to landlords of providing it. Sigh.
The one that really got me : after they serve an enforcement order it will be a criminal offense for me to provide less than 5,000 cm2 of work space in the kitchen. Seriously, a criminal offense.