Developing a new way of creating more homes

It’s not just the quantity and location of new housing that should be of concern (Tories fail to crack down on empty homes, 6 March): equally damaging to the country is the very poor design quality of much new development that does get built. A familiar Tory refrain over the years has been the “Stalinist” or “red tape” nature of planning controls. In response to this, I suggest two steps for anyone who thinks we have too much planning control in Britain. Firstly, they should take a good, hard look at the pitifully poor new housing that continues to be built in much of the country. No wonder people in the Tory shires get angry when told that this is what will be built close to where they live.

Secondly, I suggest that they undertake a study of some of the design control that is routinely undertaken in other countries. Most of the western world uses a “zoning” model of planning control, under which the local authority sets out quite precisely what may be built on each plot of land. Such requirements are usually legally binding, and there is no provision, as in the UK, for developers to submit “planning applications” on greenfield sites not allocated for development in the local plan; nor are they are able to fob off the community with “standard” types of housing, and otherwise “level down” provision of affordable housing, open space and other elements desired by local people.

We have a planning system suited to the wishes of landowners and developers, rather than meeting the needs of the community – and a system that most of the time does not result in the creation of well-designed urban places. Is it any wonder that so many people oppose new development?

Source: theguardian