Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England

Submitted by Robert-Huxford on Wed, 23/11/2011 - 1:09am

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/housingstrategy2011

 

Graham Smith has provided this analysis of terms used in the document

  • urban design - 1 mention
  • design - 103
  • architecture - 2
  • traffic - 0
  • layout - 0
  • engineers - 0
  • gated - 0
  • architecture - 2
  • parking, and car-parking - 0
  • manual - 0
  • streets - 1 (about rough sleeping on ...)
  • sustainable - 35 (much about funding and investment) There is a nice circularity in referring to Draft NPPF for a definition of sustainability.  Perhaps the post-consultation version of NPPF will have one.  The sense is that 'sustainable' refers to economic rather than planetary life).
  • public - 69 (mostly about land, many about publication, 1 about public realm, p41)
  • Travel - 0
  • bicycle - 0
  • cycle - 0 (nothing to do with movement)

Of interest are:

Chapter 5. Our strategy for empty homes p41

15. We will also allocate an additional ?50 million of funding to tackle concentrations of poor quality homes in areas of low demand. We will seek match funding from local partners, giving a total investment of ?100 million. Tackling empty homes in these areas will require an intensive approach – refurbishing and reconfiguring homes, as well as improving the public realm and tackling wider issues in the local area.

 

Chapter 7. Quality, sustainability and design p57

14. We are also supporting industry to encourage innovation, for example through the Housing Design Awards8 that promote innovative approaches to the design of new homes that are suitable for older people.

15. In addition, the Design Council, working with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Landscape Institute, the Home Builders Federation and others, has been exploring new approaches towards providing design support for communities. The findings of this work have recently been published in the Bishop Review9 and include innovative ideas such as decentralising design support services, making design advice and toolkits more accessible for communities and funding design support in new ways in the future, for example through planning fees

(extract from timetable) Allow developer challenges to s106 agreements signed before April 2010 implementation - Dec 2011/Jan 2012

 

Chapter 7. Quality, sustainability and design 57

18. In making design advice more accessible for communities, we see an opportunity for built environment professionals – planners, architects and urban designers – supported by their professional institutions and other relevant partners, to step forward to offer design support for communities in order to help them shape their local area. As a next step, government will be hosting a Ministerial-led summit, in partnership with the Design Council and involving RIBA and RTPI and other partners, to scope how best to support built environment professionals in creating a nation-wide network of neighbourhood designers that can help communities to influence design locally.