Town halls should
encourage the redevelopment of retail parks and large supermarkets into
communities that include homes, shops and businesses, a wide-ranging report for
the government has found.
The new “mixed use”
communities should be supported by new public transport to reduce reliance on
cars – and are part of plans to revisit these ‘boxland’ developments.
The proposals are
contained in the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’s interim
report, ‘Creating
space for beauty’.
The report examines
the fundamental reasons for ugly developments and public mistrust, and also
calls for communities to be given an earlier say in the development process,
encouraging greater use of master-planning – rather than communities engaging
in town “planning by appeal”.
Interim Chairman of
the Commission, Nicholas Boys Smith said: "Redeveloping abandoned out of
town retail parks and ugly old supermarkets would deliver something much more
beautiful in the form of thriving new communities where people can raise a family,
work or settle down.
"Our initial
report sets many ways we can make our country more beautiful while fulfilling
the needs of future generations who will need a roof over their head.
"We need to
move the democracy up-stream from development control to plan-making.
"Beauty should
not be just a property of the old buildings or protected landscapes but
something we expect from new buildings, places and settlements. We need to
deliver beauty for everyone, not just the wealthy. This will require,
ultimately, some fundamental changes. Hopefully our report will start part of
that important debate with the public and the professions.
"These are
draft proposals at this stage, and we would welcome further feedback before we
put a final report to the government in the coming months."
Other interim
recommendations to the government include:
- Councils to have confidence
in “saying no to ugliness” – with authorities celebrating examples of bad
schemes they have turned down and used as examples to encourage beautiful
design.
- Any financial support from
Homes England and local councils for a development should ‘aim for beauty’
with more work required to understand how this might be achieved and
measured.
- Improved and earlier public
and stakeholder engagement in the design standards councils set developers
in local plans so they can demand better quality.
- High streets should be
beautiful, walkable, well-connected places for people to live and work
with a greater mix of buildings that includes smaller shops, businesses
and homes.
- Urging different layers of
local government to come together and set out a vision for development
which reflects the local geography, culture and economic priorities.
Responding to the
interim report, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said: "I
am determined to reach our target of building 300,000 homes a year by the
mid-2020s, but it’s right that we do not do this at any expense – what is built
must stand the test of time.
"We owe it to
the next generation to not just build more homes, but to build communities
people can be proud of.
"As a country,
we should not shy away from talking about what building beautifully means – and
this report is an important contribution to that discussion."
The Commission
praises beautiful developments, including The Malings in Newcastle, which is a
riverside development of 76 new homes built on brownfield land and in keeping
with traditional terraced properties in the area.
The interim report
has been published today and the commission intend to submit a final report to
the government before the end of the year.
Commissioners want
to receive further comments and evidence which will help them to prepare a
final report.
