Commenting on the appointment of Nicholas Boys Smith to establish
a new design body, Crispin Truman, chief executive at CPRE, the
countryside charity, said:
‘Good quality design that promotes healthy, low carbon living can
and should be the foundation of how we create the places and
homes of the future. The new design body announced today is a
welcome first step from the government.
‘To begin to deliver these well-designed, affordable homes will
require an unashamed focus on creating a Future Homes Standard
that puts the needs of communities front and center. The new
design body must have a real say on how to avoid car dependent
developments and the route to low carbon homes that we will need
in order to tackle the climate emergency.’
‘A litany of evidence demonstrates that new homes have just not
been of good enough design. CPRE and UCL’s research exposed that
the countryside is getting the worst of it - over nine in ten
developments in rural areas are of such poor or mediocre design
quality that they should have been refuse planning permission.’
‘With the proposed changes to the planning system that will limit
community involvement and the provision of affordable homes, we
fear this situation could get worse. If the government wants to
be first in the class on good design, we must be able to hold
developers to account. Local democracy must be a key pillar of
our planning system that will allow communities to shape the
homes and places they’ll inherit.’
