Commenting on the government’s response to the Building Better,
Building Beautiful Commission, Crispin Truman, chief executive of
CPRE, the countryside charity, said:
‘Good design and beautiful places go hand in hand
with a locally led, democratic planning system. It is heartening
to see the government putting good design at the forefront of how
we build the kinds of housing and neighborhoods local communities
will feel proud to call home. These must be low carbon
neighborhoods, connected via affordable public transport bursting
with green spaces and nature that are shaped by the needs of
local communities.
‘Sadly, the evidence tells us that this is not
currently the case. The design quality of developments delivered
in the past decade have been overwhelmingly mediocre or poor,
with countryside communities getting the worst design of all.
This situation looks set to worsen if the government pursues the
unnecessary and damaging planning proposals currently proposed.
Rather than placing local communities at the heart of the
planning process, proposals in the Planning White Paper would
sideline local voices and effectively halve democratic input in
the planning process, inevitably worsening the quality of
design.
It’s high time Ministers rethink these proposals and
ensure local communities’ right to take part in planning for
their local area is protected. Not doing so would undermine local
democracy and frustrate all our desires for good design, long
before the first brick is laid.’
