A leading housing and planning charity has called upon all major
political parties to restore standards in design and
place-making, including low-carbon design and space and
accessibility standards for new homes, as part of their
manifesto pledges.
Launching Building the Future, the Town and
Country Planning Association’s (TCPA) manifesto for the 2017
general election, Kate Henderson said:
“We are seeing more and more development approved in piecemeal
locations which is leading to homes that are often poorly served
by infrastructure such as roads, hospitals or schools. We are
producing fewer and fewer affordable and social homes so
homelessness and affordability are blighting people’s lives. And
we are building some of the smallest new homes in Europe, which
in some cases are so small that you cannot even fit the most
basic furniture into them. People don’t want to live in
unsustainable shoe-box homes without access to decent local
services.”
“The general election provides the opportunity for a new
government to ensure the planning system creates inclusive and
sustainable places that enhance our quality of life, health and
wellbeing. In tackling the housing crisis we must match an
ambition to increase the supply of new homes with funding for
social and affordable housing and a commitment to restore
important design and quality standards for new housing.”
The TCPA has set out how a new government can put Britain back at
the cutting edge of place-making. The charity has asked all major
parties to include seven pledges in their manifestos, which are
expected to be published sporadically over the next fortnight.
The TCPA’s seven pledges are:
1. Match
the ambition to increase the supply of new homes with funding for
social and affordable housing and a commitment to specific
measures that will deliver high-quality outcomes in, for example,
health and wellbeing, socially mixed communities and sustainable
development.
2. Produce
a new Community Planning Act to give planning a strong statutory
purpose on sustainable development, reinforce the plan-led system
and enshrine the right of communities to participate meaningfully
in planning.
3. Introduce
a new national spatial plan to address regional inequalities –
by, for example, co-ordinating increased infrastructure
investment in the UK’s northern cities – and encourage a better
balance of work and home across the nation.
4. Revise
the National Planning Policy Framework to restore standards in
design and place-making, including low-carbon design and space
and accessibility standards for new homes.
5. Commit
to a new programme of Garden Cities based on a comprehensive
update of the New Towns Act, with a legal duty to implement the
Garden City principles.
6. Ensure
that effective land value capture mechanisms are in place to pay
for the basic transport, health and educational infrastructure
that can make places work for people.
7. Set
up a Royal Commission to ensure effective government action on
building resilience to increasingly severe weather events and on
promoting the long-term sustainable development of the nation.
