Urban White paper now published

We welcome the urban white paper and government commitment to see changes in the way we develop the urban environment. 

 

Here are some of our immediate thoughts on the issues:

Town Planning
PPG1 and PPG15 will need review if planning authorities are to have the teeth to refuse schemes which do not comply with our new thinking or are not of a high enough quality.

 Planning obligations
A review is urgently required. Issues of concern include more certainty for developers, consistency between adjacent local authorities and the need to regularise affordable housing requirement

Use classification orders
Many classifications are becoming confused and blurred, for example, live/work and office/hi-tech factory. We think there needs to be a greater flexibility between uses to allow for change and growth in the urban area. 

Method and funding for public consultation

Because an urban lifestyle is unknown to many people it is not often requested in conventional public consultation.

Local Governance must develop consistent public consultation processes which developers and designers can tap into as schemes develop.

Alternative methods of living

Hybrids, live work, communities, hostels.  Key worker housing. Affordable housing.  All these terms require review and further clarity. They all have implications for our urban environment.

 Update of Building Regulations

To accommodate mixed use and higher densities new regulations will have to be made.  At the moment mixed use buildings have to be considered one by one using fire engineering methods. We suggest including standard fire engineering solutions in a new BS. Note comparison with France and Netherlands.

 Affordable accommodation

Availability of good value urban living space, speciality shops and independently run café/restaurants in mixed use schemes funded by the private sector all demand on subsidies or planning obligations.   They also often require considerable input, energy and initiative from the local authority to get them going.  Will Urban regeneration Companies take on this role.

Who runs the partnership?

Leadership of local development partnerships should be strong and experienced.  What are the capacities of RDA’s and LA’s  to do this? How will they harness the capacities of the e development sector to do this.?

 Transport issues

There continues to be a problem when LA's try to deal with privatised transport providers working under existing legislation.   This includes bus and rail authorities.

If we are to encourage new tram and light rail systems why do we require the heavy handedness of an act of parliament to get one going.  Road closure legislation is also cumbersome. 

Extensions to the permitted development order.

Though not addressing issues of good design, modest extensions to the general development order would allow people to expand their homes, turn their house into flats, build on a granny extension.  At the moment these minor adjustments cause endless work for  Local Authority Planning departments.   We should try some experiments aimed at encouraging the break up of houses into flats and encouraging people to work from home.  This would free up planning time to be used on more strategic and larger schemes.

Funding of urban regeneration
Where government funding in the form of regeneration, environmental grants or transportation grants are to be provided there should be a Renaissance test.  Those boroughs that embrace the ideas should be given priority over those who do not.