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.’