See Sunday's 'Observer' page 21. 'Veto plans for ugly housing, councils urged.'The national Planning Policy Framework was amended in July to allow councils to refuse 'development that is not well designed.'The article goes on to suggest that a study has found that 'councils were not using the new powers.''Councils depleted by austerity often lacked the in-house design expertise to take on large, well-resourced developers.''The change to the planning rules was part of a package of measures that ministers claimed would ensure new housing was "beautiful and well-designed". The government is setting up an "Office for Place" to help "communities encourage development they find beautiful, and refuse what they find ugly.''Profits for Britain's biggest housebuilders have continued to rise despite routinely producing low-quality homes and failing to meet the UK's estimated housing needs. The UCL researchers rated three-quarters of large developments in England as "mediocre" or "poor" in 2020.'"We are in desperate need of housing but it doesn't mean we should build poorly designed, unsustainable places."
Vanessa Smith ● 1610d