In 2020, the Place Alliance together with the Academy of Urbanism, Civic Voice, CPRE, Design Council, Trees & Design Action Group and Urban Design Group, made a joint submission to the government arguing that the delivery of good quality urban design across England was systematically failing for decades and that now it is the time to set up a dedicated Design Quality Unit for England in order to confront the challenges head on and focus attention on the delivery of better design.
In 2018, the Place Alliance made a joint submission to Government alongside the Academy of Urbanism, Civic Voice, Institute of Historic Building Conservation and the Urban Design Group, arguing that the consultation draft of NPPF released earlier in the year was too timid and that Government needed to show greater determination and leadership on this issue.
In 2016, The Housing and Planning Bill 2016 introduced the move to permitting development via a ‘Permission in Principle’. Place Alliance has sought to pragmatically investigate how the new provisions might be used positively to achieve both the Government’s aim of greater certainty in the planning process, whilst still enabling the proper consideration of design and other qualitative concerns through the planning system.
In 2015, The National Policy for the Built Environment Committee was appointed to consider the development and implementation of national policy for the built environment and to make recommendations. The Place Alliance asked its supporters to suggest exemplars of initiatives where local communities have been successfully brought into the planning, development and design of their areas, and where local powers have been used to positively shape places.
