Councils have been much more able to refuse planning applications on design grounds since alterations to national planning policy made in 2020, according to the latest research. A study by the Place Alliance found that since changes to the National Planning Policy...
The Planning Inspectorate is now three times as likely to back local authority rejections of housing developments for poor design following last year’s revision of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). A University College London (UCL) study reveals a “sea...
A Housing Design Audit for England revealed that three quarters of new housing developments were mediocre or poor when assessed against a broad basket of urban design considerations. Given that, why isn’t more of it simply rejected by the planning system? Answers can...
Housebuilders are churning out substandard housing schemes with poor living conditions despite councils having the power to block them, according to new research. The National Planning Policy Framework was amended in July to allow councils to refuse “development that...
For over two years I have been helping local residents fight a planning battle against a new development opposite my former home. The fight is not against the principle of development but solely on its design merits. The site, a two storey ex-warehouse used for many...
The delivery of this vision for beauty is reliant on a coordinated response from all in the private and public sector, but do the public sector have the skills to deliver this? The Place Alliance published a report last week call the ‘Design Deficit’ that reviews the...
A study by the Place Alliance team at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at UCL warns that it will take until 2077 for every local planning authority to have at least one urban design officer. The research has come whilst the Government moves to a...
A study by the Place Alliance team at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at UCL warns that it will take until 2077 – another 56 years – for every local planning authority to have at least one urban design officer at current rates of recruitment. Besides an...
The last comprehensive survey of Design skills in English local authorities noted: “Urban design skills and capacity within local planning authorities are woefully low and declining” Three years later the Housing Design Audit for England concluded that the design of...
Figures cast doubt on councils’ ability to implement Jenrick’s beauty agenda Three-quarters of local authorities have no access to architectural advice and 40% have no support on urban design matters, according to new figures. Almost two-thirds have no landscape...
