Tag: Planning

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Report

How Shall We Live? New Settlements, New Imperatives, New Models

The Human Nature Places Foundation has convened a group of experts and practitioners to explore ‘How Shall We Live?’

“Our aim is to reconsider the role of large new settlements — including New Towns — in a modern, sustainable economy and society. We do so with the understanding that the second quarter of the twentyfirst century presents an entirely new constellation of environmental, social, and economic imperatives. Against this backdrop, we propose strategies, plans, infrastructures and designs that respond thoughtfully and ambitiously with the long future in mind.”

The report explores two questions:

  1. What problems are new settlements actually designed to solve?
  2. How might we rethink the role of new settlements as tools for tackling some of the most profound, deep-seated challenges facing British society, the economy, and our relationship with the natural world?

Contents:

Place Missions & New Imperatives
How Shall We Live?
A Pattern Language of Place
Wild at Heart: A New Landscape of Living
It Takes a Village: A Network of Commons
Genius Loci
Connectivity, Active & Sustainable Travel
Darwin’s Sandwalk & The Better Everyday
Growing a Place
A Place to Start Out in Life & a Place to Stay
Radically Affordable, Radically Better
Disruptive Delivery: Think Slow, Act Fast and… Mend Things
The Whole Place: Remarkable Outcomes

Author: The Human Nature Places Foundation

Publication date: April 2025

Find out more: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7326216852156604417/

To request a copy of the report, contact

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Categories
Research findings

Medium Density Housing – how to deliver greater choice

Addressing challenges facing the delivery of medium density housing

Tibbalds have carried out a short piece of research looking into the key challenges facing the delivery of medium density housing across the UK through literature review, case studies, and interviews with built environment experts.

This work was commissioned by the Office for Place before its closure in November 2024 and focuses on the ‘missing middle’ (a variety of housing types of 3-6 storeys, mostly developed by SME developers on complex brownfiled sites) that sits on a spectrum between standard, low density detached/semi-detached suburban or new town developments (<40 dph) and high rise apartment blocks of 7 or more storeys (100 dph).

Full article: https://www.tibbalds.co.uk/work/projects/medium-density-how-to-deliver-greater-choice

Publication date: February 2025

 

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Report

Insights from Marmalade Lane: 5 years on

In 2019, TOWN completed its first built project, Marmalade Lane in Cambridge, working in partnership with Swedish housebuilder Trivselhus, landowner Cambridge City Council, Mole Architects and Cambridge Cohousing, a group of people who would go on to become the residents of this new development.

Five years on, Marmalade Lane has carved out a prominent place in the dialogue around alternative housing models. It has been covered extensively in the press, featured in government policy and guidance, and has won over ten national awards across architecture, planning, sustainability and social value. Over 400 households have signed up to its waiting list in the hope of living there in the future.

Over the last year, TOWN, working with social value experts at Greengage, have produced a post-occupancy report – Insights from Marmalade Lane. In this report, we gain an insight into life at Marmalade Lane – exploring how the 100 adults and children who live there today make use of the shared spaces, resources and facilities. We reflect on how the design encourages sustainable living and fosters connections with neighbours, examining how the unique closeness of a cohousing community adds to resident’s quality of life.

Author: TOWN

Publication Date: 2024

Download exec summary

Further information (and full report): https://www.wearetown.co.uk/insights-from-marmalade-lane/

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Guidance

Homes of the future are needed today

What does a low-carbon, sustainable home look like?

Current technology, and measures aimed at preparing for the impacts of climate change, can help new and existing homes to become low-carbon and ultra-efficient as well as adapted to flooding, heat and water scarcity.

This infographic from the Climate Change Committee’s 2019 report entitled UK housing: Fit for the future? is as relevant now as it was then.

Download infographic

Author: Climate Change Committee

Further information: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/uk-housing-fit-for-the-future/

 

Categories
Guidance

Green Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide

This guide is part of Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework. It provides evidence-based practical guidance on how to plan and design good green infrastructure. 

The Green Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide complements the National Model Design Code and National Design Guide and can be used to help planners and designers develop local design guides and codes with multifunctional green infrastructure at the heart. It will also be useful to landscape architects, urban designers, parks and greenspace managers and neighbourhood planning bodies.

The guide shows:

  • How to apply the Green Infrastructure Framework, including a summary of the green infrastructure principles and standards.
  • How to design green infrastructure features as ‘building blocks’ of a larger connected network.
  • How to combine green infrastructure features in different ‘area types’ to create multifunctional and connected networks at different scales and in different area types. Includes guidance for applying the Green Infrastructure Framework’s standards to urban areas, streets, urban fringe, rural areas, parks and greenspaces, commercial, business and industrial sites, schools and colleges, healthcare facilities, and linear infrastructure such as roads, railways and waterways.
  • How to develop landscape-led green infrastructure with a focus on landscape character and local distinctiveness.
  • Signposts relevant case studies that illustrate the green infrastructure principles and sources of further information.

Author: Natural England

Publication date: 2023

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Further information:

Natural England: Green Infrastructure Planning & Design Guide

 

Categories
Report

New Neighbourhoods in Cambridge

This report evaluates housing schemes in Cambridge and the role of the Cambridgeshire Quality Panel in maintaining quality. It aims to determine if the high standards seen in Cambridge can be replicated elsewhere in the UK.

The report highlights the success of Cambridgeshire in delivering high-quality new neighbourhoods through strategic planning, innovative design, and collaborative efforts. Given the support of the local community, the lessons learned from Cambridge can be applied to other areas in the UK to improve housing quality and meet growth targets. The involvement of the Quality Panel, adherence to the Quality Charter, and early planning are critical components for replicating Cambridgeshire’s achievements.

Author: Stephen Platt

Publication date: June 2024

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Further information:

Categories
Article Guidance Report

Building Social Cities: Learning From What Works

It is fifteen years since Professor Sir Peter Hall and Dr Nicholas Falk drew on study tours run by the Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) to Dutch and German urban extensions to recommend what needed to change in the UK. David Rudlin and Nicholas went on to apply lessons from cities such as Amersfoort and Freiburg to win the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize. They showed how a city like Oxford could double its population by applying garden city principles without depending on government subsidy. With a Labour Government committed to boosting economic growth and building affordable and sustainable homes, the URBED Trust has compiled articles from Town and Country Planning on practical solutions. Please read and ask yourself and your colleagues Why not now?

This document is a compilation of nine papers orginally published by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and reproduced in this report with their permission. Each article has links to other relevant material.

The new introduction provides a valuable summary and the final article, written by Richard Simmons in 2024, looks at how lessons from these articles could be combined with other opportunities to deliver growth and new homes faster.

Contents:

  • Funding large-scale new settlements
  • Urban policy and new economic powerhouses
  • Achieving smarter growth in London and the South East
  • Planning for posterity
  • Location, location, location – funding investment in local infrastructure
  • Sharing the uplift in land values (executive summary)
  • Planning rapid transit for urban recovery
  • Harnessing towns and cities for better growth
  • Why not here?
  • Six steps for accelerating delivery by Dr Richard Simmons

 

Authors: Nicholas Falk, Richard Simmons.

Publication date: July 2024

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Further information: https://urbedtrust.com/

 

Categories
Report

Tackling Inequality in Housing Design Quality

While disadvantaged communities routinely put up with poorly designed housing development, it is not a given. Through presenting twenty stories which illustrate ten routes to success from across England, this study demonstrates that if the will is there, we can routinely deliver well designed new housing developments in even the most challenging locations. The economic, social, environmental and health benefits that flow from this will be substantial.

In too many disadvantaged areas, poor quality housing development is the norm.  The private market works less well in such places, with lower land prices leading, proportionally, to lower investment in all aspects of the design and delivery of new homes and neighbourhoods.  This happens to the point where all quality is squeezed out of private and associated affordable housing or housebuilding simply becomes unviable.  Too often it is perpetuated by the disengagement of the public sector from housebuilding and from the governance of design quality.

Authors: Matthew Carmona, Jingyi Zhu and Wendy Clarke, UCL & Place Alliance.

Publication date: February 2025

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Further information: https://placealliance.org.uk/from-inequality-to-quality/

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Video

Webinar: Local Authorities Leading the Way – Net Zero Planning Policy

About

Good Homes Alliance (GHA) and Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) hosted a joint online event showcasing the progressive work of Local Authorities in developing, and successfully adopting, net zero planning policies.

We heard more about recent good news coming out of Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) and Cornwall Council, whose local plan updates have both been found sound and legally compliant by the Planning Inspectorate. Both policies set absolute energy targets for housing (energy use intensity) and seek to maximise renewable energy generation on-site. The policies use a different framework from the Building Regulations and cover both regulated and unregulated energy.

These announcements reaffirm the fact that forward-thinking councils can set their own ambitious targets that go above and beyond minimum national standards. The work at B&NES, Cornwall, Cambridgeshire and others will help set a precedent for other Local Authorities to follow in their footsteps and meet their climate emergency commitments.

We were also delighted to be joined by experts from the consultancies who have been supporting progressive councils in developing evidence bases to support their new policies, and providing guidance on how to implement the policies in practice.

Programme

Welcome from GHA – Lynne Sullivan OBE, Chair, Good Homes Alliance

Welcome from TCPA – Celia Davis, Projects and Policy Manager, Town and Country Planning Association

What is the landscape for LAs in regard to setting progressive planning policies? – Marina Goodyear, Project Manager/Lewis Knight, Head of Sustainable Places, Bioregional

Planning policies successfully adopted! Lessons learned from B&NES and Cornwall, and implementation challenges
– Alex McCann, former Climate Policy Officer at Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES); now part of the Bioregional Sustainable Places team
– Emily Rubin, Principal Development Officer, Cornwall Council

Emerging planning policy: Net zero, circular economy, design codes and more – Greater Cambridge – Emma Davies, Principal Sustainability Officer, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning

Next steps for local authorities: How can the recent good news set a precedent for other progressive LAs? And what are the challenges? – Thomas Lefevre, Director, Etude

Q&A/panel discussion: How will updates to national policy and standards impact progressive local authorities?

Watch the recording

Presentation downloads

Marina Goodyear and Lewis Knight, Bioregional

Alex McCann, Bioregional (formerly B&NES Council)

Emily Rubin, Cornwall Council

Emma Davies, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning

Thomas Lefevre, Etude

Join our Vanguard Network

The Good Homes Alliance Vanguard Network of Local Authorties is a leading edge group whoch resources and conduct further research to facilitate LAs with new housing delivery arms in adopting enhanced sustainability, quality, health and performance standards for new housing developments.

Click here to find out how to join

 

Categories
Video

GHA Bitesize Webinar Series – Spatial implications of developing Zero Carbon Local Plans: Modelling the carbon from proposed growth

Content available for Good Homes Alliance members only.

If you are already a GHA member, please Log In or Sign Up for an account. Check our Member Directory to see if you are a member.

Find out the benefits of membership and sign up as a GHA member to access this content.

If you have any queries, please contact richard@goodhomes.org.uk.