House of Commons - Communities and Local Government Committee

Select Committee on Communities and Local Government Committee Written Evidence

Memorandum by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

INTRODUCTION

Set up in 1999, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment works for an improvement in people's quality of life through good design. CABE champions well-designed buildings and public space, running public campaigns and providing expert, practical advice. We work directly with planners, designers, clients and architects, offering them guidance on projects that will shape all our lives. CABE is a statutory executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and funded by DCMS and Communities and Local Government.

CABE's statutory function is to improve the standard of the design, management and maintenance of the built environment, and to advise government on how best to do this. This extends to skills and education. At present, CABE's ability to raise standards is hindered by the skills gaps which exist in planning.

BACKGROUND

One of the biggest challenges for the planning system is how to cope with the big increase in the number of residential applications that are coming forward to meet the commitment to build three million new homes by 2020. Managing proposals to ensure that what gets built makes a positive contribution to the local area, in accordance with national policies, requires a big increase in the skills capacity of planning departments.

CABE has well-known concerns about the current quality of housing, neighbourhoods and places being produced—and the legacy this will leave for future generations. CABE's Housing Audit—the first complete picture of housing design quality in England—reveals the serious shortfall in the current quality of new homes, with more than four out of five housing schemes failing to meet quality standards.[67] The housing produced in the first few years of this century is simply not up to the standard which the government is demanding and which residents have a right to expect.

The reasons for this are complex and multiple, but the planning system has a pivotal role to play in influencing the quality of local neighbourhoods through its power to refuse permission for poor quality development, and thereby promote good. Equipping decision makers with the skills to make well-informed, robust decisions on developments in their local area is crucial. Today's planning decisions will leave a legacy for the quality of the neighbourhoods future generations will live in.

HIGH QUALITY DESIGN IN THE PLANNING SYSTEM

The economic and social benefits of high quality design are commonly accepted[68].Through PPS1 and PPS3, national planning policy now requires high quality design as a fundamental consideration in planning. PPS 1 states that "design which fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area should not be accepted".

The introduction of the spatial planning system has meant that a new way of working is required by planners and, indeed local authorities as a whole. Local planning authorities have a growing list of roles and responsibilities to meet the place making agenda, and ensuring high quality design is fundamental to achieving attractive, healthy, enduring and sustainable communities.

There is a major problem, however, of inconsistency with regards to decision-making on quality of design in the planning system. In the course of its work CABE speaks to parties involved at all stages of the development process, and around the country there are large variations in the consistency of decisions at planning on the grounds of quality. CABE's housing audit showed that volume housebuilders can provide high quality design for one development, whilst simultaneously producing very poor design on another[69]. Anecdotal evidence shows that when high quality is demanded by local authorities, it is usually delivered. But in order to be able to demand high quality, local authorities need the skills capacity to do so. Lack of training and expertise in design issues is the factor most frequently cited when explaining why local authorities are reluctant to refuse on design grounds.[70]

THE PROBLEM—CURRENT SKILLS GAPS IN PLANNING

Skills gaps exist at both a technical level, working on individual applications, and at the broader level of other departments who need to work with planning teams (such as highways), as well as councillors and the executive, all of whom have a direct or indirect influence on decision-making.

Planning departments

The majority of planning departments do not possess staff who are trained on the principles of good design and how to assess the quality of developments using established criteria to fulfil the requirements of national policies. A skills survey carried out in 2004 by the Local Government Association identified that design was the generic/professional skill most lacking, with 52% of Local Planning Authorities identifying that they had a lack of design skills[71].

Applications are often considered in isolation because of a shortage of both time and the necessary skills, with the result that often only minor amendments are made when a development may be completely inappropriate. Given the right skills planners would be more able to assess applications more quickly and effectively than at present. Establishing a conversation early on with the applicant before a formal application is submitted is also an important way of easing the burden.

To supplement core design skills, the new framework requires planners to be well-versed in more "non-traditional" planning skills such as monitoring and evaluation, relationship building, negotiation and partnership working. Well-designed places result when these skills can be applied early on in the process, and they are often lacking.

Highways

Creating high-quality places requires all those involved in handling an application to work together with a clear objective in mind. Many developments are let down by poor highways design. A survey of Institute of Highways and Transportation members revealed that 85% had received no formal urban design training[72]. This also extends to colleagues who highway engineers need to work with at planning stage, such as transport planners, regeneration and traffic management officers, which showed that that 62.4% of respondents had had no urban design training either.[73]

Councillors

Councillors who sit on planning committees play a pivotal role in the system, but very few have received training on how to address decisions on individual applications with regard to their quality[74]. It is crucial that councillors have an understanding about the principles of good design and how to recognise these in a planning application. The intention in the draft Planning Bill to introduce Local Member Review Boards places makes it imperative that councillors possess an understanding of design when they make decisions affecting their local area.

Local planning policies

It is evident from emerging Local Development Framework documents that these wider considerations of spatial planning are not currently being delivered. Many Core Strategies lack a genuine vision for the area, a robust evidence base, and fail to integrate other policies and programmes that influence the nature of places and how they function. They are often not realistic or deliverable.

Spatial planning requires planners to work partnership with the whole of the local authority—including the community, Local Strategic Partnerships, developers, utilities providers and other external stakeholders. This is crucial to creating a robust evidence base and articulate a clear and deliverable vision for the area.

The Planning Inspectorate

There is a common perception in local authorities that the Planning Inspectorate will not support refusal on design grounds[75]. While there are an increasing number of appeal cases that demonstrate that design grounds are supported at appeal, the role and influence that the Inspectorate has demands that all planning inspectors should have the design skills to ensure that poor quality designs are dismissed at appeal.

RECOMMENDATIONS

As the Government's advisor on the design quality of the built environment, CABE works on a number of initiatives to raise standards of decision-making through the planning system. But to produce material and long lasting effects this needs to be backed up by a sustained drive the raise the level of skills.

Building for Life

CABE's assessment of well-designed homes and neighbourhoods centres on the Building for Life criteria—established as the national standard for design quality in new housing developments.[76] Building for Life promotes and enables developments which are functional, attractive and sustainable, with an emphasis on the importance of place-making. A partnership initiative, Building for Life is led by CABE and the Home Builders Federation, and actively supported by the two main constituent parts of the new Homes and Communities Agency, English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation.

The Building for Life criteria can be used as a tool to evaluate the quality of planning applications, identifying the type of evidence that can demonstrate a commitment to good design. Training in the use of the criteria would enable planners to systematically assess applications in accordance with national policies, and judge the design quality of applications on a consistent basis.

Providing this training to planning officers in local authorities would have go a long way to addressing one of the major skills gaps which exist. In addition, we have recently produced a guidance tool that can be used by planners to demonstrate the kinds of evidence that should be provided to address the criteria at planning stage.

Recommendation: A national programme of training on the use of the Building for Life criteria by planning officers to assess planning applications should be rolled out. This should supplemented by introductory-level training on design issues, including Building for Life, for elected members serving on planning committees. Given the right level of support, CABE stands ready to lead on the implementation of a programme of training on how to use the tool effectively, and is in the process of establishing a model training package.

Highways

CABE Space and English Heritage are working with the Institution of Highways & Transportation to offer a new programme of urban design training for highways and transportation professionals. CABE was also heavily involved in drawing up the Department for Transport's guidance document Manual for Streets which addresses a significant gap in the role of highway engineers in delivering attractive and sustainable places.

We are embarking upon the delivery of a programme of training for its use by highway engineers around the country, which should address some of the issues associated with the wider dimension of skills needed. However, it is essential that this is taken up and carried forward.

Recommendation: Manual for Streets should be adopted as guidance for highway engineers in all local authorities and training provided on its use.

A common approach

CABE believes that there is scope to pull together coalitions at a regional and/or sub-regional level to develop and implement skills strategies. CABE would welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with the ASC, RTPI, ATLAS, Planning Advisory Service and Regional Centres of Excellence to influence training programmes and resources for local planning authorities and planners and ensure that design is included and promoted.

A common curriculum which incorporated design skills would address for the future many of the areas in which skills gaps have been identified as needing to be rectified now.

Recommendation: A common curriculum should be established for planning which incorporates design so that the skills necessary to assess the quality of applications are embedded from an early stage.

CABE would welcome collaborating with partners to work across boundaries and building consensus to develop a national skills framework/competencies/curricula to reinforce the complementary nature of support and signpost learners to resources and training provision.

Leadership

Executive "buy in" to design to ensure the whole of the local authority is working towards a common goal is essential—ensuring high quality places and spaces. Around 65% of local authorities have appointed design champions, but it is essential that they have the power and skills to foster real culture change.

Recommendation: Every local authority should appoint a design champion trained to have a basic understanding of design issues.