Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment
Building better places
Report of Session 2015-16 - published 19 February 2016 - HL Paper 100
Contents
Why does the built environment matter?
Putting the built environment in context
Box 1: The multiple impacts of poor quality places
Chapter 2: The built environment: recent trends and emerging challenges
The built environment and the planning system
The balance between national and local
Recent policy changes and initiatives
The National Planning Policy Framework
Box 2: The NPPF, sustainable development and the roles of the planning system
The Localism Act 2011 and the duty to co-operate
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
The Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment
Government initiatives since May 2015
The National Infrastructure Commission
Responding to the housing crisis
Figure 1: House building, permanent dwellings completed by
tenure, England, 1946–2014
Figure 2: House price to earnings ratios, England and London,
2004–2013
Reducing regulation and increasing speed
Chapter 3: Creating better places: design, quality and standards
The need for national leadership and co-ordination
Joining-up Government and providing leadership
Government strategy on architecture and construction
Health and the built environment
Figure 3: The impacts of the built environment on health
Streets, highways and the public realm30
Integrated transport infrastructure
Delivering and safeguarding quality
Permitted development rights and Article 4 directions
Chapter 4: Building for the long-term: sustainability and resilience
Investing in long-term, sustainable communities
Lifetime homes and lifetime neighbourhoods
The resilience of town centres and high streets
Sustainable design and construction
Chapter 5: Delivering more housing
The national housing policy debate
Table 1: Historic overall housing completion rates in England
Table 2: Historic local authority housing completion rates in
England
Site delivery and land assembly
The importance of smaller sites and SME development finance
Larger sites, and compulsory purchase powers
Brownfield, greenfield and Green Belt
Development management procedures
The role of Development Corporations
Unbuilt sites with planning permission
Affordable housing and issues with viability
Chapter 6: Local leadership, delivery and skills
The local role in the built environment
Skills, local vision and ‘proactive planning’
Spatial frameworks and ‘larger than local’ planning
Community engagement and neighbourhood planning
Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations
Appendix 1: List of Members and Declarations of Interest
Appendix 6: Note of Committee visit to Birmingham:
Wednesday 14 October
Evidence is published online at http://www.parliament.uk/built-environment and available for inspection at the Parliamentary Archives (020 7129 3074).
Q in footnotes refers to a question in oral evidence.