This week David Cameron announced, to much fanfare, a new housing strategy to ‘get Britain building’.
With declining homeownership among younger working households and just 121,200 new homes built in 2010-11, less than half of the number of new households formed in the same period, few can deny that there is a desperate need to accelerate house building in Britain. Continue reading
Perhaps the biggest story of this year’s ‘big three’ party conferences was the lack of controversy. With stories about cats and privately-educated ‘child stars’ dominating the media coverage it was remarkable how little attention was paid to the debate about the future of planning.
Last week saw the publication of the new draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Rarely has any government consultation document prompted quite the level of debate that we have seen over the last few days. Continue reading
Even a cursory glance at the figures from the Office of National Statistics will show you that the UK’s population is ageing, and rapidly. By 2035, 23 per cent of the population is projected to be aged 65 and over. But as our population changes, and therefore the needs of our communities change, what are we doing to change the built environment in which we live? Continue reading
It’s always nice to have all the efforts and endeavours of a team’s work recognised, and the Housebuilder Awards shortlist does just that for us and our client, leading specialist retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone.
Shortlisted for the Best Community Initiative Award, McCarthy & Stone’s recently-approved plans for a site in Malvern Hills were the subject of a thorough and tailored programme of consultation, engaging with and listening to the whole community – from locally-elected members, to community associations, groups and local residents.
We were thrilled when McCarthy & Stone’s application was approved unanimously at committee, but even better than the satisfaction of a job well done was the praise received for the consultation process from the local ward and planning committee members, who applauded the thoroughness of the application process in the local press.
The praise from local stakeholders and inclusion on Housebuilder’s Best Community Initiative shortlist is not only a great acknowledgement of the extensive community engagement undertaken, it also sets out a success story for this approach to community consultation, which fully embraces the principles of Localism.
We wish McCarthy & Stone the very best of luck at the forthcoming awards ceremony.