PPG3 Executive Summary - TrustNews Mar 2003
The Trust's document on the subject of PPG3 is nearing completion and we would like to know how many copies to produce. It is a straightforward working document - no glossy cover or illustrations - but runs to some 20 pages (6,500 words) with tables to help find references in the PPG3 document which are relevant to Winchester's problems. So that you have a foretaste of the content, the Executive Summary is printed below. If you would like to have the full document, please inform Rolly Thomas at the Heritage Centre as soon as possible.
To defray postage costs we shall be asking members who want copies to send a stamped (66p) and addressed C4 (A4) envelope.
Executive summary
PPG3
The Government published its revised version of PPG3 (Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: Housing) in March 2000. It required local authorities to build new housing on brown-field sites in preference to green-field sites, to raise the density at which new housing should be developed, and it laid on local authorities various obligations as to how this should be done; for example, local authorities were to identify available brown-field sites, improve the social mix of housing, provide sustainable neighbourhoods and achieve substantially improved designs so as to provide places that were attractive and safe in which to live. Meanwhile, the Government has required local authorities to process the increasing number of planning applications in ever-shorter time, making the successful implementation of PPG3 virtually impossible unless the planners are given more resources and expertise. The Trust fears that politicians are ignoring this fundamental flaw in the policy.
Housing Densities
Since 1945, new housing has been predominantly of suburban character. That is to say, of relatively low density, each house in its own plot, served by roads designed for cars (as opposed to streets designed primarily for people). Typical densities of such housing estates have been 20 housing units/hectare (u/ha). The Government now requires 30-50 u/ha, provided this can be satisfactorily achieved, and more where there is a good transport and service infrastructure, so as to meet its target of 60% of development on brown-field sites. In September 2001, the DTLR published Better places to live: by design - a companion guide to PPG3, and it was launched by the Minister, Lord Falconer. It demonstrates by means of case studies and examples how good urban design leads to successful communities.
The 'Good City'
In February 2001, The City of Winchester Trust published its discussion paper, The Future of Winchester, a Strategic Vision, describing in some detail the way that it believed higher densities should be achieved in Winchester. It called the concept the 'Good City'; it advocated changing from 'suburban sprawl' to 'streets and squares with pedestrian priority' as the principal way to build. Well-designed streets and squares could provide housing that reduced the need for travel by car, encouraged good neighbourliness as well as conserving the green fields, and which many people would prefer to car-based suburbia. Urban terraces of three to four floors plus basement (as in Southgate Street) could easily provide 50 u/ha even with generous gardens, and, with ingenuity, a variety of housing types could be achieved. However, it was very clear that if good urban design was to be achieved, it could no longer be left to the developer, but would be a crucial responsibility of the City Council.
The Suburbs
As far as infill and back-land development in the existing suburbs was concerned, the Trust called on the City Council to be proactive and to assemble land so as to allow development to be of high-quality. Since The Future of Winchester was published, it has become plain that, under the pressure for new housing, infill development is bound to occur piece-meal in suburban areas where the assembly of land is not feasible. Both PPG3 and Better places to live: by design are quite clear that a flexible interpretation of policy intentions. appropriate to each urban context is required. The Trust's new paper, while maintaining the 'streets and squares' model where possible, proposes that policy for the existing suburbs should not be uniform, but should be tailored to the character of each neighbourhood. In order to provide a general framework for considering policy, it distinguishes the following broad types of suburb:
1. Potentially urban areas
2. Potentially higher-density suburban areas
3. Continuing medium-density suburban areas
4. Areas of special quality
5. New suburbs
Critical factors in identifying these areas are: adjacency to existing urban street patterns, presence of local shops and services or the ability to create them, public transport, and the current housing density. The form of development appropriate to each type of neighbourhood is discussed in this paper. The Trust believes that it is essential that our Council takes in hand the identification of the areas of the City according to these criteria, and, devoting both adequate time and first-class urban design skills, lays out the framework for the streets and spaces appropriate to each, before it is too late. Early examples of the of PPG3 in Winchester portend a disastrous distortion of the Government's good intentions.
The Central Area
Old Winchester is already developed to a high density by PPG3 standards, but has pockets of land, which for one reason or another still have potential for development to higher densities. The Trust's paper briefly explores a similar variable approach to the development of these areas, and the need for the highest possible standard of design in order to enhance the ever evolving character of the city.
Design
When Nick Raynsford, was Minister for Housing and Planning, he said that good design was probably the single most significant lever that local authorities have on their economic outlook. Ineffectively controlled, developer-led town-cramming is the awful prospect otherwise. The Trust endeavours to define the difference between good and bad design in this context.
PPG3 Working Party - 2.03.03
the design of the public space - streets, squares, parks, etc.