Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission - TrustNews Mar 19
This ambitious Government initiative, launched in December 2018, is important - or could be - so long as it is implemented wholeheartedly and impartially. Its purpose is “to tackle the challenge of poor quality design and build of homes and places across the country and help ensure as we build for the future, we do so with popular consent."
The Commission, chaired by Sir Roger Scruton, is to gather evidence “from both the public and private sector to develop practical policy solutions to ensure the design and style of new developments, including new settlements and the country’s high streets, help to grow a sense of community and place, not undermine it".
Its aims, in bullet-points, are these:
- To gather evidence from stakeholders and other sources;
- To advocate beauty in the built environment;
- To develop workable ideas to help renew high streets and inform the planning and design of new settlements;
- To develop practical ideas for the identification and release of appropriate land for housing and the role of infrastructure in strategic spatial planning;
- To inform the work of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Government Departments‘ policy
During the course of this year evidence will be gathered and initial recommendations will be made by the Commission to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire. The final report will be given in December 2019.
The subject underlying BBBBC is highly complex, fascinating and open to controversial polemics. To get a grasp of where we are today and how did we get here, l would recommend reading Dame Fiona Reynolds’ interesting book The Fight for Beauty for a succinct and authoritative analysis of the aesthetics involved. For further essays that might contribute to a better understanding of the BBBBC’s initiative, download Building Beautiful - a collection of essays on the design, style and economics of the built environment, published by Policy Exchange, at www.policyexchange.org.uk/publication/building-beautiful