Housing position statement
Making it home - the power of landscape to create good housing
Urgent need for house building must not lead to poor planning and design, says the Landscape Institute
The LI's new publication Making it Home: the power of landscape to create good housing argues that with a government target of three million new homes in England over the next twenty years, and a Scottish target of 35,000 homes per year in the next decade, there is an emphasis on quantity, not quality, which is understandable but not acceptable.
Provision of housing cannot be separated from current environmental and social challenges including climate change, biodiversity, energy supply, food security, social cohesion and flood risk management. Ensuring that all of us have access to good quality housing demands that we look again at how we plan and design it. Our vision is that all development should be based on a genuine understanding of its landscape context so that these characteristics can create schemes that are desirable for the developer, the user and the neighbouring communities.
It is at the planning stage that opportunities and constraints are identified and resolved through planning and design strategies in response to the existing landscape, and in consultation with interested parties. These strategic decisions also inform the evolution of the scheme design and, ultimately, the detailed design on a smaller scale”.
The delivery of sustainable communities relies upon a collaborative response to design. The integration of green technology into new and existing communities helps to improve their energy, food and water independence and creates more engaging places in which to live.”
Making it Home makes ten demands:
- Developers incorporate landscape design and planning into initial site planning briefs.
- Developers are encouraged to recognise the power of multifunctional landscapes to achieve their goals as well as environmental and social objectives.
- Local planning authorities make detailed design, maintenance and management plans for landscape part of planning agreement before full approval is given.
- Local planning authorities use Section 106 agreements to deliver landscape maintenance and management objectives in line with the original aspirations for the scheme.
- Planning committees become better informed on the significance of landscape for housing developments.
- Affordable housing providers recognise the power of landscape to deliver many of the requirements set out in the regulatory framework against which their performance is measured.
- The Tenant Services Authority and the Audit Commission (which monitor the performance of social housing providers) incorporate qualitative and quantitative landscape measures in their regulatory regimes.
- Design Review Panels receive all but the most modest schemes for Design Review.
- Building for Life scores are given equal weight to other economic considerations.
- The landscape profession is encouraged to make use of current policy, regulation and standards which provide for landscape as an integrating framework in the development of housing and revitalising of existing stock.
