Amid all the Noise, The Draft Design & Placemaking PPG is really good
Today the Government performed its latest U-turn, with local elections previously postponed now going ahead following a legal challenge by Reform. There will be a lot of very unhappy councillors, who showed their hand, facing the electorate after all. Reform appearing to be on the side of the law in the face of perceived democratic backsliding by Labour isn’t a particularly great look and really does seem to epitomise the current state of things.
Meanwhile, housebuilding numbers in London are catastrophically bad, which is no surprise to anyone whose been watching capital, confidence and capacity drain away. You can see Deputy Mayor Tom Copley receiving a rough ride on LBC here. The pre-Xmas package of emergency (temporary) measures in response now look even more inadequate, amid reports of continued resistance to the package at the GLA, which isn’t expected to be introduced until the summer.
Add to this the recently announced new PINS appeals process changes coming in from April, designed to speed up decision-making, but introduces a “submit once, submit right” approach that removes the ability to submit additional evidence at appeal, which is likely to increase risk, cost and paperwork for applicants.
Alongside signs that aspects of the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill designed to reduce environmental requirements to speed up housebuilding will be watered down in implementation to facilitate closer alignment with the EU Single Market, I am left to wonder if ‘insurgency Government’, ‘Build Baby Build’ and any whiffs of a growth strategy left the building with Morgan McSweeney. What, if anything (from LGR to 1.5m homes etc.) of Labour’s programme for Government since the election will now be delivered?
But this is not what I wanted to write about.
In the midst of the never ending uncertainty, the draft Design and Placemaking PPG was put out to consultation in January (open until 10 March), and it’s very good.
“Not another one” I hear Doris from Bristol say but hold on: it consolidates previous guidance into a clear, easy to understand, outcomes led approach that feels less prescriptive and more useful in practice.
It’s also a welcome shift away from “what should buildings look like” towards “what will it be like to live here?”, moving the conversation from an aesthetic debate about whether everything should look like Poundbury towards what really should matters: what is the quality of life like? How is it experienced? How will it look after nature and deliver long term resilience?
The PPG is organised around seven key themes (in order): Liveability, Climate, Nature, Movement, Built Form, Public Space and Identity. The ordering alone tells you something about the emphasis.
It’s also a much more human way to talk about place and opens up the chance for a better conversation with communities and decision-makers.
This is exactly where community/design workshops can come into their own. Workshops don’t make concerns about congestion and local services go away - nor should they – but they do help people understand trade-offs earlier, test options and have more meaningful conversations about what good looks like in context.
At the CCP, we’ve seen how powerful well-facilitated workshops can be in building understanding and better relationships between communities and applicants. Done well they:
make trade-offs visible (and test options early)
bring in quieter voices (not just the loudest in the room)
build shared language and trust
turn “feedback” into co-design and practical next steps
If adopted, the new PPG will be a new lens through which councillors and officers scrutinise proposals, and a helpful framework for telling credible, positive stories about the benefits a scheme will deliver.