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PAN 44: Fitting New Housing Development
into the Landscape
DEVELOPMENT PLANS
24 A review of Structure Plan policy concerning housing
in the countryside has identified
a gap between policy aspiration and implementation in
practice. Generalised statements on design and
landscape, are totally inadequate to ensure that
intentions are carried through in practice.
25 The development plan system of Structure and Local
Plans has had afundamental influence on the location of
recent large scale residential development. The extent of
the system's influence on the form and layout of these
areas, if any, is not so clear.
26 Development plans have brought order to the
allocation and use of land. They provide an essential basis
for development control, and clear guidance to potential
developers. particularly those engaged in housebuilding as
to the location of possible development. However
development plan making policies, and subsequent monitoring
and enforcement, have not been successful in:
- assessing the capacity of the landscape or
settlements to absorb development from land use
allocations;
- anticipating what landscape framework may be
necessary;
- promoting high standards of design with regard to
large scale residential developments by influencing
more acceptable and visually pleasing forms and
layouts, especially in relation to existing urban areas
and their landscape settings; and
- including specific guidelines relating to both
urban form and landscape.
27 At present, the key considerations which stimulate
the process of settlement expansion are the forecasting of
housing need, the setting of housing targets, the
availability of land and the provision of infrastructure.
Development planning is essentially two dimensional
and does not yet embrace an assessment of the capacity
of the landscape to absorb development in three
dimensions.
DEVELOPMENT CONTROL28 Development Control is the complement to Development
Planning. The DC system is essentially a system of checks
and balances, designed to guide a project through the
planning system.
29 It is difficult for development control to influence
design if basic issues are not already addressed in the
proposed development. Such design issues include:
- consideration of basic site planning
principles;
- design of building types to suit a particular
locality;
- a conscious landscape framework and context;
- the use of appropriate materials;
- sufficient weight on the delivery of environmental
quality objectives which are frequently stated in
development plans.
30 Furthermore, environmental quality objectives which
relate to protection of landscape settings, enhancement of
character and identity of settlements, may conflict with
and become subservient to other development control
criteria, which a planning authority uses to guide
development to the most 'appropriate' locations. These
include:
- land which can be serviced at a reasonable
cost to the public purse;
- the use of brownfield sites or redevelopment
opportunities; and
- the avoidance of development on prime quality
agricultural land.
31 Clearly, guiding criteria such as the effective use
of land resources and the efficient use of public
infrastructure investment are fundamental planning
objectives. The development control process attempts to
direct new development to achieve these objectives. But
frequently low priority is given to a development's 'fit'
with the landscape and its relationship with existing urban
form.
As a result, the design input to developments
tends to occur at the end of the planning and
environmental 'sieve' rather than at the beginning.
This parallels the low priority given to design by
many developers.
32 The timing and manner in which design takes
place is all the more important given the differing
perspectives of the private and public sectors. The private
sector housebuilder is acutely aware of the timescale of
development and is keen to press ahead in accordance with
his own cost and construction priorities. The public sector
is concerned with regulating development as part of the
statutory planning process with its statutory mechanisms
and timescales for site identification and implementation.
There is a clear case for bringing both sides together to
open a dialogue on site planning at the outset of the
development process.
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