Cooper declares crackdown on badly designed homes

Housing minister Yvette Cooper has signalled another crackdown on poorly designed homes.

Cooper told Building after her keynote speech at this week’s Home Builders Federation conference that the final version of Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) will strengthen rules to curb badly designed homes outlined in last year’s draft document.

This statement follows last week’s decision by her boss, Ruth Kelly, to veto plans by George Wimpey for more than 600 homes in the Thames Gateway.

Cooper had used her keynote speech at the HBF conference to flag up the importance of design in planning new housing estates.

She said: “We have to ensure that we have more housing, but more emphasis on mixed communities and high quality design.”

She also hinted that the new PPS3, which is due to be published later this year, would encourage the provision of larger housing and more family friendly environments.

“There has been a need for flats and small houses, but if you are talking about going outwards from the immediate city centre, there has been too much emphasis on flats rather than family housing,” she said.

As you go away from the city centre there has been too much emphasis on flats rather than family housing

Ruth Kelly

She added that the package would include moves to encourage the creation of high quality public spaces. “There should be more emphasis on parks than parking, as there has been traditionally,” she said.

Cooper’s speech follows last week’s decision by Kelly to refuse planning permission for Wimpey’s scheme at Cory’s Wharf in Purfleet, Essex. Ian Ritchie Architects and Barton Willmore both produced outline designs for Wimpey.

Kelly’s letter to Wimpey says: “Due to fundamental flaws in the design, the full application should not be granted planning permission.”

The letter says a world-class design was needed for a high-profile waterfront location at the “gateway to the Thames Gateway”. She ruled that the 14-block scheme was not good enough, and overly dominated by parking.

Cooper also used her speech at the HBF conference to issue a call to Tory party leader David Cameron to bring the party’s local councils into line with his new policy of providing more housing.

At last week’s Conservative conference, Local Government Association chair Lord Bruce-Lockhart said Tory councillors might withdraw from regional assemblies unless Labour gave more power to councils in their local government white paper. The move would deprive the bodies of legitimacy and halt the planning process.