WIREDGOV

Cllr David Renard, Housing Spokesperson for the Local Government Association, responds to the written ministerial statement by the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick on Building Beautiful Places.

“Councils have constantly delivered throughout the pandemic and are key to helping the Government build back locally as we all recover from it. This includes delivering the high-quality affordable housing we desperately need, built in the right places and supported by the right infrastructure. We also support innovative design to achieve climate-friendly homes and to improve the quality of homes and places.

“Design tools can be helpful, but decisions about the design of local developments need to be locally-led and are best made by local councils together with their communities. As the Government’s National Design Guide advises, any specific details and measurable criteria for good design is most appropriately set out at a local level. The requirement for councils to have a local design code will also require additional resources and skills, so it will be important that councils are fully funded and supported to provide the extra capacity needed.

“We would also like to see the Office for Place body include local government representation, so it can benefit from the expertise and knowledge from a local level.”

Vision for building beautiful places set out at landmark design event