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NEWS AND EVENTS
URBAN DESIGN GROUP: Annual General Meeting
Following two years as Chair of the UDG,
I am now standing down, having had
the honour of presiding over the UDG’s
25th anniversary. The first 25 years of
achievements and the fact that urban
design is on the political agenda today
is due to the tireless efforts of our
predecessors, amongst whom the late
Francis Tibbalds deserves special mention.
One of our recent key aims has been
to influence the urban design content of
the planning system, even if with limited
success so far. The legislation itself is
important and a private amendment
worked in our favour by requiring a
design statement to accompany every
major planning application. We have
seized this opportunity to prepare
guidance on the content of design
statements, to which CABE and the ODPM
are likely to sign up, and which will be
published soon.
However, it is Planning Policy
Statements PPS1 Creating Sustainable
Communities and PPS12 Scope
of Development Plans, which are
disappointing for urban design,
concentrating on methodology rather
than content. Nothing currently states
that urban design has to be part of either
development planning or control, with
reference only to existing good practice
guidance; so that urban design could
be regarded non-statutory – an optional
extra, not an integral part of ‘spatial
planning’. We and others have jointly
responded strongly to these drafts,
offering to assist in re-drafting policy.
The reaction of the ODPM is awaited.
Also awaited was the Egan Report
on the skills needs for the government’s
Sustainable Communities agenda. Little
was said about the need for urban design
despite the significant skills gap. Our
forthcoming Awayday will concentrate
on how we can influence education
over the next year or so, and we made a
positive input to training through CABE
contracts on training highway engineers
and running a CABE Summer School.
The UDG will continue to position
itself along with CABE as a disseminator
of good practice through forthcoming
publications on neighbourhood spaces,
urban design graphics and design
statements. Our real strength lies
in our membership of urban design
practitioners, which over the past few
years has remained fairly static, and
so we need to increase these and draw
on the abilities and energies of our
members, especially our new affiliate
organisation, Street, for young recently
qualified urban designers.
We continue to support UDAL
and this year we are providing UDAL’s
secretariat, and with Marcus Wilshere
taking the chairmanship, are able to
influence UDAL’s activities directly.
This year has also seen the London
Authorities Urban Design Forum (LAUDF)
take off dramatically, as it has secured
funding and permanent staff. We are
represented on its committee and are
seeking to work with LAUDF on a regular
basis.
Our 25th anniversary year was
marked by the redesign of our website,
launched in October 2003, and by the
appearance of UDQ in colour. I would
like to pay special tribute to John
Billingham’s editorship (with Sebastian
Loew). John steps down this year
after the great achievement of making
UDQ Britain’s most authoritative and
respected urban design publication
for nearly 25 years. John was also
responsible with Richard Cole for the
Good Place Guide (2002).
We also value our Patrons, and this
year invited them each to address an
executive committee meeting, leading
to valuable discussions and action. We
have continued to hear excellent talks
in London, but it is proving difficult to
maintain this in the regions. As a result,
committee members have been asked to
‘shadow’ a region to foster enthusiasm
so that more regional events are given
similar momentum. We have also had
successful tours to Copenhagen and
Transylvania.
The activity of the UDG would
not have been possible without the
hard work of our director Rob Cowan,
Grace Wheatley - our administrator,
and Amanda Claremont - our new coordinator,
all of whom provide UDAL’s
secretariat. Our commercial arm,
Urban Design Services Ltd, has been
efficiently run by Susie Turnbull as
ever. Finally, I should like to thank my
fellow committee members and officeholders
for their enthusiasm, and all
our members and event participants
for their activity, which is increasingly
putting urban design at the heart of
development, planning and regeneration.
It has been an exciting two years.
Alan Stones
TREASURER’S REPORT
In the financial year 2003-04, the
executive committee of the Urban Design
Group introduced a number of new
initiatives:
• employing an additional part-time
administrator shared with UDAL
• placing the two administrators onto a
formal employment basis
• purchasing a Powerpoint projector
• creating the new website, and
• introducing colour printing to UDQ.
These initiatives were funded from
reserves, and cost £25,000. To maintain
current reserves, the executive
committee has authorised seeking
sponsorship for the publication on
Design Statements, and the website. Two
contracts with CABE will bring further
income, and an application will be made
to the Inland Revenue for repayments
under the Gift Aid scheme.
Increased income was from:
• a small increase in subscriptions -
£1,000
• donations by Urban Design Services Ltd
- £6,000
• providing rental and administrative
services to UDAL - £4,300
But there as a considerable drop in
income from publications – previously
coming from one-off sponsorships and
royalties for the Urban Design Good
Practice Guide.
Reduced expenditure was due to:
• the 2004 Source Book not being
printed - £5,300, and
Increased expenditure was due to:
• Director’s payments being claimed
too late to go into the previous
year’s accounts, employing a second
administrator and employing both
administrators on a formal basis -
£32,000
• distributing the new UDG brochure to
increase membership - £3,100
• establishing the new website
- £11,568, with future maintenance
estimated at about £1,000 a year.
With these increasing costs, the UDG
executive committee has decided to
increase some membership rates for
the first time in more than four years.
Fees for individual members will rise
from £35 to £40 and for practices from
£200 to £250; while fees for students,
libraries, universities and local
government will remain unchanged.
These increases will help the UDG
to maintain and improve its services,
and also help to expand membership,
particularly amongst younger
professionals in urban design.
John Peverley, Hon Treasurer
6 | Urban Design | Autumn 2004 | Issue 92