CONTENTS DIARY OF EVENTS - The Urban Design Group

TOPIC
28 | Urban Design | Spring 2005 | Issue 94
into family life, but more importantly
in terms of the growth of the business.
Very few home-workers enjoy bringing
employees into this arrangement. This is
where live-work units come in.
With a high proportion of delegates
admitting to working from home
themselves, there were many personal
experiences of inconsistency within the
planning process, council taxation, and
funding sources.
There was debate about the various
mechanisms available to secure the work
element of the scheme in perpetuity
(planning condition, legal agreement,
restrictive covenant, even freehold vested
in the local authority), but also a feeling
that change of use over time was healthy
and merely reflected the evolution found
in the average High Street.
There was a lack of understanding
amongst policy makers as to the economic
benefits to the rural economy of live-work,
particularly of the need to accommodate
expansion from home-working.
There is evidence that some national
DESIGN
‘Design’ conjures up many things to
local authority planners – good, bad,
quality, external appearance, spaces,
environment, trees, hedges, paving, grass,
etc. Not all local authority planners have
the same concepts of what it means,
and not all planners are equipped with
the necessary skills, qualifications,
experience or time to do so! I have no
housebuilders are recognising the commercial benefits of
accommodating live-work within their schemes but little
research into what type of accommodation people actually want.
Eighty delegates attended, representing all aspects of the
development industry, including architects and planning
consultants, local authority planners, local politicians,
housing associations, academic institutions, funding agencies,
governmental agencies and estate agents. But most heartening
for me was that 17 delegates came from volume housebuilders,
many of them currently developing or hoping to develop in
Cherwell District. Perhaps there is a will, if only we can find a
way that suits the mainstream.
In drawing the seminar to a close, Vicky Sargent, of
Boilerhouse Communications, proposed that the organisers
would capture some of the experiences that had been shared
during the morning, to build up a body of case studies. These
could inform the lobbying of the ODPM’s office to ensure that
the revisions to PPG3 make proper provision for the live-work
concept and that it is enshrined in future planning policy.
Indeed, since the seminar, the update to PPG3 published on 26
January states that planning applications for housing or mixed
use development on redundant commercial land should be
considered favourably. Its a start.
Linda Rand, Urban Designer, Cherwell District Council
DEVELOPMENT CONTROL: DELIVERING QUALITY
Philippa Jarvis says ‘I’ve Got A Design Guide And I’m Going To Use It!’
design qualifications, but have learnt through experience and
working with others who did.
JUGGLING AND JUSTIFICATIONS
Those who come into contact with Development Control (DC)
officers probably know that they are always extremely busy
and therefore difficult to get hold of. However, I wonder if the
circumstances in which they work are really understood?
DC officers are usually significantly over-worked, responsible
for as many as 30-40 cases at any time and each with the
applicants’ agents making requests on their time. Each of these
applications is:
• looked at carefully
• sites visited
• neighbours and other consultee comments understood and
taken on board where justified
• amendments negotiated (if these can be achieved within the
statutory time period)
• reports written up which must refer to all relevant policies
and guidance, interpreted and related to the case, and any other
material considerations before it might go to committee.
And this is only one part of a DC officer’s work. There are also
pre-application letters and meetings, attending internal council
meetings, dealing with appeals, responding and liaising with
other departments on policy and other guidance issues. In fact,
it is difficult to believe that anything is achieved, at all, let alone
done well. DC officers are pulled in many directions dealing with
the different needs and desires of all those involved in the process
- so how can quality be achieved at the same time?
GUIDANCE AS THE FIRST STEP
While in truth, these are highly trained professional officers
who are just ‘processing’ applications, there does need to be an