Minister for Housing and Planning (): The government are
committed to building 1.5 million new homes over the next five
years, but we have also been clear that increasing housebuilding
rates cannot mean units at any cost. We want exemplary
development to be the norm not the exception so that more
communities feel the benefits of new development and welcome it.
As we act to boost housing supply, we are therefore determined to
take steps to improve the design and quality of the homes and
neighbourhoods being built.
These guiding principles are woven into the fabric of the reforms
we have initiated over recent months. The New Towns Taskforce,
for example, has been asked to ensure that quality and design are
integral to its agenda, and it has been explicitly tasked with
setting out clear principles and standards for new large-scale
communities to ensure they are well-connected, sustainable,
well-designed, and attractive. Our proposed reforms to the
National Planning Policy Framework also highlighted the
government's ongoing commitment to well-designed homes and
places, and retaining the objective of creating high-quality,
beautiful, and sustainable buildings and places.
My department intends to update the National Design Guide and
National Model Design Code in Spring next year, and we will
continue to bolster design skills and capacity through the £46
million package of capacity and capability support provided to
local planning authorities. This will be used to fund the
recruitment and training of 300 graduate and apprentice planners,
along with the £1 million funding to Public Practice for the
recruitment of planners, architects and urban designers.
Together, this framework provides a clear basis for the delivery
of more high-quality, well-designed homes. To help support this
delivery, in particular as we progress our consideration of
large-scale sites and large-scale new communities, I intend to
establish quarterly Steering Boards on design and placemaking,
ensuring that our work is guided by those with relevant
professional and practical expertise.
It was announced in July 2023 that the Office for Place,
previously a small team in the then Department for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities, would become an arm's length body to be
based in Stoke-on-Trent. Work to establish the Office has
continued since then. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to
the interim board, led by Nicholas Boys as chair, and the Office for Place
team for their exemplary work on this important issue. In putting
design and quality at the heart of the housing supply agenda and
establishing the principles of design coding and embedding them
in practice across the planning and development sectors, Nicholas
and the team have made a significant contribution.
Alongside spending decisions taken at the Budget and the
re-setting of departmental budgets, the Deputy Prime Minister and
I have, however, concluded that support to improve the quality
and design of new homes and places can be more efficiently and
effectively delivered by the Department itself. The Office for
Place will therefore be closed down and the expertise of its
staff redeployed within the Ministry for Housing, Communities and
Local Government (MHCLG), across the country. I would like to
reassure the House that this will not impact on wider government
commitments to Stoke-on-Trent, including the award of £19.8
million for their Levelling Up Partnerships programme.
In taking the decision to wind up the Office for Place, the
government is not downgrading the importance of good design and
placemaking, or the role of design coding in improving the
quality of development. Rather, by drawing expertise and
responsibility back into MHCLG, I want the pursuit of good design
and placemaking to be a fully integrated consideration as the
government reforms the planning system, rolls out digital local
plans and provides support to local authorities and strategic
planning authorities. I also believe that embedding this work
within MHCLG will allow experience to be better reflected in
decision-making, as well as integrated within an existing
delivery team in Homes England already focused on design and
placemaking.
It will also ensure continuity of current Office for Place key
activities, including support for Pathfinder authorities who
received a share of £1 million to produce exemplar design codes,
alongside work on digital design codes and funding to support
local and regional urban design best practice and skills.
The government regards improving the design and quality of the
homes and neighbourhoods we will build over the coming years as
conducive to, rather than in tension with, our ambition to
significantly increase housing supply, and we have put in place
the necessary policy and delivery framework to ensure we deliver
on both objectives.
