LORDS FORCE DESIGN TO TOP OF HOUSING BILL AGENDA

摘要

A House of Lords group led by Lord Howarth is demanding changes to the Housing and Regeneration Bill to ensure design quality is embedded in the new Housing and Communities Agency (HCA). A 'design caucus', led by the former architecture minister and backed by the RIBA, has demanded key amendments to the Housing and Regeneration Bill - the legislation which will ratify the creation of the HCA. With a purse of nearly ￡16.3 billion, the HCA is expected to deliver 100,000 homes and will be created later this year when English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation merge -neither of which groups had statutory duties in respect of design quality. Speaking at a Lords debate in the last week, Howarth called for the HCA to be given an explicit role in guaranteeing 'the improvement of design quality in new housing', and insisted the new superquango should appoint a design expert to its board. Howarth said: "there can only be benefit in using this legislation to reinforce... the guidance expressed in the planning policy statements [on good design]. There will otherwise be a wide gulf between the aspirations of ministers in Whitehall and practice and decision-making on the ground.'