'I DON'T THINK YOU GET GOOD DESIGN IN A RUSH'

摘要

As we walk through the hallowed halls of the House of Lords, Alan Howarth, Labour peer and former minister for architecture is enthusing over the intricacies of A W Pugin's masterwork. 'He detailed everything, right down to the brass mouldings and the folded linen woodwork', he says. 'No wonder he died at 40.' Architecture and design is clearly a passion for Howarth -who is chair of the all-party architecture and planning group and lists the arts among his political interests. He tells me he has recently returned from 10 days enjoying the architecture in Venice. It is an encouraging virtue to have in a politician, and is one held so strongly by Howarth that he, with the help of the RIBA, is currently pushing for changes to be made to the Housing and Regeneration Bill that will write high quality design into the legislation (AJ 22.05.08). "The government doesn't have many levers to pull when it comes to enforcing good design', says Howarth. 'And some of the instruments that it attempts to use are not that powerful. We have the right sentiments; Planning Policy Statements 1 and 3 are very good, but they are addressed at such a high level of generalisation that they're really statements of value and, at best, guidance.'