what does the white paper mean for housing quality?

摘要

The general thrust of the Planning for the Future White Paper is extremely worrying. Badged as modern and democratic, it is actually about making things quicker and simpler, and, almost inevitably, worse. Its 60 pages read like the first draft of something that the authors were working out as they typed. As if to convince themselves, they repeat the same ideas several times. They have doubled up on the forewords too (by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State), before the civil servants take over with a set of simplistic propositions that could have been set out in ten pages. The questions (many of them facile) are slotted in along the way. As a model for clarity and succinctness - two of the priorities it expects of the new planning regime it attempts to articulate -it's a straight 'fail'. I'm guessing that the brief went something like this: 1.Use the word beauty (or beautiful) on every page -preferably more than once. 2.Make it sound fun; talk about interactive technology and 'on-the-go' engagement. 3.Say data, not documents. 4.Talk a bit about design, but steer well clear of designers. 5.Don't mention old people; we're only interested in young people. 6.Ignore accessible housing and forget about wheelchairs. 7.At no point mention space standards; and keep off the Green Belt.