The Government has set up the ‘Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’, to improve the quality of new housing design in England, so Civic Voice has set the next All Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) for Civic Societies, to be held on May 7 in Parliament*, to explore ‘The community perspective’.
image: Civic Voice
Civic Voice writes:
Civic Voice is planning a series of round-table events, parliamentary meetings and a conference, which will be held in the spring to ensure that communities are heard in the Government’s latest review into delivering the homes the nation needs.
The commission to champion beautiful buildings as an integral part of the drive to build the homes that communities need. It was announced by the Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP and has 3 aims:
- To promote better design and style of homes, villages, towns and high streets, to reflect what communities want, building on the knowledge and tradition of what they know works for their area.
- To explore how new settlements can be developed with greater community consent.
- To make the planning system work in support of better design and style, not against it.
Civic Voice will be making sure the voice of communities is heard in this review and we have created a panel involving John Walker (Ramsgate), Kevin Trickett (Wakefield) Gavin Orton (Birmingham), Margaret Hollins (Epsom) and Paul Bedwell (Sheffield) who will be independently preparing a Civic Voice response. This group will be supported by Sarah James (Coventry). If you want to share thoughts, please email info@civicvoice.org.uk or respond to our survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/buildingbettercommission.
Groups have already started committing funding to our campaign and you can join them here. Together we can make sure the community voice is heard. With so much new housing development planned over the next 20-30 years, it is crucial that we secure the very best of design as this hasn’t always been the case in the past. It is important that civic societies participate in this review and help influence the future of the country….
*NB: Registration is required
Read more and register for the event….
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