New Clause 48 - Design and masterplans
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
My hon. Friend is right. I congratulate him on the way in which he has moved the new clause. It is particularly apposite on a day in which we have seen two articles in the press, one in The Guardian and one in The Times. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the one from The Guardian on my way here, but I have a copy of the one from The Times. It is headed:
''Prescott plans flatpack homes to beat shortage''.
The article says that the Deputy Prime Minister
''has instructed English Partnerships, the regeneration agency, to tender for hundreds of new pod-like homes in 'millennium communities' as part of the drive for greener buildings and eco-friendly construction in Britain.''
It goes on to say:
''The units are a world away from the 1940s aluminium-framed prefab huts and also have new names, including OSM (off-site manufactured house) and even M-ouse (from mobile house).
Mr. Prescott has become hooked on the dwellings after visiting a number of house-builders''.
It continues:
''Mr. Prescott is so impressed by the designs and high quality of materials he sees no reason why the buildings should be seen in the same way as postwar temporary huts.''
There is a real issue, and it is design. Nobody could want more than for a much larger number of houses to be built than we have now. However, it is no good building houses for the sake of it and finding that in 20 years they have become tomorrow's slums. That is what happened in the case of post-war technology, with pre-cast reinforced concrete houses and so on.
Although some such technologies are proven, others are not. We would be ill advised to rush wholesale to unproven technologies. I have seen some of the new technologies working well. That is the case with pre-fitted bathrooms, for example—they are almost manufactured in one, with tiles, baths, and showers—which go into the house almost as one unit. That sort of thing can be successful. Imitation slates sold by the square metre rather than as individual slates to reduce building costs can work well. I have some worries about outside construction panels that are put on a concrete slab and bolted together. We need to consider such things very carefully.
Particularly at this dark time when the Government have set up a commission for design, we need to consider the matter carefully and learn from the lessons of the past if we are not to make tomorrow's slums out of today's poorly designed houses. My hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet has made a good point. Design should be one of the critical matters that should be considered at the planning application stage. If the Government cannot accept the new clause, I hope that they will indicate that design should be given a much greater priority in the planning process.