The impact of new housing depends not just on how much is built but how much land it takes. Before we had access to cars, cities, towns and villages were all built at relatively high densities, typically 70 dwellings to the hectare or more. This applied not just to terraced housing but to large Georgian and Victorian housing.

In the twentieth century the rise of the suburb and the estate led to much more profligate use of land. This coincided with a growth in car ownership which on the one side made car owners less dependent on local facilities and at the same time demanded more land for garages dramatically increasing the footprint of housing.

At the same time gardens became generally larger and the overall layout of estates became more land hungry.

The result was that, as demand for housing grew, towns and cities tended to sprawl, impacting on the countryside, coallescing towns into conurbations and increasing car dependency.

And even in areas with historically low car ownership the low density estate format became ubiquitous, as in large parts of the Black Country. Higher density housing became even more unpopular with the failed experiment of high rise social housing.

As a result it is sometimes claimed that higher densities means lowering the standard of design. However, more recent experience (as well as historic neighbourhoods) suggest there is no automatic link and that good and poor design transcends density.

CPRE campaigned for planners to raise the density of housing, as part of good design. This takes account the need for a variety of housing, from flats to four bedroom detached housing.

We have had some succes. In the region as a whole, over half of all new dwellings are now built at densities of over 50 dwellings to the hectare, and only 20% below 30 dwellings to the hectare.

CPRE is now campaigning for minimum density standards for Local Authorities in the region, with higher densities in urban areas.

Where new housing is proposed we believe the Local Authority should ensure the good use of land, whatever the size of the house. The size of gardens and garage space can make a huge difference to density, as well as the overall layout of the development and its roads.

When considering demolitions we would also like to see local authorities consider the wider land use context. Terraced houses, for example, often provide a good example of high density living. Once demolished, it proves impossible to rebuild a similar number of homes on the same site, increasing the so pressure on land elsewhere. Some larger houses should be protected because of their character and/or the biodviersity value of their gardens and local authorities should have effective policies to protect those assets.

11 Dec 2007