Good design can make a massive difference to the impact of housing on the countryside, villages, towns and cities.

In a recent report on standards of design the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) examined housing in various English regions. They were highly critical of the standard of design in the West Midlands.

But they also said that all the main housebuilders were capable of good and imaginative design but that they all produced poorly designed products.

West Midlands CPRE agrees that far too much of the housing in the region is bland and unoriginal, poorly designed with ecological standards that are too low. We would like to see housing design improved so that the houses we build are fit, not just for the next thirty years, but into the future.

Good design starts with the surroundings of a development but that does not mean good design is always a replica of what is already there, although, that will be more important in Conservation Areas.

While each case will vary, and not everyone will agree, the key elements of good design in our view would include:

• Relationship to existing development or landscape.
• Use of high quality materials.
• Efficient use of land.
• Attention to detail.
• High Ecological Standards.
• Well designed, maintained and safe open spaces.
• Road layouts which are subservient to the development and safe for residents.
• Parking which does not dominate the development.

Some of these will rely on developers but others will need Local Authorities to insist on high design and building standards.

The Regional Spatial Strategy Review is also proposing a specific new policy to encourage more ecologically sustainable house building in the region, which we generally support albeit we would like to see the highest possible standards across both new and existing homes and the commercial incentives to help this happen.

3 Dec 2007