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Friday 11 September 2015

Cranbrook: welcome to dismaland

The planning and design of planning seem to be in a pretty dismal state in East Devon:
Futures Forum: Redeveloping East Devon >>> the alternatives to a heavy-handed approach
Futures Forum: Cranbrook: where's the 'good design'?

Here is comment from the EDW blog from yesterday: 


CRANBROOK: THE RESULT OF 40 (YES, FORTY) YEARS OF PLANNING!

10th September 2015

“Cranbrook is the first new stand alone settlement in Devon since the Middle Ages. The result of over 40 years of planning, it is now coming to fruition with development having started on site in June 2011 and the first new homes being completed in May 2012.”
What is Cranbrook all about? - East Devon

40 YEARS!!! Anyone remember Cranbrook being discussed in the 1970’s and 1980’s? Or were all the discussions in secret?

And is anyone proud of what we have ended up with after 40 years of planning?


Cranbrook: the result of 40 (yes, forty) years of planning! | East Devon Watch

With a comment from earlier today:


Paul F says: 11 Sep 2015 at 9:05am

The good news (if you can call it that – more of a DISASTER really) is that planning time-scales have been significantly reduced by virtue of the development free-for-all that currently exists due to the lack of an approved Local Plan, whereby developers have a pretty good chance of building just where they like without the need for real planning.

The bad news (if you can call it that – also more of a DISASTER really) is that it is unlikely to get much better once the new Local Plan is approved (whenever that will be – your guess is as good as mine – already 7-8 years, and many of the Planning Inspectors comments from 2 years ago have yet to be addressed). The housing numbers in the draft Local Plan are so large that the council is going to pretty much have to allow the developer free-for-all to continue if they are to meet them – and they have to meet them if they are to get the income from the New Homes Bonus which is driving the huge housing numbers in the draft Local Plan and that the council is relying upon to be able to keep Council Tax at the same level (despite inflation).

If you thought that your local Council is following local residents desires for East Devon, then you are only right if your objective is to keep Council Tax low (by financing services through the New Homes Bonus) at the expense of new housing overwhelming us all!!


Cranbrook: the result of 40 (yes, forty) years of planning! | East Devon Watch - comment

Meanwhile, a correspondent has just sent this comment into this blog:

In the 70s and earlier 80s I remember visiting the LA and RHA offices and seeing scores of architects busy at their drawing boards. At the time the UK was deliverying twice as many homes as now, half of which were council. They were doing what we paid our taxes for and expected. 

Now the government has effectively passed responsibility to a third party agency, ie their friends the major house builders who deliver only half of what is needed and are democratically unaccountable. The public architects were there to deliver high standard shelter and facilitate infrastructure - now the market delivers shoe-box houses built over green fields with no education or health facilities, little civic space and inadequate transport. 

The author of Garden Cities of Tomorrow Ebenezer Howard would turn in his grave if he saw Cranbrook  

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Garden Cities of To-morrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Garden Cities of Tomorrow Ebenezer Howard - Google Search
ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM: Ebenezer Howard: Garden Cities of To-morrow (1902)

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