Steve Quartermain - Chief Planner, CLG

"tough times but design still rules"ministers do care! Design is critically important to the future of the housing industry - design is critical to all development not just housing.

Can we still afford quality design? Yes we can!Ambition & drive to work collaboratively and listen to the community

Question is: can we afford NOT to design well?Poor design is one of the reasons why housing stock is being abandoned and demolishedThere are no second chances - you can't retrofit design!

Good design will get the market flowing again - popular housing will increase house sales

New build isn't of the size and quality that people want to buyin 2009, 400000 complaints of 180000 new homesPopular houses will mean MORE houses

Great eco-friendly design - technique can mitigate against climate change

Good example, HDA award winner - Crest Nicholson = embracing the agenda and producing quality design. Proof it will sell and win awards. But is not always the case with developers.

Problems:nimbyism - residents are often opposed to all development, whether its good design or norAccepting poor quality - house buyers are getting used to settling for second best. Consumers have low expectations.

• local planners for not demand quality from developers• developers have no incentives to "up their game"

Solutions:communities local auto and considers driving change

Ideas:how do we think we can empower communities?what role do the government see communities having?

localism localism localism!NOT A TOP DOWN APPROACH.

secretary of state: do away with regional spacial strategieswants to shift power to local communities / planning authorities to seize the moment.LAs want the freedom - they've got it now.

RTPI - encouraging us to think for yourselves, what does this mean...

… for communities - • community involvement techniques - planning for real, enquiry by design and charities• greater empowerment for local people• planning authority need to step out the way and let the communities do it.

… for consumers -• stimulate consumer demands

… for planning authorities -• strong local policies• design skills• strong leadership

Example scheme: Icon in Somerset - http://www.crestnicholson.com/icon/

• created a scene which responded to local need• generous living spaces

• injected life

Remember the 3 rules:• Strong leadership• local empowerment• Effective collaborative working

Developers and local authorities need to rely on people like MADE.

Richard Simmons - Chief Executive, CABE

Working closely with Barratt who are focussing on engaging with the community- decisions will be made by people, not us

David Cameron wants people to decide how their place will look

When it comes to deciding what you like the look of, your brain just knows.The lymbic system processes things as they just happen therefore you know before you've done any analysis on what you want / like.

eg iphone 4 - looks great which means you overlook the fact it doesn't work if you hold it in your left hand.\

Neuroscience - first impressions. Will the leggy blond bore you to death about star trek? Where does our attention go?Style. Most often, people stop there.

Like design review… you look at a scheme and you instantly like or dislike

For example, a scheme by Glenn Howells ArchitectsFirst - wow, I like that. THEN - I like it because he understands how to make a place.

So, what's that got to do with design in a tough economic climate?Because where you apply your attention is incredibly important. Things just happen.

Q&As from UDSS delegates to both Steve and Richard:

Q: "localism" - buzzword and policy - how should developers deal with sites when nimbysism is rife?A: Steve - localism isn't just a buzzword it's policy. local communities - help them to make a decision. stop seeing a barrier to development, but engage with commas and LAs at an early stage. Presume that something will be built.A: Richard - John Nash - spec housing (Buck Palace) - heroes of the past. Developers can be heros of today. Turn it around. be creative, use good architects. Creativity is very welcome - see it as an opportunity.

Q: Spec builders - leadership issues. Community….. democratic process - they still need a degree of leadership. Where are we going to derive these structures for long terms plans to enable them to decide what they like or don't like? We need guidance. A: Richard - agree, don't think there is a problem with a community creating a 90 yr plan - needs to be lead from the locality. CABE just produced documentation - how to do long term planning without a regional strategy. Leadership is critical - government is being revolutionary. A: Steve - leadership yes - but don't define it. It's not the case that certain people can lead - again, shift of power to bottom up.

Q: In new zealand - major reform taking place. disjoint between strategy and plan. A: Steve - disconnect between plan making and implantation. Planning is about OUTCOME. plan is a means of getting there.

Q: What are the conditions that leads to our judgement? What informs our gut reactions? Where does this mean we are going with our localism agenda?A: Richard: nature / nurture…… so why do we have a gut reaction. At buckingham palace - prince phillip - why can't everything look like the foreign office. influenced by his surroundings. as a child you learn. what you encounter in your environment will influence your decisions. nudge - offer positive incentives. talk

about the positives, encourage what they value. more than the physical….. people animate places. places without people have no meaning.

Q: we are driven by things that we don't notice. would you say that beautiful places make people behave better.A: Richard: communities are defined by communities. different abilities / cultures / sexual preference. Communities are not made up of people like us. If we are the people who are helping people, what we should be saying is we don't care about lifetime homes standards, they should be places where people want to be. Let's identify the community and then let them shape it.

Q: you're effectively granting a blank cheque with great potential, but you need the skills to know what to do with it. how will you ensure the skills are put in place? A: Steve: planners don't need to be told what to do….. we can do this! address skills and capacity. You have the opportunity to react.