CABE calls for design commitment in the Thames Gateway

The Thames Gateway design pact calls for an immediate step change in design quality in the Gateway and outlines the actions needed to achieve this.

Last year CABE looked at the unique identity, culture and character of the Thames Gateway. New things happen set out a vision for the future of the Gateway and defined the key ideas which should be at the heart of planning policies, investment strategies, design decisions and environmental projects.

But if the Thames Gateway is to avoid becoming an urban wasteland of badly-designed housing estates and public spaces, those new things need to happen now, not at some distant point in the future.

CABE and the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership are launching the Thames Gateway design pact which calls for an immediate step change in design quality in the Gateway and provides absolute clarity about what actions are needed to achieve this over the next three years.

Richard Simmons, CABE's chief executive, stressed that a tangible commitment to design must form the basis of delivery in the Thames Gateway. 'The new and existing communities have the right to expect it. Good design must be at the heart of the Gateway's transformation.'

The Thames Gateway design pact is aimed at all the organisations involved in the transformation of the Thames Gateway, from those carrying out large-scale masterplanning through to the delivery of neighbourhoods and homes on the ground. Signatories will include Communities and Local Government (CLG), public sector landowners, regional development agencies, local delivery vehicles, local authorities, registered social landlords and private developers.

CABE believes the following key things need to happen:

• Funding from CLG for the Thames Gateway must be conditional on meeting good design criteria. Unless funding is linked to quality, there is no guarantee that the squares, estuary paths, green landscapes and transport boulevards in the Parklands Plan will rise above individual project level and transform the Gateway.
• Regional Development Agencies must focus on the bigger picture, encompassing transport and community infrastructure, not just land use. Failure to coordinate regeneration projects across the Gateway could result in a similar situation to last year when five out of nine local delivery vehicles all included a proposed regional super casino within their individual regeneration strategies
• Local authorities, English Partnerships, regional development authorities and all other public sector landowners must ensure that no land in public ownership is sold without a binding masterplan. Strict development briefs must be provided - publicly owned sites must be exemplary developments, such as St Mary's Island in Chatham.

CABE and the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership will now work with all the key Gateway parties on agreeing to a series of actions.