CABE responds to the government's consultations on housing

The government has now started deliberating on the responses to its consultation on Kate Barker's review of housing supply.

In CABE's own response, we sought to ensure that the opportunity to build a legacy of high quality, well-designed and sustainable homes is not squandered.

Planning policy statement 3: housing

In our response to planning policy statement 3, CABE welcomes the government's proposals to address the nation's housing shortage, raise funds for essential infrastructure and improve the sustainability of homes. But we are keen to move the debate on from numbers and promote a discussion about delivery, quality and impact.

Over the last few months, CABE has held two seminars on the draft Planning policy statement 3 attended by leading figures from planning, housebuilding, architecture and economics.

So what do we think? We believe that housing is only part of the jigsaw that creates good neighbourhoods. The planning policy statement should say more about how schools, shops, parks and transport routes will be planned and provided.

We do not think that one size fits all when it comes to the size, design or location of homes, so the planning policy statement should promote local decisions on density ranges, parking standards and home sizes.

We also feel that the planning policy statement should consider how to measure density. Instead of measuring dwellings per hectare, floorspace figures could be used. Combined with an indication of site coverage, these give a much better indication of the amount of space to be built, and its actual density. Floorspace allows for mixed use developments to be described as a whole, and can stop too many small units being proposed to meet high density targets.

Proposals for introducing a code for sustainable homes

CABE believes that the government's proposed code for sustainable homes is an important step towards promoting environmental sustainability in new homes. However, we are concerned that it does not address the wide spectrum of truly sustainable design - in particular making sure that homes can be easily used by all members of society. We would like to see lifetime homes - a standard that ensures good quality housing for people with different mobility and usability needs - made an essential requirement of the code.

We are also concerned that as the code is only voluntary, many housebuilders will just ignore it. We are pleased that the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and ODPM are committed to ensuring that all homes funded through their programmes comply with the code, but we would like to see much more incentive to apply it. In our recommendations to government, we suggest examples of how the private sector could be encouraged to adopt the code.

Planning-gain supplement

CABE welcomes the creation of more funding for essential infrastructure and community facilities but we are not convinced that the planning-gain supplement is the most effective alternative to the existing Section 106 model. The tariff, or 'roof tax', model currently being trialed by Milton Keynes and Ashford does merit further examination.

We are concerned that the planning-gain supplement contains significant flaws as currently proposed. In our full response, we suggest ways in which it could be used to stimulate sustainable development, for example by offering a lower PGS rate for homes which meet the code for sustainable homes.