Reporting on the quality of housing design

For the first time, local authorities will have to report each year on the design quality of the housing built in their areas.

The Government has published new core output indicators for regional planning bodies and local planning authorities, and it includes the indicator for housing design quality required by PPS3.

The indicator selected is the performance of each housing scheme against the 20 Building for Life criteria, which are jointly promoted by CABE and the Home Builders Federation, the industry body representing the major residential developers.

CABE first called for such an indicator in its second housing audit back in 2005. We argued that if the design quality of new housing was to rise, then quality had to be measured alongside density, tenure mix, and housing completions.

With the new indicators, quality now needs to feature in the Annual Monitoring Reports that all authorities make to central government. Because local authorities will now have to report against the indicator in this and future years, there will in effect be a rolling housing audit.

The publication of performance against this measure will provide a powerful incentive to improve the quality of the schemes that local planners approve, as well as providing a further incentive for planners to become better acquainted with the 20 criteria, and the design principles that underpin them.

Related links

• The 20 Building for Life criteria
• How a Building for Life assessment works