Yesterday I heard Nick Boles give his first speech as planning minister at the Town and Country Planning Association’s annual conference, Where will the people live?
He was fresh from his appearance on BBC Newsnight where he was grilled by Jeremy Paxman and a feisty lady from my old stomping ground, Formby. The piece which accompanied the interview showed him touring his constituency town of Stamford and extolling the virtues of building beautiful places, in contrast with a modern housing estate in Purfleet, which was anything but; “pig-ugly” was the term. Not a phrase I was taught at planning school, but I guess it’s a good thing that ministers can cut through planning jargon.
At the TCPA, Mr Boles further extolled the merits of beauty, both in England’s natural landscapes and in its finest urban landscapes such as Stamford and Letchworth (which, as members of the TCPA well know, was the first garden city). He observed that Letchworth’s architects “allowed room for the organic intermingling of nature and architecture.” Three cheers for that. You can see his speech here.
I realised that I must have walked past that housing estate in Purfleet on a number of occasions, as it is literally a stone’s throw from the RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes. The reserve is a wild space, a green lung, in the heart of growing communities along the Thames Estuary. It’s much used by local communities, and I hope by residents of that estate. Purfleet is certainly not Letchworth, but it certainly is a place which has nature on its doorstep.
Unfortunately the minister had to dash off after his speech for a committee session on the Growth and Infrastructure Bill (that’s another story), so I didn’t have the chance to ask him my question. In an era of localism, we expect a lot from local authorities and housebuilders. We expect them to provide enough homes, and homes which are beautiful, affordable and surrounded by greenspaces (as the minister said), and moreover homes which are low-carbon, water efficient and with wildlife on the doorstep (which he didn’t say, but could have done). And doing all that without damaging special places. How confident are you, Mr Boles, that they can deliver all this – and what will you do if they don’t?