Oliver Middleton Architects Blog

Coming soon are my thoughts on the advantages of listed building a home......

A positive upside to the planning and taxation regimes

Localism, the Planning lynch mob and a return to the trial of witches & others by ordeal? Part One. Surly a conventional public inquiry is an ordeal enough…..

Because town planning didn’t exist prior to 1874 Local Government Act except as adhoc development in specific instances, an Act of Parliament was generally required to construct a turn pike, Canal, tramway or later a Railway. To overcome the resistance of small landowners, powerful vested interests such as some aristocrats, Oxford and Cambridge Colleges, The Church and larger local landowners to force through the assembly of land and build anything moderately large which amounted to civil engineering. This sort of development required an act of parliament well into the 20^th Century, hence for the widening Charles Street in Leicester 1932.

Housing development would creep ever further provided the City Corporation, Borough or Urban District believed the new roads and sewers would be properly constructed. Things began to change with the creation of the first Green Belt just before WW2. Town and Country Planning as we know it began in 1948 and brought in the present system of administrative law with; ward Councillors consulted, a planning committee and council officer to advise and recommend. A system where the views of local representatives even if only 30% bother to vote in local elections are tempered with the experience and professionalism of officers to ‘try the evidence’ of a proposal with over 1000 pages of Planning Guidance and the possibly of an appeal if the applicant isn’t happy with the verdict. Inspectors being like the circuit judges we have had bringing consistency to legal proceedings since the time of King John. What are we about to move too? If localism means that a community can decide that it wants affordable housing or executive housing and amenities such as; a swimming pool, leisure centre or casino, who will provide the impetus? The big ‘Local Landowner’ lending an altruistic hand is less likely to be a squire more of a corporate entity; supermarket / volume house builder / investment banksters or all three rolled into one.

Talking to RTPI ‘planner turned poacher’ colleagues they can see little good coming of it, un popular but worthy proposals could be blocked by a sort of ‘Nimbyist’ local trial by ordeal, running up against local prejudice. Whilst if a proposal is generated by activist locals and their ‘philanthropic supporters’ the presumption is yes, because a proposal brings benefits to the community and is ‘sustainable’ according to definitions of what amounts to a green religion, the only thing that might stand in the way is the legal definition of sustainability and the common sense of the judge / witch finder, I mean inspector. Surly if the only way to get to the proposal is in your car, then it cannot be sustainable?

To be continued.....

As a practicing architect I share the pain of fellow professionals such as planners who come in for criticism from the rest of society but I do wonder if the whole system needs to be re thought. Lots of rules have been invented by well meaning traditionalist, vested interests of all sorts and globalist social engineers to manage change in the built environment.

Ways through the planning system for development:

1. Good design, high quality what ever the style, as architects that’s the bit we really enjoy. Planning is subjective, visual and spatial poetry is the answer especially if it meets the brief.

2. Policy. Beware of Village limits; access must meet County Highways Standards, and parking Distinct Standards. There is possible loss of employment land, social housing thresholds, being ‘against policy’ is death to an application without a good planning consultant or planning lawyers such as Marrons.

3. Listen very carefully to what the planning officer is saying, (unless it’s an Australian on a short contract, passing through)……..I like this but unfortunately my bosses and opinion in the department is…..over development, loss of amenity, unsupportable, likely to be refused. Remember that planning is subjective.

4. Local Residents; the client must introduce themselves self, get to know them a bit, explain what they are trying to do and how reasonable what they are proposing is; a new Dental Practice, even Re processing of spent nuclear flue rods or bio tech / actually bio weapons research has an up side in terms of jobs and benefits for the local economy.

5. Unprotected trees that are in the way, planning consultants always say ‘take these out as part of good management, gardening’ before the application is made.

6 Pragmatic sweeteners; Section 106 agreements, planning gain; jobs, offer to build or make a substantially contribution towards; a school, sewage works, a by pass or tram system.

Wild cards Exceptions.

Leisure based businesses in the countryside which need accommodation. (A real possibility)

Social housing with wide speared support across the community and Local Authorities, then anything is possible, but who pays and where to put it?

A quickly built Travellers camp, retrospective planning submitted at 4.45pm of the Friday afternoon work started.

Exceptional quality, Work of art…..minimum £5,000,000.00 build cost, we would love to be involved and could rise to the challenge.

Sustainable Development…. needs to be on a major bus route or right next to a well served railway station. Re-create an Iron Age village? That’s been done, in the 1970’s.

Planning reform is supposed to free up the development industry, provide much needed new homes and tackling the delay and uncertainty before business investment can be made and jobs created, caused by the need for of planning permission.

Reform of the planning system has been on the agenda of government roughly every 18 months since 1948 when the present town and country planning regime came into being. Since the Norman Conquest people have had to apply to the monarch or a powerful local landowner for permission to develop whether it was for a market or individual buildings in a town.

Latest version with localism as a theme, even contemplates empowering local communities to grant their own planning consent, providing affordable or social housing in villages for locals, making a presumption in favour of sustainable development and even help for self builders.

There is talk of an Action Plan which may help with plots for self builders, forcing local authorities to make provision; one wonders if this will be any more successful than the provision of sites for travellers, which are significantly under provided in many districts.

The sustainable development card will no doubt be rolled out by developers to justify the otherwise unjustifiable; Green Field and even Green Belt developments mainly in the South East, a few large schemes will eventually get through to help the big developers.

What we need is planning which is wise, neighbourly, considers the community and the environment whilst being libertarian with intelligent professionals like Paul Green empowered to make decisions based on the merits of each case. Planning that isn’t needlessly collectivist or Nimby or based on the fake environmentalism which underpins scams such as carbon trading. We need to find ways forward based on real needs and a creative assessment of the possibilities, not just bound by public opinion, politics and an expedient balance of lesser evils.

A lot less policy and a lot more freedom to use Common Sense (something which varies according to time & place) under an enlightened interpretation of the law. Planning based on law to deal with competing forces and desires for change based more on a balance of common law rights and less of the administrative law so beloved of social engineers in Corporatist States.

Every week we design and fight for the rights of land and building owners to do what is resonable and human.

Note to the reader, Hi Craig, The point of these postings is to present some thoughts on how conventional architectural history and design thinking relate to the reality of technology and power, which are crucial to culture and to the making & meaning of architecture, now and in the near future. I always wondered what was actually going on; reading Ivan Illich, Noam Chomsky, A J P Taylor etc and watching quality television when I was growing up; BBC2 in the 70s and Chanel 4 in the early 80s both channels put some serious cultural thinkers, historians and philosophers on TV at length, talking about their subjects in an informative way, something Radio 4 still manages, I never quite came to a conclusion. I remember Alister Cooke's History of America, Royal Heritage with Huw Weldon and Panorama on Operation Gladdio, the P2 Masonic Lodge and links to the Red Brigade etc as much as why Ronan Point the 22-storey tower block collapsed. Now after 30 years of further observations, thought and reading I have come to some conclusions via lots of sources; Channel 4 News, the Observer, Jim Marrs, Dan Carlin, Alex Jones, his writers and contributors. These conclusion is quite frightrening or business as usual depending on your situation, to be contiuned.....

As modern technological society continued to develop into the Mid 19^th Century following from the first industrial revolution of 1750s and the Enlightenment of 1780s, I believe two strands emerge in the plans and actions of the powerful; ‘improvement’ through education and physical transformation, harnessing the progress of the steam age or control and modification. The agenda of population control and eugenics following from the fear of famine, the study of population and the darker possibilities of the new science of Charles Darwin and Leicester’s own Alfred Russel Wallace, the social and political thinking of Francis Galton and Sydney Webb.

 

The best intentions of some of those with power and influence in mid 19^th Century must be the pioneering housing of architects such as Henry Roberts for the Great Exhibition of 1851, under patronage of Prince Albert. Roberts was Honorary Architect to the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes and later for the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes, (which later become part of the Peabody Trust). Roberts designed a number of buildings that represented innovations in workers' housing, including the houses in Lower Road, Pentonville, London 1844 and the famous model dwellings in Stratham St, Bloomsbury 1849–1851, amongst the prototypes for local authority housing every where. It was important to enlightened, good, responsible people to improve the lot of the urban poor, by improving their lives and conditions making the possibility of revolution and epidemic less likely. These social and political instincts of good people lead to real improvements in our towns and cites, some beautiful new buildings and public spaces, drainage (for the first time in some cases since the Romans), clean drinking water and By-Law Housing through the new Metropolitan and Urban Distinct Councils with the Local Government Acts of 1888 & 94, establishing local government, planning and even a semblance of democracy which has come down to us. Darker forces were also on the move, to be continued…..

Living in a manufactured consensus.

After the year of revolution in Europe 1848 powerful individuals with vested interests and foresight decided to ‘keep an eye’ on the new and emerging technologies, to manage them in ways which apparently improve the lot of humanity and the world whilst having the benefit of maintaining their control, privileges and status. As more and more people came to live in an industrialized urban society and became less and less self sufficient, this amounted not just to dependency but the construction of an artificial reality. Architecture, whether traditional or modernist in intent became part of this evolving, controlled physical and cultural construct which some would call a matrix! Despite the illusion of democracy and a consumer society with an abundance of choice the same elites continue to own and control most of us.

To be continued…..

From experience, real Developers who do commercial or residential development for more than just a hobby in a raising market are rare, especially in a City and County like Leicestershire, I would make so bold as to say there are probably between 5 & 7. What is far more common is the typical self taught builder developer who can see the development process from the point of view construction and a little beyond to either side, depending what back ground and trade they come from in the industry.

They have ways of finding sites for houses, they know that finance is important and that designers are useful to get planning permission and that a good design makes building easier and adds value. However because of their preoccupation with the physical reality of making or adapting a building, important but only about half of the whole process the builder developer can sometimes come seriously unstuck. They need to listen to advice from people who have knowledge of most if not all of the process; the real experienced, educated developers who dwell in places like Dover Street, London, W1S 4NS, keep their full spectrum knowledge and secrets to themselves.

Architects and General Building Surveyors are amongst the few who are able and avlible to help and guide the developer builder and the ordinary public keep them out of trouble. Most people don’t realise that 78% of our job is done before any building work starts on site.

The business opportunity which will turn into a design and planning possibility will have happened often before we become involved. Likewise with all of the funding and legal work to secure the site and the legal work after the buildings are built or altered for sales or leases and conveyances. We have an overview of all of the different stages and as professionals are there not as competitors but to help you avoid problems, make contact with people who can solve your funding (providing the project is viable or you may have most of money any way) or legal problems, liaising with all of the other people involved in the process to make things happen, not just to do the obvious design and Planning Permission bit.

As time goes by I intend to post allsorts of obervations, thoughts, items of news and things of intrest about the wonderfull world of architecture, traditional buildings and architectural practice in Leicestershire, Rutland, the East Midlands and beyond.

First off, I have found a source of stone to match the look of traditional houses in East Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire, both the cut on the bed iron stone and the creany white stone dressings, not only that but also a source of synthetic Collywestern Stone Slates. A life time quest or at any rate something I have been creeping up on when I have time and the need permits has come to a new level of knowlage.

Whos says one never learns

Geoffrey Middleton

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