The UK government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, has recommended urban orchards and incentivising developers by fast-tracking planning for attractive housing.
The report, titled Living with Beauty, was published this morning, 30 January 2020. It recommended planting trees, giving powers to local authorities to set design standards, and tax breaks for retrofitted buildings.
Set up in November 2018, the commission's aim was to investigate how millions of homes can be built in England without compromising on quality and aesthetics.
The commission is chaired by Create Streets founder Nicholas Boys Smith with the late Roger Scruton, who passed away a few weeks ago.
Plant two million trees for streets
If new housing developments are more attractive, the commission argued, they can pass through planning more easily as people who already own homes will be less afraid it will devalue their property. The final report from the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission sets out over 100 policy recommendations for the government and planning bodies.
A goal of planting two million trees on streets should be set, said the commission.
Developers should be encouraged to plant a fruit tree in an urban community orchard for every house they build, to improve community well-being, was a further recommendation.
Automatic permissions create "future slums"
The report highlighted how automatic planning permission grants for projects such as office-to-residential ...