Adviser to aid Bridgnorth garden village vision
A consortium behind a green-belt housing proposal in Bridgnorth has appointed a government advisor on garden villages to look at its plans.
The Stanmore Consortium, which is behind proposals for a garden village, says it has appointed Lord Matthew Taylor, the author of the Government’s Garden Village policy.
In a statement the consortium said Lord Taylor will work with the Apley Estate and Stanmore Properties – which make up the consortium – to "plan a sustainable community at Stanmore with imaginatively designed homes, good access, facilities people want and plenty of open spaces to encourage healthy living".
The Peer has advised successive governments on planning and housing policy.
The Stanmore proposal has attracted significant opposition and has been dropped by Shropshire Council from its draft Local Plan in favour of a rival non-green belt development on the other side of the town at Tasley.
Lord Taylor developed the ‘Garden Village’ concept as a way to address the housing crisis with better quality and more sustainable development.
He previously conducted the 2008 Government review of rural housing and planning, ‘Living Working Countryside’, which laid many of the foundations for the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), and then developed the Government’s ‘National Planning Practice Guidance’ in 2012, which comprises all the guidance that sits behind the NPPF.
He said: “I am very pleased to have been asked to help ensure the Stanmore Garden Community proposals are of the highest standards to create a nationally exemplary development.
"I have worked both on national policy and the delivery of large scale schemes of the highest quality, and the key element in every case is a landowner committed to a long term interest in the community and the highest quality placemaking, which is why I agreed this role here.”
Lord Hamilton of the Apley Estate said: “Lord Taylor brings great expertise in planning and development to Stanmore and we look forward to working with him to ensure our approach to the garden community is best in class.
"We have been clear that we will not develop a 'generic' housing estate that has no individuality and could be anywhere in the UK. This appointment reflects this commitment to innovate, think differently and deliver an exemplar garden community that Bridgnorth can be proud of."
