Tag Archives: local services

Forest Village #6: The Village Centre

What would one have to do to Center Parcs Elveden to turn it into a ‘real’ village? Well for the purposes of this thought-experiment the aim would be to change as little as possible, preserving the essential quality which could … Continue reading

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Self-Building Bridges

In a previous post I suggested that mainstream commercial developers and the major house-builders regard selling development land as serviced self-build plots as nothing more than a lot of hassle and a lost profit margin – and that the new … Continue reading

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What’s in a Name?

I was talking today with a potential client of Lucas Hickman Smith, who leads a community group which (if all goes according to plan) will commission us to help them replace their worn-out village hall with a new community facility, … Continue reading

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More on Community-Run Shops

Twitter brought me to a piece by Alan Spedding (@RuSource) about community-run shops. I think it’s Alan’s summary of a longer report by the Plunkett Foundation. I did talk a bit about shops – and the Plunkett Foundation in fact … Continue reading

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The Heart of a Village

The British Beer and Pub Association reports (here) that 900 pubs closed in the last year. The village pub, school and shop/Post office between them form, if you will, a Holy Trinity of ‘village life’*. Both the Telegraph and Daily … Continue reading

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…And the Case Against!

Well, I have to declare an interest: I’m not a ‘normal person’ either! I’m an architect with a good working knowledge of the planning system and sustainable design, so my reference to planners in the last post was a bit … Continue reading

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The Case for CRTB

So why is the Community Right to Build a good idea, at least in principle? Well, generally speaking the only way to add development to villages under the present planning system is under a Rural Exception Policy, a clause in the prevailing … Continue reading

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