6 Ideas for Unlocking Land for Urban Regeneration
Before I dive into these ideas, I want to give context about why I’m focusing on urban regeneration for new housing supply. Politicians often talk about increasing the supply of housing in the UK - it’s usually about how we should be thinking about greenfield or brownfield land. The approach to the regeneration of areas is often missed (no doubt deliberately) and left to policy wonks to tweak policy. I wish there was a more open discussion about this key issue.
More land needs to be unlocked from regenerating existing areas since building on greenfield and brownfield sites is not getting any easier. Of course greenfield land has a lot of opposition (rightly so) - I don’t need to go into that. Brownfield sites whilst are unanimously supported for housing, are badly lacking in availability (certainly where housing demand is high). When looking at my local council’s brownfield register, the top 8 largest sites have planning applications lodged - that’s good news. Although there are many small sites on the brownfield register, these are typically not commercially viable - many landowners are happy to sit on these as investments holding out for a ridiculous offer.
So one of the key housing issues of our time is, how do we make urban regeneration more palatable to local residents? Here are 6 ideas that collectively, should move things in a more positive direction for residents.
- Embrace More Public-Private Joint Ventures
Public-private ventures between a council and developer are not unusual. They enable councils to use compulsory purchase powers if necessary. They harness the expertise and speed of the private sector. Residents are more likely to trust the venture - councils have a stake in their community and cannot disappear when things get tough.
Joint ventures are the better choice according to Lyn Garner, the Olympic Park development leader:
“We have moved towards joint venture delivery as opposed to development agreement,” Garner told the assembly’s planning and regeneration committee.
“We think it gives us more control and a seat at the table in terms of how schemes are built out.
“We’ve been sometimes frustrated with the speed of delivery of housing on the park,” Garner said.
“Not only because of things that are uncontrollable like Covid and so on, but because of viability concerns from the private sector partner. So if you can be at the table and controlling some of those conversations, we think that’s a good thing.”
Olympic Park development boss points to joint venture future (Construction News)
So for those reasons mentioned, joint ventures should be considered the standard approach, at least for larger schemes.
- Develop for Existing Residents First to Free-Up Land
It’s not a promising proposition from the outset to try to get residents on board with a project that would mean kicking them out of their community. We’ve heard countless stories about residents revolting about plans to demolish their housing. So tackling the issue of displacement of residents overcomes a major hurdle of regeneration projects.
Whether buildings are to be demolished or refurbished, it means residents need to move out. If they can move into new housing very close by, that means the area they move from can be developed. Rather than immediately proposing the old homes to be demolished, it's worth considering scenarios for retrofit or demolition.
- Define an Anchor Public Interest Project to Create Social Impact
When a project is first proposed, it’s helpful if there is a focus other than new housing that will offer new value to existing residents.
If the housing is near a park, can we make major improvements to the park? Residents can decide how best to enhance it.
Currently, we have the Community Infrastructure Levy(CIL), which is a charge levied by local authorities to Developers for new developments. It’s decided as part of the planning application process. These payments by Developers may not be recognized at all by local residents - the council doesn’t even need to state what the money will be spent on at the time planning permission decision is made.
It would be beneficial for the Council/Developer to talk in very early consultations about what that anchor public interest project could be. It would really help define the project so it’s not just about housing for outsiders.
- Make a Competition to Choose the Best Site
If early consultation can be done on a range of sites, it means you can compare and contrast differing views from residents very early before ploughing real money into a project.
The cost of consultation is coming down, with consultation tools such as Give My View making interacting with a large number of residents far easier.
If a good job is done listening to residents and considering benefits for them, some may even feel a real sense of loss about their area not being chosen.
- Local Development Orders to Speed Up Delivery
A Local Development Order (LDO) permits development rights to an area. They accelerate delivery by proactively shaping sustainable development and simplify the planning process. From a residents perspective this is important to reduce construction time - dust and noise are big concerns so more councils should consider this to be mindful of residents.
As part of a LDO, a masterplan and design code can be used to ensure a high quality place is successfully created, even if multiple architects/developers are used across the scheme.
Depending on the site it might be possible to acquire all properties to make sure the overall scheme is delivered on time. If acquiring all properties is not feasible or desirable, then Local Development Order should be considered.
- Renewable ‘Energy Centres’ to Drive Sustainable Urban Regeneration
We have a growing renewable energy sector that is hungry to find the best sites for solar, wind, hydroelectric and biomass.
Combing renewable energy with housing can create opportunities for existing residents as well as future ones. The Octopus Fan Club offers 20-50% off energy bills for local residents living near wind turbines. More schemes like this should be on offer.
The next step on our journey is to work with a council to shortlist a list of areas that could be great candidates for a smaller-scale urban regeneration project.
We’d like to talk to councils with similar aspirations to build quality housing in their area, yet want to put existing residents first when planning the project at the earliest phase. Please get in touch if you can help.
We’re hiring an Urban Designer/Planner to join our team. We’re looking for someone that is willing to challenge the status quo in terms of how Urban Regeneration is done in the UK. See our hiring page.
Do you have ideas that should be on this list too? As a resident, would these ideas make you any less opposed to new housing in your area? Please tell us on X (Twitter).
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