Tinker said the developer would use the principles in some of its largest developments in agreement with the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), which has been lobbying government to build a new generation of garden cities as a means of solving the housing crisis.
“We have just secured several large consents of 1,500 to 2,000 units and we’ve agreed with [TCPA chief executive] Kate Henderson that we’re going to try to integrate some of the principles of Garden Cities – retrofit them – into some of those developments," Tinker told delegates.
“We won’t manage all of the principles on all of them, because they are not at the requisite scale. But we’re going to try to show that development of quality, development with style, can be delivered by a modern housebuilder," he said.
The TCPA has said that garden cities could be the answer to the economic and housing crises faced by the country. At the recent Labour Party conference Henderson told delegates that large developments were necessary to meet need and to create new communities which offer residents a good quality of life. "We can't solve the housing crisis by developing on a plot-by-plot basis," she said.
But Henderson also warned that councils would have to provide bold leadership and show courage to make new development happen.
Prime Minister David Cameron said in his pre-budget speech in March this year that the Government would "apply the principles of garden cities", including more open space and characterful housing, as part of its overhaul of planning in England.
“The population is growing at its fastest rate for fifty years and yet housebuilding is at its lowest level since the 1920s, creating a very real and urgent demand, said Crest Nicholson group land and planning director Robin Hoyles earlier this year. "With such strong references to large scale development and Garden City principles emerging in the coalition Government’s policies, we must seize the opportunity to deliver high quality, well-designed places which will stand the test of time," he said.
"New settlements can – if planned and delivered well – bring huge benefits to the local area, and so it is essential for existing communities to work together with developers, landowners and central and local government not only to share the risk, but ultimately to deliver places which reflect the original Garden City vision, combining the best of town and country living and creating healthy homes for working people in vibrant communities,” he said.
Garden city principles include community ownership; high quality design including homes with gardens; mixed tenure homes which are affordable for ordinary people; generous green space; integrated and accessible transport systems, and local food sourcing.
