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A number of local authorities have managed to secure much better developments, and some community benefits too, by issuing development briefs for key sites, rather than just reacting to planning applications.
A new village in the grounds of Shenley Hospital in Hertfordshire was made acceptable, in part through the handing over of some 45 of the 155 acres of land as a park to a development trust, with an endowment to maintain it. Another condition was that 20% of the housing to be built was affordable. The District Council prepared a development brief with help from consultants. This was agreed with the County and Parish Councils before the Health Authority put the site up for development in a series of phases.
The development brief specified the density of development (12 dwellings per acre, or 30 per hectare) and the mix, including for example the amount of shopping, but left it up to the developers how the housing was to look. By involving a number of house builders the completed village looks distinctive and varied.
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