07 Dec 2015

Barratt Developments has published a new report entitled 'Places for all ages: delivering the future garden village'. It shows how a national house builder could plan and deliver a garden village.

The report was produced in partnership with a number of leading UK organisations, including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Nathanial Lichfield and Partners and Capita. It was endorsed by Lord Matthew Taylor, previously special advisor to the Prime Minister on sustainable rural communities.

The proposed 5,000 homes garden village is based on a real, but unidentified site in the South East. The report shows how the theoretical development could be planned, delivered and sustained, together with the required infrastructure when needed. It concludes that with the right civic leadership and the support of a willing landowner, garden villages can be successfully delivered and be a useful additional supply of new homes.

Philip Barnes, group land and planning director at Barratt Developments, said: 'We have worked with leading advisors to test whether the garden village is viable and deliverable in relation to a real site and against real world conditions. This feasibility testing process encompassed design, construction and long term management. It revealed the potential for garden villages to act as a realistic extra tool to help fight the housing crisis.'

Lord Matthew Taylor, who authored a report on the potential of garden villages for think tank Policy Exchange earlier in the year, commented: 'The Barratt 'Places for all ages' document is a welcome contribution to the garden villages debate. It shows that private sector appetite and skills are there to deliver, if government puts in place the planning policy support and the right incentives to local authorities to plan for their local, medium term housing needs. Best of all, it makes it clear it is possible to create fantastic attractive village scale communities in which to live and work, significantly contributing to housing needs and economic growth.'
Click here to view the 'Places for all ages: delivering the future garden village report'.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact:
Derek Harris, head of public relations
Tel, 020 7299 4873 / e-mail, derek.harris@barrattplc.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS:
Barratt Developments PLC sold 16,447 homes in the year to June 2015, making it the biggest housebuilder by volume in Britain. Barratt Group was awarded a maximum five star rating for the sixth consecutive year in the 2015 Home Builders Federation Customer Satisfaction Survey. Barratt has won more NHBC Pride in the Job awards than any other housebuilder for the last eleven years.

07 Dec 2015 Growing the future garden village

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