CRTB to facilitate self-build?

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Matt Wood

In an announcement from the CLG last week, Grant Shapps declared his support for the self-build sector, saying he wants to ‘break down the barriers that many aspiring self-builders often come up against’. The Community Right to Build (CRTB), he says, ‘will offer communities the chance to give the green light to new developments without the need for specific planning applications’. I guess we are all guilty of seeing everything through the prism of our current interests (not least me, here at Ruralise!), and while I’m all for self-build, I can’t see the CRTB making a huge difference to the sector. Continue reading →

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Looking forward to 2011

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Matt Wood

After a bit of a break over Christmas, I’m going to carry on with my rambling treatise on rural design, but before I do, it’s worth mentioning a couple of more generally design-related events to look forward to in 2011. Continue reading →

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Happy Christmas!

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Matt Wood

I’ll probably be ‘off-line’ for a couple of weeks now, but if you’re a regular visitor to Ruralise I hope you’ll come back in the New Year. To whet your appetite, I just made the following notes on what’s next: Continue reading →

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Contemporary ‘Farmsteads’?

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Matt Wood

If Crown Paddock serves as a rather literal exemplar of the ‘farmstead’ (one of my four rural archetypes), how about this from Dutch architects Atelier Pro, in a proposal for new development around Norwich Research Park led by Norwich-based development consultants Lanpro? Continue reading →

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What does the Localism Bill Mean for Architects?

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Matt Wood

…asked Building Design’s online magazine this week. I was asked for a few well-chosen words for a ‘Vox Pop’ piece, specifically in connection with the Community Right to Build. Their edited version fo my contribution is here (behind BD pay-wall, I’m afraid). My full reponse is a bit more nuanced than the edited version used: Continue reading →

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75% Support? Not any more…

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Matt Wood

After several delays, the long-awaited Decentalisation and Localism Bill was published yesterday. I can’t yet find the references to it, in the rather opaque formatting of the on-line documents, but it is widely reported (and now confirmed by the CLG) that the threshold for support for a Community Right to Build (CRTB) proposal is now reduced from 75% to a mere 50% of those voting in an official referendum. In the early optimism of the Coalition this target was originally set at 90%, which attracted much derision from battle-hardened community activists. However, the new air of realism is good news for those contemplating a CRTB project.

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Roofs Across Fields #4 – A Modern ‘Take’

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Matt Wood

As I said before (here), my opinion that the roof is more important than the wall in the rural landscape of Norfolk was based in no small part on hours spent gazing out of train windows on the Norwich to London main-line. Just south of Stowmarket, off to the east, is a prominent group of large pan-tiled roofs dotted with roof-lights, unmistakeably modern but nonetheless nestling happily into a cloak of semi-mature trees. Earlier this summer I finally got round to investigating, on my way down to see Clay Fields in Elmswell (which I will talk about later). It was well worth a detour… Continue reading →

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A Rural Hero Remembered

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Matt Wood

Yesterday a group of school children from Robert Kett Middle School laid a small posy of flowers underneath a plaque in Wymondham commemorating the 461st anniversary of the execution of local hero Robert Kett, in a ceremony dating as far back as… Continue reading →

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75% Support? Impossible, surely…

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Matt Wood

I was at the official opening of The Pennoyer Centre in Pulham St Mary last week. Quite apart from the fact that it was designed by our studio, Lucas Hickman Smith, and has just received design-awards from South Norfolk District Council and the CPRE, it is a really interesting project – especially in the context of the Community Right to Build (CRTB). Continue reading →

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Two Tribes?

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Matt Wood

Like the first snows of a chilly winter, Google and Twitter have brought me a flurry of rather gloomy reports on the problems of rural life in the last couple of weeks. Continue reading →

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