Estate Matters, Episode 2, Paul Osborne, LHC, with Andrew Howard - Sharing the message about a greener way of living

Creating entire new communities from scratch to meet Britain’s housing needs comes with its own special challenges and requires early engagement with neighbours and other stakeholders.

That is the clear message from landscape architect and urban designer Paul Osborne in KOR Communications’ latest episode of the Estate Matters podcast.

Hosted by KOR’s rural affairs specialist and former BBC broadcaster Anna Byles, the episode also hears from KOR’s senior consultant and public affairs and planning specialist, Andrew Howard.

Both Paul and Andrew agree that announcing plans for a major new development can sometimes come as a shock to existing settlements nearby. But being honest and open with communities affected, through professional communications and engagement, is essential to explain the vision and highlight the benefits, they say. 

Paul, an architect and designer with more than 20 years’ experience in the sector, leads the urban and landscape design team at LHC Design, working on sustainable place-making and master planning on large residential developments.

He and Andrew spoke to Anna in Cranbrook Country Park, the open space at the centre of East Devon’s newest town. The development east of Exeter is already home to around 6,000 people in 2,500 homes and is set to see planned growth over the next decade creating a community of almost 7,500 homes with a population of around 18,000.

Paul said building entire new communities was essential to meet the UK’s housing needs and the benefits of creating a new community from the ground up enabled designers and architects to incorporate all the features that residents needed, from shops and schools to sustainable transport links and outdoor space for recreation and exercise.

He pointed out that in doing so they not only made life better for residents, but also had a beneficial impact on the environment, reducing carbon emission from more energy efficient homes, cutting down on car use through built-in sustainable transport and including open space, to help wildlife and provide space for exercise and good health.

“You have to understand the site that you’re working with,”

Paul said.

“Things like ecology, drainage and flooding, highways and transport and how people move around sustainably and where the energy is coming from. Then working with you guys in communications you have to explain how the new development can enable more sustainable ways of living.” 

But he said plans always had to be developed through a dialogue with the surrounding communities which would be affected.

KOR’s Andrew Howard said answering the questions posed by local people honestly was crucial – something that is best tackled through planning consultation and engagement which should continue right through the life of a project, sometimes over decades.

He said sharing the benefits of living in planned new community was important, including stressing the advantages of having services close by, as at Cranbrook. 

“The key thing to say to people is that you don’t need to get in your car every day for everything…you can walk to the shops, you can walk your kids to school or they can cycle, if you need to go into Exeter, there’s a train station and you can park for free...the vision can be really exciting.”

Increasing interest and concern about the climate emergency has changed the focus of people who engage with the planning process, Andrew said. 

“People are thinking greener.  We can talk about not just healthy homes, but healthy lifestyles.”