Characterisation and Sustainable Communities

The Government's Sustainable Communities strategy (www.odpm.gov.uk) proposes ambitious changes across SE England through the introduction of Housing Growth Areas, and in our northern cities through Housing Market Renewal schemes (the 'Pathfinders').

In the Growth Areas, planners require a clear-sighted general understanding of the historic environment before making development and design decisions. Characterisation is ideally suited to this and the Growth Areas are proving useful test1 beds for using HLC-type information to help difficult planning decisions. The results will explain the importance and sensitivity of the landscape and its 'time-depth', show how the historic environment contributes to local distinctiveness, guide the location and design of new housing so it enhances historic character and allow communities to draw maximum benefit from their history.

We have three characterisation projects in Growth Areas:

• London-Stansted-Cambridge: (please click here for pdf: 1.4mb)
• Milton Keynes & South Midlands Growth Area: working with the county councils of Bucks, Herts, Beds and Northants to produce characterisations of the landscape around Milton Keynes. Please click here to access the Milton Keynes Historic Environment report from Bucks County Council.
• Thames Gateway: a rapid, first stage characterisation covering the whole of the Gateway region, commissioned by EH from Chris Blandfords Associates in collaboration with Kent and Essex CCs. A text version is available [1mb pdf].

In the Pathfinder areas the emphasis is on urban regeneration: raising the quality of the urban environment to provide clean, safe and attractive places in which to live and work. EH's primary Housing Renewal work is in Liverpool, including an innovative characterisation project covering the whole of Merseyside. (No links yet).

Growing Places: Heritage and a Sustainable Future for the Thames Gateway

Growing Places shows how English Heritage, as lead strategic body for the historic environment, can help partners working at national, regional and local levels of engagement to use the historic environment as a powerful force for making settlements popular, attractive, economically successful, environmentally friendly and sustainable. English Heritage is one of the few strategic bodies to provide, through its historic environment characterisation programme, a comprehensive macro-level analysis of the entire Thames Gateway area.

Growing Places: Heritage and a Sustainable Future for the Thames Gateway pages 1 - 10
Growing Places: Heritage and a Sustainable Future for the Thames Gateway pages 11 - 20
Growing Places: Heritage and a Sustainable Future for the Thames Gateway pages 21 - 30