Friday, 21 August 2009

Downsizing

I have been moaning for sometime about the "rabbit hutch" mentality in British housebuilding. But now it's official. A report from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment [http://www.cabe.org.uk/publications/space-in-new-homes] says that new British homes often have barely enough room for proper furniture or even a microwave. Things have become so silly that many people are now renting out units in self-storage warehouses to keep all their possessions in and, in some cases, to live in part of the time. A room that would have been a walk-in cupboard in my youth is now designated as a single bedroom. A single bed is all that you can get into it. No room for a wardrobe, drawers or even a chair. British house sizes are now the smallest in Europe with an average floorspace of 818 sq.ft. compared to 1200 sq.ft. in France.

When I started in Local Government we had the "Parker Morris" standards which were designed to ensure that houses were fit to live in and provided a decent standard of accommodation. Somewhere along the line these standards went to the wall. Now anything goes. The more units you can cram onto a piece of land the more profit you make. Never mind whether anyone wants to live in them or not. Never mind whether people will go mad, get stressed, and probably come to an early demise if they do.

Despite all the government's rhetoric on "Decent Homes" they are doing absolutely nothing to ensure we get them. It would be quite a simple matter to deal with - classify housing accommodation as "1 person", "2 person", "3 person" accommodation etc, with or without a garden. Then get Local Authorities to refuse planning consent for any units which do not meet an appropriate space standard for their grade. Separate space standards should be set for both living accommodation and garden space. Then people would know exactly what they were getting when buying a house or flat and local Housing Authorities would be easily able to deal with overcrowding issues without people being able to claim that the cupboard under the stairs is really a bedroom. Bring back Parker Morris.

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