Ministers in the British department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, are pushing for a plan, drawn up by Essex county council, to be adopted by other local authorities as they try to accommodate the 1.2m new homes the government has said must be built in southeast England by 2021.
This blueprint for a “sustainable suburbia” maps out a future in which cars glide along at 10mph, children play in the streets and back gardens are reduced to tiny yards.
Developers must meet an elaborate system of “green points”, in which they must install features to encourage biodiversity, from ponds and climbing creepers to nectar-laden flowers and bat boxes.
Electricity will have to come from street-corner stations powered by wind, ground heat or other renewable sources.
Cars will be allowed into play streets, but obstacles such as trees, cycle racks and sand pits will be placed so that drivers have to slow down to 10mph to weave through them.The idea is that parents will feel confident enough to let their children play in the street without worrying about the traffic.
To achieve the required density of housing and minimise the amount of countryside destroyed, the government wants householders in the new developments to settle for spaces such as roof gardens, play streets and balconies rather than private gardens. Because of the need to pack many more homes into each acre, few will be allowed private gardens or yards of more than 15ft by 15ft.
Kitchens in the new homes will have to have six fitted recycling bins, each for a different material. The bins must be of 10-litre capacity for one-bed properties and 20 litres for larger homes.
As America moves more and more toward McMansions with more and more space, much of which a single family will never use, Europeans are beginning to seriously face up to a future where energy and resources are limited and precious and fhe ecological damage of human society must be limited.
Ministers in the British department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, are pushing for a plan, drawn up by Essex county council, to be adopted by other local authorities as they try to accommodate the 1.2m new homes the government has said must be built in southeast England by 2021.
This blueprint for a “sustainable suburbia” maps out a future in which cars glide along at 10mph, children play in the streets and back gardens are reduced to tiny yards.
Developers must meet an elaborate system of “green points”, in which they must install features to encourage biodiversity, from ponds and climbing creepers to nectar-laden flowers and bat boxes.
Electricity will have to come from street-corner stations powered by wind, ground heat or other renewable sources.
Cars will be allowed into play streets, but obstacles such as trees, cycle racks and sand pits will be placed so that drivers have to slow down to 10mph to weave through them.The idea is that parents will feel confident enough to let their children play in the street without worrying about the traffic.
To achieve the required density of housing and minimise the amount of countryside destroyed, the government wants householders in the new developments to settle for spaces such as roof gardens, play streets and balconies rather than private gardens. Because of the need to pack many more homes into each acre, few will be allowed private gardens or yards of more than 15ft by 15ft.
Kitchens in the new homes will have to have six fitted recycling bins, each for a different material. The bins must be of 10-litre capacity for one-bed properties and 20 litres for larger homes.
As America moves more and more toward McMansions with more and more space, much of which a single family will never use, Europeans are beginning to seriously face up to a future where energy and resources are limited and precious and fhe ecological damage of human society must be limited.