South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

Creating Quality Places, a joint initiative between SEEDA and the Prince's Foundation, used pilot projects to develop best practice and provide a practical demonstration to the rest of the region. Two Creating Quality Places projects in Aylesham, Kent and Leigh Park, Havant used a new community enabling process in local masterplan development based on the Enquiry by Design (EbD) model. The collaborative process allows all stakeholders, including the community, to play a direct part in the production of development frameworks, delivery strategies and design codes for development.

Aylesham

The Dover District Council Local Plan identified Aylesham village as a strategic location suitable for expansion and allocated Greenfield sites totalling 38 hectares for between 850 - 1000 new homes (representing a 50% to 60% increase in the size of the existing community).

SEEDA and the Prince's Foundation worked with partners on a masterplan for the expansion of the village to ensure that the new development would be built as a seamless extension to the existing community, based around a strong boulevard concept and walkable, interconnected and sustainable neighbourhoods. The Aylesham masterplan was adopted by the council as supplementary planning guidance. This provides the policy context, planning and design guidance for future developers.

Dover District Council, Kent County Council, SEEDA and English Partnerships are now undertaking a competitive procurement process to select a master development partner.

To find out more, visit www.dover.gov.uk/aylesham

Leigh Park

Leigh Park was built in the early 1950s and was Europe's largest social housing estate at the time. It is now home to 27,000 people within 541 hectares of land. SEEDA's work in Leigh Park through the Creating Quality Places initiative, aims to demonstrate how suburbs can be adapted through infilling or limited development, to meet the needs of today's residents.

SEEDA is working in partnership with Havant Borough Council, Portsmouth City Council and Hampshire County Council.

The Warren was identified as one of the first neighbourhoods for improvement. The Warren describes a readily identifiable community that suffers from a high level of deprivation. The Warren Park area was therefore identified as a pilot for exploring what could be achieved on the rest of Leigh Park. Again stakeholder meetings and further EbD events took place in February and June 2004.

Residents identified Strouden Court as a priority area in Warren Park and saw an opportunity for creating a revitalised Strouden Court with a community venue at its heart. The ideas and suggestions were drawn up and presented at an exhibition in the summer and early autumn of 2004. The three local authorities and SEEDA are now working on the practical next steps to take the Strouden Court proposal forward.

In October 2002, neighbourhood events were hosted over three weeks in schools across Leigh Park and in the shopping centre. These encouraged residents to voice their ideas for, and concerns about Leigh Park. In July 2003, a four-day Enquiry by Design (EbD) event took place. By the end of this process, outline frameworks had been produced indicating how Leigh Park might develop in the future.