Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Dissolution) Order 2012

Lord Storey Excerpts

Monday 16th January 2012 Grand Committee

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, for her contribution and for her questions. I quite understand that she regretted the demise of CABE, whose contribution she respected, as we all did.

On where CABE’s responsibilities lie, some of them now lie with the Design Council and some lie with DCMS. They have been distributed, as I think it says in the order.

On the merger with the Design Council, it is very important that the two elements of the leading bodies come together so that local communities are given greater opportunities to have their say on these areas and on the look and feel for the future. The Design Council has been strengthened by bringing in the valuable skills, knowledge and expertise from CABE to create a one-stop shop that will provide a service to industry, councils and local communities. Without the prospect of further funding for CABE from other sources, the remainder of CABE had to be wound up and the organisation dissolved and any remaining property, rights, including those relating to employees, and functions are to be transferred to the Secretary of State. The general proposal was agreed in principle by Ministers in all three departments affected, and the legal status for the dissolution of CABE was agreed in Cabinet in February 2011.

On the transfer of CABE’s statutory functions, while the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act allows for the transfer of CABE’s statutory functions to another organisation, we decided that this was not necessary or appropriate. However the royal charter of the Design Council has been amended to incorporate functions similar to CABE’s. This allows the Government to provide funding under the authority of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act to the Design Council for carrying out similar activities to those carried out by CABE.

The noble Baroness asked about CABE’s legal status. That has already been taken care of by amending the Design Council's royal charter and the transfer of undertakings and agreements between CABE and the Design Council. The assets and liabilities will remain with the DCMS and the rest have already been transferred to the Design Council.

Despite DCMS's difficulty with the spending review decision, architectural design remains an important priority for the Government, as the noble Baroness said. Part of CABE lives on in the Design Council and Spaceshaper and Engaging Places were found new homes. Above all, the draft planning policy framework demonstrates that the Government attach great importance to the design of the built environment. Our objective for the planning system is to promote good design that makes attractive any usable and durable places, which is a key element in achieving sustainable development. In addition, both the construction strategy and the housing strategy reflect the importance that the Government place on the role of good design. If I have missed any points, I will of course be in touch with the noble Baroness.

[Lord Storey]

I want to put on record my particular regard for CABE. I saw at first hand how it made a tremendous impact on the quality of architecture, design and open space in Liverpool. The sense of realism and dedication ended in developments that were at the cutting edge.

Although I am delighted that to some extent the work will continue in the Design Council, my great concern, which the Minister has allayed to some extent, is that we do not want to live in a society where our surroundings and architecture are of poor quality. We do not want the bog standard. We want our design and architecture to be cutting-edge. I am sure that that will continue.

I do not know the details, but one of the other areas of CABE’s work with which I was terribly impressed was how it was able to work with English Heritage. That partnership of heritage and architectural environment was hugely important. It was good to see those two bodies coming closer together. I hope that that is also something that we are aware of.

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend Lord Storey for speaking on this order. I could not agree with him more that we do not want to see poor quality architecture. I know that developments that have happened in Liverpool such as Tate Modern and others have been of a really high standard and very exciting.

The noble Lord raised another point regarding CABE and English Heritage. It was decided that merging CABE with a heritage body was not appropriate because CABE’s impact rested on its wide freedom to offer independent advice and support directly to third parties. Merging it with a body that has statutory responsibility for protecting the historic environment would have compromised that. I hope that the noble Lord understands that. He was right to mention the importance of CABE in the quality of the work done.