Build Out Crime
Conservative plans to "build out" crime
A planning shake-up which discourages the development of crime-friendly housing estates will be on the cards when the Conservatives are elected to power, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has declared.
Pushing the law and order theme to the centre of the general election campaign, he promised an action plan to "build out" crime in the design and construction of new housing areas across the country.Addressing a party press conference in London, Mr Davis accused the Blair government of failing to address the causes of crime or even recognise the link between crime and the provision of housing."Under Mr Blair, planning guidance is increasingly driven by the discredited philosophy which advocates rabbit hutch developments with a large percentage of social housing. Little provision is made for car ownership and private space is discouraged in favour of communal areas.
But these are precisely the kind of ideas that led to the social disasters of the 1950s, 60s and 70s when council estates were designed as modernist utopias without regard to the consequences for the real people who had to live in them," he said.Mr Davis warned: "Such places became breeding grounds for crime and we're still living with the effects today. This is classic New Labour - taking the failed ideas of the past and re-branding them as exciting and innovative policies for the future."However, he promised than an incoming Conservative government "will put this muddled and misconceived thinking back where it belongs - in the dustbin of history - and concentrate on implementing proven techniques of 'building out' crime.
That means developing a build environment on a human scale with plenty of private space, road access and easily observed communal areas.Promising to introduce new planning guidelines, he stated: "We'll actively discourage the kinds of concealed walkways, dank underground parking, burglar-friendly alleyways, pedestrianised gathering points and brutalised high rise towers that create danger and alienation."Mr Davis condemned Tony Blair's empty rhetoric and "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" sloganising, and said: "
A Conservative Government will drive crime out with tougher policing; we'll legislate crime out with more sensible drink and drugs laws; and we'll design crime out with better planning guidelines."People will face a clear choice at this election: voters can support the Conservatives, who have a plan to crack down on the yob culture; or they can vote for five more years of talk under Mr Blair."
A planning shake-up which discourages the development of crime-friendly housing estates will be on the cards when the Conservatives are elected to power, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has declared.
Pushing the law and order theme to the centre of the general election campaign, he promised an action plan to "build out" crime in the design and construction of new housing areas across the country.Addressing a party press conference in London, Mr Davis accused the Blair government of failing to address the causes of crime or even recognise the link between crime and the provision of housing."Under Mr Blair, planning guidance is increasingly driven by the discredited philosophy which advocates rabbit hutch developments with a large percentage of social housing. Little provision is made for car ownership and private space is discouraged in favour of communal areas.
But these are precisely the kind of ideas that led to the social disasters of the 1950s, 60s and 70s when council estates were designed as modernist utopias without regard to the consequences for the real people who had to live in them," he said.Mr Davis warned: "Such places became breeding grounds for crime and we're still living with the effects today. This is classic New Labour - taking the failed ideas of the past and re-branding them as exciting and innovative policies for the future."However, he promised than an incoming Conservative government "will put this muddled and misconceived thinking back where it belongs - in the dustbin of history - and concentrate on implementing proven techniques of 'building out' crime.
That means developing a build environment on a human scale with plenty of private space, road access and easily observed communal areas.Promising to introduce new planning guidelines, he stated: "We'll actively discourage the kinds of concealed walkways, dank underground parking, burglar-friendly alleyways, pedestrianised gathering points and brutalised high rise towers that create danger and alienation."Mr Davis condemned Tony Blair's empty rhetoric and "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" sloganising, and said: "
A Conservative Government will drive crime out with tougher policing; we'll legislate crime out with more sensible drink and drugs laws; and we'll design crime out with better planning guidelines."People will face a clear choice at this election: voters can support the Conservatives, who have a plan to crack down on the yob culture; or they can vote for five more years of talk under Mr Blair."
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