Our views

The benefits of living closer together

• Community building: living closer together encourages more community interaction, and reduces isolation for vulnerable social groups, such as young families.
• Good for the environment: compact settlements require less transport, and reduce car use, with health and environmental benefits; higher density development is environmentally beneficial, resulting in lower carbon emissions.
• Support local services: in rural areas, more compact villages could help to stem the decline in rural services such as shops, post offices and bus services.

• Tax incentives for refurbishment and reuse of land and buildings within existing settlements.
• Ambitious design standards for new homes: internal space standards should specify generous living space within homes, while minimum density levels should ensure compact, walkable settlements.
• Focus on existing settlements: new settlements such as eco-towns should only be considered when there is clear demand for additional housing that cannot be provided within existing settlements.