City development

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 22

City development

Sir,—The proposed building design control in the central city (December 2) could be described as a formula for stagnation. Urban containment (i.e., congestion) is to be preserved in the core area by obliging new buildings to be limited in height and toe the existing street line, “to retain light and openness in an area of high pedestrian traffic.” Our narrow streets will remain so in perpetuity, in spite of remedial measures such as tow-away areas and one-way streets. Textured buildings are in, and smooth buildings are out — are we determining how and what our grandchildren, in an entirely different age, may design and build? It seems that nothing new, however effective elsewhere, will be welcome here unless banished from the centre, and innovation and inventiveness, the life-blood of a city, may be legislated out. The committee could be better employed in ensuring that land values and, consequently, land tax do not soar in the central area, so making low-rise building impractical. — Yours, etc., W. A. SUTTON. December 2, 1988.