Does your authority let developers and government departments build rubbish? The Government's own adviser on architecture and the built environment, CABE, estimates that only one in five new schools built in recent years are well designed, and that half are poor or mediocre. With £47bn committed to new schools, and billions more for new homes and hospitals, we are in the middle of a huge national building spree. And while most of the Government will be long gone in 15 years' time, we will still be living with the results of current infrastructure expenditure. What's this got to do with local government? The bottom line is that some councils are asleep at the wheel. Local planning committees can make or break their communities. There is extensive scientific evidence about the impact good design has on recovery rates and safety in hospitals, and in improving workplace productivity. Ipsos MORI's study on physical capital last year showed we can predict how happy people will be with their area within about 67% accuracy by measuring the quality of their streets and neighbourhoods. But too often, members are taking what they are given, and not thinking about the viability or overall impact of major interventions in their neighbourhood and communities. All around us, public sector infrastructure is being renewed. But are we in local government going to perpetrate the sins of the 1960s all over again? It is clear those authorities which have appointed design champions, and have experienced planners will secure the best improvements for their communities. If we, as a nation, aren't more demanding about what we are building, the signs are we will repeat the mistakes of the recent past - and if that happens, local government will be at least partly to blame. Ben Page is chairman of the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute
