Why did you choose to live where you do? No doubt there are many answers that you could give to that question. You might talk about being near to family and friends. Perhaps you think the location is convenient for travelling to work. Or maybe you have always lived nearby and don't want to move too far away. However, there could be several areas that meet those general criteria. When deciding where you want to call home, most people look at how liveable an area may be. They will consider not just whether there are homes of a suitable size but whether the area is somewhere that they want to live.

What makes a liveable area?

Houses may be the most obvious feature of a town, but they are only one component in a town planning strategy. People do need homes, but they also need shops, parks, town squares, cafes, and local amenities, such as schools and hospitals. Without the ability for residents to meet and for people to shop and relax within a local area, no community will exist. If you forget everything except houses, the result will be somewhere that no one wants to live or raise a family. It will be impossible to raise a family there or to do anything except go to work and come back and watch television in the evening.

Creating a real community

When you want to create a vibrant community, one of the best solutions is to bring an experienced town planning consultant onto your team. A town planning consultant will examine your proposals and make suggestions where needed. They will also be able to pilot your proposals through the different planning stages and address any concerns of the existing local community, or the authorities. However, before the plans can reach the submission stage, they must be checked and rechecked by the own planning consultant. They will be examining the construction work you are proposing and seeing not just how it stands on its own merits but how it fits within the existing area. They will examine whether the housing you are proposing will place a strain on any local amenities, or whether you are adding sufficient capacity within your plans.

For any planned retail outlets, a town planning consultant will think about the size and intended purpose of each unit. Will the shop receive enough trade to make it viable? Will the location of the retail unit within the development help or hinder its profitability? It is always best to ensure that retail units will be easy to rent. Nothing kills a community faster than rows of empty shops that can't be filled.

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