Could Prince Charles’ model village solve the housing crisis? Business

Claire Bennie, director of Municipal and architectural adviser to the Mayor of London, agrees that Poundbury’s exterior styling is something of a ‘red herring’.

“I think quality is the word to look for,” she adds. “Design matters. But people also want a sort of close-knit village in the houses to make it feel like a community. They like open spaces so they can relax and be in nature. And they want local amenities that are easy to walk or bike to.

“It looks basic but quite often it doesn’t deliver and the build isn’t fantastic either.”

She points to Abode, in Great Knighton, Cambridgeshire, as a good example of a development with a more modern style that is “extremely stylish”, uses local materials and also hits those notes.

Bennie argues that what the Poundbury project and others like it have in common, however, is “enlightened ownership” – meaning it may be difficult to replicate elsewhere.

“When you have a big landowner who is going to stay, he has all this power and all this new agency and ability to influence what happens,” she adds.

“But most lands don’t have that. There is no such vision.

While such influence and power is unlikely to be the case everywhere, Boys Smith points to government plans for local design codes, arguing that this should improve developments. He adds that recent changes to the national planning framework, which councils must adhere to, have placed more emphasis on place design and creation.

Poundbury’s model also has other flaws. Some residents have complained about the strict design rules, which prevent them from repainting their homes or changing their wooden window frames to plastic ones.

Most homes in the development also lack front driveways – despite most homeowners’ preference to park their cars in front of their properties – resulting in many parking them close to the sidewalk anyway.

Plans for 2,500 eco-homes in Faversham have also met with local opposition, stressing that even the Prince’s philosophy is no panacea for opposition to housing schemes.

Back in Poundbury, the sun is shining and the Great Field, where a brand new playing field has just been built, is packed with families, many of whom have traveled from other parts of Dorchester.

Opinions on the development architecture are mixed. “It’s a bit like ‘toy town’,” says one mother.

But apart from Waitrose, the people of Poundbury themselves are full of praise.

“I think it’s beautiful,” beams Emma Kirk, 33, who lives in one of the apartments in the development.

Carina Loder, 37, accompanied by her three-year-old baby Ellie, adds: “It’s beautiful, I love it. It added a completely different and exciting dimension to Dorchester.

It may be the flight of a prince, but if ministers can find a way to replicate Poundbury’s unlikely success, they could still be winners.