Once we were all live/workers

• we lived in the countryside• the farm was the 'hub'• it was an owner managed business• the owner/manager lived on site• employees were local• vicars/doctors/teachers were live/workers too• live/work determined the character of rural life

Then we moved to towns...

• to be near power sources• to be near markets• to be near resources• to be near information sources• to be near entertainment• but these things are on desks today

We love country living

• we preserve agriculture at huge cost• we prevent urbanisation at huge cost• we sacrifice a day a week to commuting• we show off our 4x4s and green wellies• we live there only if we can afford it• a subsidised, ossified, unsociable, richman's dormitory

But along came ICT...

• ICT really does change everything• 'town life' is on our desks• if no staff, we can work from home anywhere

In my village in the Ribble Valley...• 17% of economically active work 100% from home• another 24% work partly from home• but only two of the 300 homes were designed for it

Working from home isn’t easy

• we feel lonely• kids/partners don't know when we're 'at work'• neither do we• are kitchen tables for meeting or eating?• when is family noise OK?• business visitors = invaders of domestic space• employing staff = out of the question

Family live/work can work

• first, I solved these problem for me...• built an office for 5 in my garden • 4 live in the village, one commutes• our personal boundaries now re-established

• 8% of village wanted similar arrangement• we started buying rural sites for live/work

The ideal model...

• about 50 homes in attractive residential streets• market: owner/managers of successful businesses• detached office/studio building for 4-6 people• offices at bottom of gardens accessed by

a separate commercial street• 10-20 conventional affordable live/work flats for

start ups• these let by housing associations• a business-friendly shared meeting place

Its positive impacts

• creating rural employment, without subsidy• reducing commuting by car, without regulation• increasing the daytime population of the village• improving family life• improving village life

The bureaucratic response

• EDOs see the point immediately and love it• planners see the point immediately and are terrified• housing and employment are separated in the plan • they therefore belong on separate sites• or at opposite ends of ’mixed use’ sites• since Kyoto, rural housing = a sin

The obvious solution

• rural live/work can produce 50 jobs per hectare• creating a daytime economy in inactive villages• B1, B2, B8 land in high housing cost areas = no jobs• PPG should encourage live/work on disused rural

employment sites • require developers to fund monitoring• review the PPG in five years' time

Why am I here?

• to tell you: we buy lousy employment sites in desirablerural areas

• to promote PPG to encourage live/work use of such sites• to find a housing association partner for my affordable

units

Find out more: www.brockhallvillage.co.uk