A Forest Adventure – PostGrad trip to the Forest of Dean
30th October 2014
On a very wet Wednesday 8th October, with dramatic weather to match the drama of the scenery, the Postgraduate Landscape Planning students visited the Forest of Dean for a briefing from the Client (Nigel Gibbons and Alastair Chapman of the FoD Council) and a coach tour of the main towns and key areas of the Forest, including Coleford, Cinderford, Lydney and Lydney Harbour.
The brief is challenging but real in the sense that the Council has to identify and provide sites for 6200 houses by 2026, but rather than follow the traditional developer led and piecemeal allocation of small sites, the students are going to using precedents from Eco-Towns, New Towns and Garden Cities to suggest a single large settlement. Quite a challenge, as some of the photographs reveal, but with the benefit of a real client, a real brief and a substantial data base of information, it should prove to be interesting and enlightening to work on. Students will make their final presentation to Council members, planners and other professional in the Council Chambers in May.
