Poundbury stands tall

11.09.38: KING WILLIAM yesterday announced plans to make Poundbury, the model village his father founded in the 1990s, a site of special architectural and historical interest.

'We perhaps should have listed it sooner,' said Sir Jack Groom of English Heritage. 'But Poundbury has always been a sensitive issue and we wanted to be sure it would stand the test of time. This it has triumphantly done.'

Uniquely for 21st-century buildings, the settlement - completed in 2016 and now home to more than 20,000 people - has been listed Grade I.

Poundbury, in Dorset, was at the forefront of the turn-of-the-century 'mixed development' craze that preceded the nationwide re-urbanisation programme. The assumption - then revolutionary but now commonplace - was that people should have everything they needed, including schools, workplaces and entertainment venues, close to home. Critics derided it for the 'traditional' house designs, redolent of the 18th century. In the end, Poundbury won the argument by default. RG