Although good intentions go some way to making great places happen, they can’t be responsible for ensuring good places are built and maintained. Quite often, good governance is actually what makes all the difference to our communities. 

This was the central thread running through one of UKREiiF 2026's first panel discussions, Stewardship and Design Considerations: Creating Places That Work for People and Nature, hosted at the Landscape Institute Pavilion.

Across development, design, legal and public sectors, panellists argued that high-quality place design must be integrated with long-term stewardship, affordability and governance in mind from the outset. Favouring a holistic, community-informed and site-specific models over rigid standards or mandatory adoptions, the panel called for early planning when it came to the stewardship of place. 

Flexible, multi-stakeholder governance and evolving value frameworks are essential to deliver resilient, sustainable places ‘in perpetuity’, or in other words, forever or for all time. 

Guest speakers

The panel brought together some of the sharpest minds working across design, delivery and long-term place stewardship. Mark Topping, Director of Design at Lanpro; James Crow, National Director of Place at Harworth Group; Andrew Duthie, CEO of Greenbelt Group; and Sarah Greenwood, Assistant Director of Sustainability and Design at Homes England.

Anthony Collins' own David Alcock joined the panel, bringing his expertise in community-led governance, stewardship considerations and the legal frameworks that make or break long-term place outcomes. His work consistently challenges the sector to treat governance not as an afterthought, but as a cornerstone of sustainable placemaking.

Key takeaways from the discussion

Early discussions: Stewardship and design must be integrated from feasibility through delivery to ensure environmental, social, and financial resilience. It should be considered community-building, and not just maintenance-focused, to enable community ownership that is both intentional and meaningful. Having early conversations to define governance, funding, beneficiaries, and how ‘value’ is going to be measured will help avoid the ‘retrofit trap’, where stewardship is an afterthought, fraught with more risk and less impact. 

Choosing the right model: One size does not fit all. There was much debate about the type and style of stewardship model that brings the greatest impact. What may work for smaller sites won’t always be as effective on the larger end of the spectrum. Establishing a Resident Management Company (RMC) can be a good option for the smaller schemes, where admin burdens and requirements are much reduced, compared to the large settlements. For many big developments, alternative structures are needed, and charitable organisations or not-for-profit vehicles can often make the most sense. They can afford flexibility and allow you to choose a structure that reflects your aims. Establishing Boards that mix both residents and third-party representatives is the best way to form a governance structure that is outward-looking in focus, as well as representative of the communities it is serving - balancing voice, capacity and experience carefully. 

Community support and training: Quite often, communities want to get involved, but don’t know how. Prioritising community training and support can help equip communities with better understanding, clearer roles, and appropriate governance models that enable genuine participation without overburdening residents. Knowing how to support community stewardship can pave the way for much improved involvement and successful long-term ownership. 

Joining and influencing the conversation: policy cascades from national to local plans and establishing the role and importance of stewardship at every level is crucial to help secure environmental and community ambitions and impact. Helping influence evolving value frameworks that help to monetise the environmental and social benefits can support business cases and long-term outcomes of schemes. Ensuring planning authorities have a clear focus and understanding of stewardship outcomes, what they want it to achieve, including ensuring they are formally secured from developers as part of the planning agreements, will help reduce the risk of them becoming an unfulfilled wish list.

What this means in practice

The panel discussion reinforced that stewardship often remains the missing puzzle piece in too many master plans. Although the needs are evolving, the legal frameworks exist, but early conversations, a holistic approach and commercial foresight must come early on in the development process, or risk good governance and ongoing stewardship being a real afterthought.

Sustainable places aren't an accident of good design; they're the product of intentional, well-resourced and legally sound stewardship structures built in from day one. The public sector and contributing organisations have both the opportunity and the responsibility to lead on this and change the future of our communities for the better. 

More insights from UKREiiF 2026 to follow.