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TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE GIVEN ‘GREEN LIGHT’ BY LABOUR’S “GUMMER CLAUSE”. The Traditional Architecture Group has obtained an assurance from Prescott’s department that the special clause in Labour’s new Countryside policy PPS7 does not exclude traditional architecture. This is completely contrary to the interpretation put onto this clause by the ODPM’s own press release (3 Aug 04) and, thereby, almost all the popular and professional press. The Traditional Architecture Group wrote to the ODPM and asked to be told “unambiguously” whether the words in Clause 11 of PPS7 “are intended to exclude traditional architecture”. The ODPM replied on September 24th to say “that it is not the Government’s intention to impose or dictate a particular style preference through the policy set out in PPS7”. The ODPM also made it clear that “decision makers will need to be guided by the policy as set out in paragraph 11” regardless of style. The Traditional Architecture Group is quite certain that, within its own discipline, contemporary traditional architecture can easily be as “innovative” and “ground-breaking” as any other kind of architecture. Based on this clarification, local authorities and planning inspectors will no longer be able to exclude a proposal for an isolated new house in the country simply because it is traditional. Traditional designs will be judged only on whether they are “truly outstanding and ground-breaking” examples of their own genre, their setting and “sensitivity to the defining characteristics of the local area”. The same evaluation, in fact, as will apply to modernist and other styles. Jan Maciag, Chairman of the Traditional Architecture Group said, “This is welcome news because it shifts the criteria onto matters of quality. It would be complete folly for any democratic government to try and stand in the way of progress by imposing an official style of architecture in a “4 legs good…2 legs bad” manner”.