There is an optimism at Newhall that attempts to create communities that look beyond the ubiquitous executive homes surrounded by suburban gardens and a car to mark your front door.

The Roger Evans masterplan places housing generally at right angles to the roads, creating walled lanes. Richard Murphy builds on this idea using largely single-aspect houses where the blind back wall of each house helps to create the enclosure for a private walled garden for its neighbour. This allows the garden to have a direct relationship to the living space without being overlooked, yet still retains a feeling of space. This is precisely the sort of thinking that should be encouraged from other housing developers.