Design

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Design Access Statements
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Welcome

• Design and Planning
• What are statements
• Reading tips
• Writing tips
• A made up statement

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Design and planning
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If we deliver poor design, we know that we will
not deliver sustainable development Lord
Rooker, Planning Minister, House of Lords, Jan 04
All involved in planning must work to achieve
sustainable development Planning and Compulsory
Purchase Act 2004
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What the PPSs and PPGs say

• Design Matters
• Design cuts across planning policy areas
• Design is about how places work
• Impossible to separate planning and design

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Key policy tests PPS1

• Refuse designs that dont take advantage of
  opportunities for improvement - positively make
  places better for people.
• This should be the aim of all involved.
• LPAs should have robust, positive design policies
  based on local character and objectives.
• Have regard to By Design

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Key policy tests PPS1

• Good Design should
• Address the connections between people, places
  and access to jobs and services
• Integrate development into the existing natural
  and built environment and reinforce local
  distinctiveness
• Be an important part of providing successful,
  safe and inclusive places
• Create places everyone can use and enjoy
• Consider impacts on the natural environment

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Ask is the design good enough to approve?
rather than is it bad enough to refuse?
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The Good, the Bad, the OK?

• PPG1 said refuse bad design
• Our 2004 Housing Audits found 61 of new homes in
  the South East were mediocre and 17 were good
• The 2005 Audit showed that 70 of homes in the
  North were mediocre and only 6 were good
• Now PPS1 is saying only approve good design
• What will the audit in 5 years find?

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Design at a Glance

• Gives up to date information on national design
  policy

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Principles of Good Design

• Character should have its own identity
• Continuity and enclosure public and private
  should be clearly distinguished
• Quality of public spaces should have attractive
  and successful outdoor areas

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Principles of Good Design

• Ease of movement easy for everyone to get to and
  move through
• Legibility has a clear image and be easy to
  understand
• Adaptability able to change easily
• Diversity values difference
• Inclusivity for everyone, without special
  treatment

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Wrapping the box, creating active frontages What
would you see as you shopped?
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Carlisle
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Style does not equal quality
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Quality transcends style
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The design process

• Negative associations with density Physical
  elements such as parking stress, overrun of
  facilities and lack of green space.

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Planning design tools
Design AccessStatement
Regional Spatial Strategy
Sub-regional Framework
Local Development Framework
Masterplan
Regional
City/Town
Neighbourhood
Scale
Site
Building
Component
Design Code
Building Regs.
Sustainability appraisals
Design Guide
Area Action Plan
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What are statements?
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Statements are tools to help prevent poorly
designed places
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What are statements?

• They are required by the Planning Act
• They are needed with most application types
• They can be used to fix details as proposals
  develop
• They should be proportionate to the complexity of
  the development
• They should be used to explain and justify the
  proposal

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What should they contain?

1. The design process How the designer has thought
   about the area and how new buildings and spaces
   have been informed by what already exists.
2. Use What buildings and spaces will be used for
3. Amount How much would be built on the site

These should deal with the main inputs to the
design process.
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What should they contain?

1. Layout How the buildings and public and private
   spaces will be arranged on the site and the
   relationship between them and the buildings and
   spaces around the site.
2. Scale How big the buildings and spaces would be
   (their height, width and length)

To establish the 3D form of the development
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What should they contain?

1. Landscape design How open spaces will be treated
   to enhance or protect the place, for example what
   trees, paths, lighting or seating will be
   provided or retained
2. Appearance What the building and spaces will
   look like, for example building materials and
   architectural details
3. Access and inclusivity How everyone could get to
   and move through the place and why the points of
   access and routes have been chosen

The design details, based on 1-5 above.
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• Writing Tips

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Golden Rules Writing

• Keep it short and to the point
• Write it for the application
• Start the statement when you start the scheme
• Explain how the design came about and what you
  are trying to achieve
• Talk to those who could help as soon as you can
• Use statements as a negotiation tool
• Allow it to change if the scheme changes
• Use illustrations based on the application
  drawings

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Statements

• This statement
• Explains why roof shape is appropriate
• Isnt expensive and hi-tech reflects the scale
  of the development

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Is this real? Will the place really look like
this?
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Use realistic and accurate visuals
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The design process
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What to Include

• A description of the design process
• A summary of the main design concept
• A justification of how the development will
  support its surroundings
• Why you consider the scheme complies with
  national and local design policies
• How the scheme will affect local services, jobs
  and social cohesion

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For Example

• This statement identifies
• Current constraints
• Current opportunities
• How the development will respond to these

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Use
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What to Include

• A justification of the use in terms of land use
  policies
• How the scheme will work with existing uses in
  the area
• An explanation of how the uses will work together
  to make the place more useful for the community
• If possible, have a good mix of uses in the same
  area
• Show you have understood the access needs of
  different users

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For Example

• This statement
• Uses pictures and words
• Shows existing land uses and facilities
• Explains how the development will make the most
  of them

The sites location affords it good links with
the town centre
Nearby, local shops and schools
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Amount
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What to Include

• Demonstrate that you have done an assessment of
  how much development is suitable for the site
• Do not try to provide a retrospective
  justification - base the amount on an
  understanding of the site.
• Include floor space figures and the amounts of
  different types of building
• Indicate possible occupancy levels in homes and
  footfall for shops and leisure uses
• With major developments, assess how those who
  come to use the site will impact local services
  etc.

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For Example

• This statement contains
• Floorspace
• Parking space
• Different potential uses

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Layout
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What to Include

• Explain why this layout has been chosen and how
  it helps the buildings and spaces work together
• Make it clear how the layout will aid inclusive
  access to and through the site
• Explain why certain uses, buildings or spaces
  have been placed where they have
• Explain any conflicting priorities for the
  layout design and how you have dealt with these.
• Perhaps show alternative layouts and explain why
  they have not been taken forward

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For Example
This plan shows the basic layout tat the master
plan stage
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• This diagram is not from a statement, but it
  shows how layout can affect walking routes to
  school
• Although same actual distance (red arrows), two
  walks differ enormously

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Scale
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What to Include

• The relationship between existing buildings and
  those proposed
• How the scale of the development responds to this
  specific site and its surroundings
• Show how the scale of building parts work
  together
• Pictures should be realistic, three-dimensional,
  and place the viewer where people would really
  be.

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For Example

• These statements annotate sketches to help to
  explain the scale

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Access and Inclusion
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What to Include

• Explain how links to surrounding roads, footpaths
  and sight lines will be ensured
• Consider using diagrams showing how people can
  move to and through the place
• Indication how internal layouts have determined
  the location of entrances and fire exits
• Explain the visibility of entrances and access to
  the buildings
• Show access to facilities and how you deal with
  surface levels changes, for example with how you
  use dropped kerbs

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For Example

• This statement shows clear lines (in yellow) of
  wheelchair accessible routes

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Landscape design
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What to Include

• Much more than plants cover all treatments of
  outdoor spaces from street furniture to water
  features to road materials
• Show how the design of external spaces will make
  them attractive, useful and environmentally and
  ecologically responsible
• Explain how the landscape will work with all
  other design decisions
• Show how you have taken into account long-term
  maintenance and management
• Explain the purpose of landscape design on the
  site

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For Example

• This statement proposes planting that
• Provides seasonal interest
• Encourages pedestrian activity
• Is robust enough for roadside location

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Appearance
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What to Include

• Explain how the appearance fits with other
  objectives for the development for example how
  it blends in, or stands out.
• Pictures of what the scheme would look like
  should be based on details included in the
  application
• Explain how the applicant has considered the
  effects of time on the appearance of the scheme

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For Example

• This statement shows examples of local vernacular
  that will inform the design of the development

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A made up example
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Made up statement For New Shop front at No 12
High Street, New Town

• Planning Process
• We visited the site and walked for 5 mins to
  east, west and south.
• We found
• This shop sits towards the eastern end of the
  main shopping centre. The shop itself is single
  story and was built in 1930 but the current
  shopfront dates to 1965. The surrounding
  buildings are predominantly 2 storeys and have
  flats or offices above shops, restaurants and
  banks. Other buildings in the area are of
  various ages and there is no clear style in the
  area. But all together the shopping centre is
  lively and attractive. It is well used.
• The pavement outside the shop is narrow only
  around 2m wide. At times this means people get
  in each others way and there are pedestrian
  barriers to stop people moving out onto the road
  outside the shop.
• The design of the shopfront as submitted with the
  planning application is based on our
  understanding of the character and problems of
  the site. So although we would like to include a
  large overhanging canopy we have not as the
  pavement is too narrow. We have also suggested a
  relatively large fascia sign as the unit is only
  single storey and the ones around it are 2
  storey. So we think a taller sign will help the
  shop fit in with its surroundings.
• We have read the councils design guide on
  shopfronts and have included a stall riser,
  pilasters and set in door as that guidance
  suggests.

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• Use
• Not applicable this is a shop with A1 use
  established. We are proposing no change.

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• Amount
• Not applicable. This is a single unit and we are
  not proposing to change that.

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• Layout
• There is not much choice in the layout of a shop
  front. But we have decided to move the door from
  the eastern to western end of the unit. This is
  because of the narrow pavement, which is at its
  narrowest at the eastern end. We think this will
  make it easier for people to get in and out of
  our shop, particularly if they have buggies or
  are in wheelchairs and the street is busy.

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• Scale
• The scale of the unit itself is set. But we want
  a tall fascia to make the building look bigger.
  We think this will make the parade look better
  with less of a gap at this single storey unit.
  
• The scale of the stall riser and pilasters and
  glazing bars is based on the manufacturers
  design. But we have asked them to make the stall
  riser bigger so it is now 40cm tall in line
  with the Local Authorities Shop front guidance
  which sets this as a minimum.

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• Access and Inclusively
• We have moved the door as explained above to make
  access easier. The door itself is 1m wide
  enough for a double buggy or a wheelchair. There
  will be flat access at the door, better than the
  present shop front which has a step up to a
  narrow door.
• The applicant wants to make sure the internal fit
  out of the shop will also let everyone use it
  easily.

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• Landscaping
• This is not relevant there is no space for
  landscaping. But as the applicant is a florist
  and the window will be bigger than at present
  more plants will be visible.

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• Appearance
• As there is no particular style or consistent age
  of shop fronts in the area we are proposing a
  modern design which highlights the florists own
  creative style.

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Thank you for listening
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