< Previous | Contents | Next >

Designing Places

Development control

NPPG 1 (Revised 2000) makes it clear that design is a material consideration in determining planning applications. A council may refuse an application, and defend the refusal at appeal, solely on design grounds.

Planning authorities should provide guidance on the circumstances in which design statements must be submitted with planning applications. These will explain the design principles on which the development proposal is based, and how the proposal meets the requirements of planning policy and guidance.

A landowner or developer intending to apply for planning permission may also submit a design statement to the council at an earlier stage in the planning process. This gives the council a chance to respond to the design principles, and either endorse them (giving the developer the assurance that those principles will not be rejected when the planning application is finally submitted) or reject them (saving the developer the time and cost of abortive design work).

design
Design is a material consideration in determining planning applications

Graham Square, Glasgow	Crichton, Dumfries and Galloway

In the development control process a local authority decides, on a consistent basis, whether and with what conditions, a proposal for development should be granted planning permission. Development control is a key to a council's ability to guide and control the quality of what gets built.

Crichton, Dumfries and Galloway

Too often planning is reactive and negative, merely telling prospective developers what they cannot do. It is accused of imposing unnecessary costs and delays on applicants. At its best it is positive, taking the initiative in helping developers to draw up proposals that will meet the requirements of policy, respond to the local context and prove to be economically feasible. Developers understand that they must work within the constraints of public policy. What they want is help in finding their way through the planning process. They are looking for as much certainty as possible about what will be asked of them, as early as possible in the process.

The best way of creating these conditions is through a development plan with well conceived design policies, through supplementary planning guidance and through a development control service run by people committed to good design.

Planning authorities have a key role to play in establishing standards and raising aspirations. They must have access to the necessary skills of the urban designer, architect, landscape architect, conservation officer and engineer, all of whom can have a role in shaping development for the better.

External review

Standards of design can be raised by providing opportunities for development proposals and design guidance to be discussed or assessed by people beyond the immediate planning process. These may include members of the public, local amenity or action groups, national amenity groups and national review bodies. In particular local authorities should seek advice from the Royal Fine Arts Commission for Scotland.

standards
Planning authorities have a key role to play in establishing standards and raising aspirations

Planning Design Awards 2000, Argyll and Bute	Scottish Awards for Quality and Planning	Poetry Library, Edinburgh

Local design awards

Local design awards for buildings and places can help to raise awareness and expectations.

Design competitions

A design competition can sometimes be a good way of finding the designer or the design for an important site. Competitions work well only if they are carefully conceived and managed. A competition is only as good as the brief that competitors are given and competitors must know the exact terms on which they are competing.

awards
Local design awards for buildings and places can help to raise awareness

Ramsay Gardens, Edinburgh

< Previous | Contents | Next >