Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 28
28
The Government’s focus on beauty, whilst laudable, must not detract from other important aspects of...
Recommendation
The Government’s focus on beauty, whilst laudable, must not detract from other important aspects of design. The Government must ensure that its national design code, advice for local authorities about local design codes, and other aspects of design The future of the planning system in England 107 policy reflect the broadest meaning of design, encompassing function, place-making, and the internal quality of the housing as a place to live in, alongside its external appearance. Given the problems with defining beauty, and to ensure a wider approach to design, there should also not be a ‘fast track for beauty’. Many discussions about beauty and design are very localised, concentrating a specific site, building or street. We do not think these discussions can be incorporated into Local Plans covering an entire local authority. Therefore, the Government must clarify how the public will be able to offer views about developments at this small scale. This is doubly significant given the Government’s proposed reduction in the opportunities for people to comment on individual planning proposals. (Paragraph 203) Green Belt
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
57. The Government agrees that design in the planning system has a broad meaning. The National Planning Policy Framework explains that good design is a key aspect of sustainable development, and that the planning system should seek to achieve the creation of high quality, beautiful and sustainable buildings and places in which to live and work. The National Design Guide and National Model Design Code set out how councils, through effective engagement with local communities, can deliver healthy, greener, environmentally responsive, sustainable and distinctive places. Local councils can use this detailed guidance to define what good design means in their local area. 58. The Government also agrees that design issues are very localised, and that is why locally set design codes, based on effective community engagement and reflecting local character and design preferences, will become integral to the new planning system. The Bill requires all local councils to produce local authority area-wide design codes, which will act as a framework for subsequent detailed design codes, prepared for specific areas or sites and led either by the local planning authority, neighbourhood planning groups or by developers as part of planning applications. This will help ensure good design is considered at all spatial scales, down to development sites and individual plots.