Design codes

[colmjude]

Design codes

[RichLimbrick]

Hi @colmjude - just looking at the design codes standard to see if it can meet a need for a PlanX flow for a householder application or prior approval in an area of the borough where we have quite narrow accepted design requirements - albeit there is no formal design code, just a consistent approach. I wondered if you had pre-defined values for design-code-status or design-code-categories (sorry if I missed them). A code with an "informal" status (or similar) could allow us to code these types of accepted approaches that don't fall within a formal design code:
design-code-status — a design-code-status reference
design-code-categories — a list of one or more design-code-category references, separated by a semi-colon ';' character

[mattlucht]

Hey @RichLimbrick the design code standard is very much in draft (we were discussing with @psd yesterday about how we may revisit this soon). It'd be good to see whether we can improve this spec to help meet your needs.

That said, we do have some initial design-code-status and catergories. I'm not sure the current statues meet your needs, we have proposed, draft, adopted and withdrawn.

Happy to discuss this!

[mattlucht]

Oh, and the lists of status and categories are definitely hard to find at the moment, but we're looking at how we can more easily surface or link to them in the specification pages!

[FreyaLBS]

Hi @mattlucht, would you please be able to give an update on if you were able to find out more about this? At Southwark Council we are exploring design codes within our planning team and looking to explore more of what we can achieve with PlanX. Thanks in advance

[RichLimbrick]

This is a really good point on the support for PlanX. If we can get an "Informal" status this could help us flag any emerging design guidance and design codes to applicants really early in the process. It would put design codes out in front of agents and applicants. Happy to test this one out for you in due course.

[mattlucht]

Hi @FreyaLBS @RichLimbrick – this sounds great and happy to work with you to shape something that works for you and adds value for PlanX (and beyond!).

Although the specification is still in draft it'd be great to start testing this to see how it all works. I've added an additional status of informal – it's missing a description but I can borrow from your words above to help fill this out!

https://dluhc-datasets.planning-data.dev/dataset/design-code-status

[colmjude]

Revisiting design codes

Design codes are becoming a higher priority for us because of the need for all LPAs to soon produce one covering their district.

It has been a while since we looked at Design Codes, so we thought we’d start by refreshing our understanding of Design Codes.

We thought it’d be useful to summarise our understanding to see if we are getting it right.

We noticed design code is used to mean 2 things:

Design Code = a set or collection of specific design rules and criteria for development in a broad area (usually a local authority district). For example, Trafford Design Code
design code (or code) = a specific rule/requirement and related documentation contained within a Design Code. For example, SPSD5 On-street car parking

A Design Code is a set of design requirements providing specific parameters for the physical development of a site or area. They set expectations of design quality for any upcoming development.

Each design code should be more visual and set clearer, more measurable parameters to work to than other types of guidance.

There are 10 different themes that a design code could sit under.
Each theme has a set of design aspects or qualities a design code can cover.
For example, Built Form is a theme; within that, a design code could cover density, building heights or building lines.

Each design code can be scoped (or classified) by various criteria. This can be done by

• Location (area type e.g. all suburbs, named places e.g. town centre, or development site e.g. development of 1000+ houses)
• Type of application (for example, homeowner extensions)
• Development pressures or issues (for example, tall buildings)
• Theme (for example, Built form or Movement)

Local planning authorities will have to create a Design Code containing a set of design codes.
Design Codes should be created in addition to Local Plans. Initially, Design Codes are classed as Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) but may be Supplementary Plans (SPs) in the future.

A Design Code is produced in a similar way to other policy instruments (e.g. Local Plans). They require evidence gathering, stakeholder engagement, drafting and testing, consultation and adoption.

Entities other than local planning authorities can or should create Design Codes. They are:

• applicants of major developments (100s of homes)
• Landowners have the option
• Neighbourhood plan forums

Questions

How do local plans and design codes intersect?
If a design code is applicable to a named place, such as the town centre, are the bounds of that place defined?
Who defines or sets the development pressures or issues? Are these unique to an area?
What is classed as a major development for which a design code is required?
What are the criteria by which a Landowner can draw up their own design code?

If you are able to help us answer any of these questions, please shout.

Useful links

• The National Model Design Code Part 1
• The National Model Design Code Part 2
• National design guide

[colmjude]

We have been exploring user needs around design codes. User needs help us create effective data standards so the better we understand the needs around the data the better the standard should be.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but here are a few we have come up with. We need to verify whether these are right. We've tried to look at a few different users so there might be some repetition. Different users have similar needs but we felt it was useful to look at design codes through these different lenses.

Developer

High-level need
As a developer I need to know if there is a design code I need to adhere to so that my application has the best chance of being granted

Sub-needs

• As a developer I need to know if a site is within an area covered by a design code so that I can prepare my application accordingly
• As a developer I need to know how to find out if there is a design code covering a given location so that I can prepare my application accordingly
• As a developer I need to know what area or areas a design code applies to so that I know what design codes I need to consider during my search for a site
• As a developer I need to know what area types a code applies to so that I can work out if design codes are applicable to the site
  -- As a developer I need to know the area type of the area my site is in so that I can work out if I need to adhere to a design code
• As a developer I need to know what design aspects a design code covers so that I can prepare my plans accordingly
• As a developer I need to know what application types a design code applies to so that I know if it is applicable to my application

High-level need
As a developer I need to understand how to meet the design code so that I can design my development and prepare my application

High-level need
As a developer, I need to be able to maintain a consistent character and cohesive delivery of a large site by multiple developers so that I can sell off parcels of land.
Design codes are a solution to this need.

Design code author/creator

High-level need
As a design code author I need to know how to create design codes so that I have effective design codes covering an area

Sub-needs

• As a design code author I need to know what must be included in a design code so that it can be effective
• As a design code author I need to know what design codes have been created/granted so that I can refer to good design codes when I am creating mine
• As a design code author I need to find similar design codes to the one I want to create so that I can see how others have prepared theirs
• As a design code author I need to know who authored a design code so that I can speak to them to find out more information
• As a design code author I need to know what types of codes I can create and apply to an area so that I can create suitable codes for my jurisdiction
• As a design code author I need to clearly define the area types a code applies to so that I can be confident applicants will know what area type their site is in

Local planning authority

High-level need
As a local planning authority I need to know what we need to do so that we are compliant with the design code policy

Sub-needs

• As a local planning authority we need to know how to create a design code
• As a local planning authority we need to know if any design codes exist in our area so that we know if we (the LPA) need to create one
• As a local planning authority we need to know if any part of our local authority area is not covered by a design code so that we can be confident we are satisfying the policy requirement

High-level need
As a local planning authority we need to be able to require a design code to be create as a condition of outline permission so that we can be confident the whole site will have a consistent character and can be delivered cohesively by multiple developers

Other

Sub-need
As a design code user I need to know what the different area types are so that I can determine where design codes apply

We are interested to know if you think there are any we’ve captured that you disagree with or if there are any critical needs you think we’ve missed.

[mattlucht]

We've been working with the team at Office for Place to look at how the draft design code standard might be iterated. We've drafted some changes on this Mural board which is open for discussion.

Next we'd like to look at some existing design codes and try to recreate them to this data model.