The Government Launched a National Design Guide on 1st October to Drive Up Quality of New Homes and Places
The guide identifies ten characteristics of well-designed places and sets out what is expected of developers to deliver quality new homes. The document will be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications and appeals, and will give local authorities more confidence to refuse poorly designed schemes. A National Model Design Code is expected to follow in the New Year which will form a baseline for local authorities to develop their own individual local design codes. The result is a far greater emphasis on high quality design, which paragraph 124 of the National Planning Policy Framework states is “fundamental to what the planning and development process should achieve”.