Agenda item

Buckinghamshire Council was chosen as one of 16 local authorities to pilot the National Model Design Code, which has been introduced to encourage quality design and to allow some local influence over design to preserve local character. The Select Committee will receive an update on how this pilot is progressing and review any key findings.

Contributors:

Councillor Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Rebecca Hart, Natural Environment Manager

The Committee received an update from Cllr Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration and Rebecca Hart, Natural Environment Manager on the Buckinghamshire National Model Design Code Pilot.

During the presentation, the following points were highlighted:

·         A design code is a set of concise codes for the physical development of a site or area.

·         In 2021, the government published a draft national model design code and invited Councils to take part in a pilot programme to test the production and use of Design Codes. Buckinghamshire was 1 of 15 successful pilot teams and 1 of only 3 producing an authority-wide code.

·         Buckinghamshire Council was developing a 2 tier code, a high level “A Code”, focusing on strategic and structural issues, and a more specific local code “B Code”, including architectural designs and materials.

·         In absence of a local design code, the Council would have to refer to the National Model design code as a material planning consideration. This could be problematic for Buckinghamshire as the National Model Design code has a more metropolitan focus.

·         Engagement with the public took place through the website Bucks.place. This was developed during the COVID Pandemic, where face-to-face interaction wasn’t possible. This is the primary method for the public to engage prior to a formal consultation, expected winter 2023. It was noted that this engagement method wasn’t the best method for every demographic/age group.

·         The project has overrun past the original 6 months’ timescale set by the pilot. This was due to the extensive work required in developing a design-code, and none of the 3 local authorities producing an authority-wide code finished within 6 months.

·         Following completion of the Design Code, options included full adoption as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), partial adoption as a SPD, guidance only with some weight, or further iteration and eventual inclusion in the Buckinghamshire Local Plan.

During discussion, comments and questions raised by the Committee included:

·         Communications had been issued, including Twitter and Facebook advertisements. Due to the project taking place during the pandemic, the budget was structured around the use online engagement. Findings from the pilot projects noted that interest was higher for the more local codes and engagement via in-person events would’ve attracted a wider audience.

·         A draft design code draft was expected to be ready for testing within the next few months. Once the Council is confident, public engagement will take place for feedback.

·         Additional time was required due to the scale of the code and the need to ensure the code is correct. There was no expected additional cost to the Council from this project.

·         A Member expressed concern over the work required for local Town & Parish Councils to develop a design code, and the amount of guidance necessary from Buckinghamshire Council which could incur high costs.

·         The lessons learnt from the Pilot would be used to apply the codes. Guidance was being developed to assist Town & Parish Councils. It was noted that local codes could also be developed by Buckinghamshire Council.

·         Localised Codes, “B Codes” could be within a Town/Parish area, or a particular character area. The difficulty was recognised in building codes suitable for a whole area and that codes could be limited in scope to address this. Codes when designed would have flexibility built in for modern architectural differences.

·         It was clarified that Section 106 agreements were not affected by the use of design codes.