Somerset West & Taunton Districtwide Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document | Somerset West & Taunton Council

Why is it an Outstanding Piece of Work:

The Guide is part of a unique suite of documents which address placemaking issues across the district and within Taunton Garden Town. The document addresses the comprehensive range of design issues and integrates design guidance with placemaking and sustainability. It emphasises an approach to design decision making, introducing a sequence of considerations for design appraisal, negotiations and design statements. It attaches weight to quality of place.

This comprehensive approach goes beyond traditional design guidance to cover zero carbon, healthy, resilient as well as attractive and distinctive environments. Topics addressed: climate emergency and ambition for net zero; street design including prioritising active travel; analysis of the district’s complex character and how to respond; objectives of placemaking and site planning; integrating the principles of placemaking and green/zero carbon/wellbeing at the neighbourhood scale; guidance on design & access statements, masterplans, design codes; emphasis on quality review. Design decision making guidance includes the sequence of considerations from inception to development of a design concept.

Vision:

The aim was to generate design guidance which addresses and reconciles the comprehensive agenda of placemaking, local distinctiveness, street design, with climate change and healthy living in an attractive and accessible format, both online and publication format.

As a Supplementary Planning Document, it fulfils the NPPF and other national guidance, which requires that LPAs produce Design Guides, and is intended for use by a wide and varied readership - local communities and their elected representatives, applicants and their agents, other stakeholders such as highways departments and utilities, and planning officers.

Challenges:

• The pressures on the DM officers to achieve targets in a period of high and continuous development activity, resulted in the perception that there was little time for negotiating improvements that were seen as being ‘good enough’.
• Insufficient design skills from a lack of targeted training.  
• The low level of engagement by volume housebuilders on the wider agenda of design.
• A legacy of historic outline planning permissions hindering the negotiation of improved design outcomes.
• Responding to the welcome but changing environment of government guidance on design and its absorption into local policies to remain up to date.
• An essential programme of training sessions for DM staff was delivered, but workload pressures meant that attendance was not as high as expected.

Impact:

The Design Guide communicates and sets the baseline for design standard, together with the comprehensive process to follow. It clearly states the Authority’s expectations and via design awards and exemplar schemes will encourage how these expectations can be exceeded.

Through a wider placemaking approach, higher quality, healthy, resilient and sustainable design outcomes are being achieved. The Design Guide is an essential tool in a wider suite of policy documents and following the setting up of an independent Quality Review Panel is helping us to achieve our commitments towards reaching both zero carbon by 2030 and our Vision for high quality design across the district and for Taunton Garden Town.

Somerset West and Taunton District Wide Design Guide SPD full document