Bath & North East Somerset Local Plan
Deposit Draft January 2002

A5. Design

INTRODUCTION

Background

A5.1 The aim of this section of the Local Plan is essentially about place making. Ensuring that we make better places, and make existing places better. Better places are not just for those people that live or work in those places, but for the wider community that will use or experience them.

A5.2 Wherever development takes place, it should be of high quality, and of benefit to the area in which it is located. The intention is that development should enhance the environment in which it occurs, whilst contributing to meeting the needs of the locality and wider region.

A5.3 Design issues need to be considered carefully by those submitting planning applications. The policies in this section will cover the fundamental aspects of design that need to be taken into account.

A5.4 Supplementary Design Guidance will therefore be produced to support policies and proposals in this Plan, and to explain in greater detail the approach to be adopted.

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Design and Urban Design

A5.5 Design has recently become more central to planning, with a more proactive stance now advocated in PPG1. In particular there has been an increasing emphasis on the importance of urban design in the planning system.

A5.6 The visual appearance of buildings is a very important planning consideration. However in the determination of planning applications it is one that has tended to dominate the whole concept of design. There are broader aspects such as landscape design, how a development responds to landscape, and an ecological or environmental view of design and how a site is organised, for example, in terms of traffic, access, and mix of uses. These aspects are included in a much broader and inclusive view of design/urban design.

A5.7 Urban design is about how places look, the relationship between buildings and spaces, and the places that they create, and about how people use places; how they work. Good urban design is also about the process of making places. Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 states that:

'urban design should be taken to mean the relationship between buildings and the streets, squares, parks, waterways, and other spaces which make up the public domain; the nature and quality of the public domain itself; the relationship of one part of a village, town or city with other parts; and the patterns of movement and activity which are thereby established: in short, the complex relationships between all the elements of built and unbuilt space.'

A5.8 An important aspect of urban design, is that it is a term with just as much relevance in a small village such as Hinton Charterhouse or Temple Cloud, to larger settlements such as Bath or Keynsham. It is principle based rather than standard based, and therefore applicable to all development situations.

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Policy Objectives and Themes

A5.9 This section of the plan is organised so that the broader issues are considered before the detailed issues. This is a fundamental approach. There is little point in considering the detailed designs of a scheme, if the broader issues have not been fully explored.

A5.10 The urban design objectives provide the basis for the subsequent policy themes. They provide a broad and overarching context for development in the whole of Bath and North East Somerset. It must however be recognised that places within the District are different, and that the essential differences between them will be their character. It is only by responding appropriately to character that development proposals will be successful in achieving planning permission.

A5.11 In order for high quality design to be achieved, the section is divided into the following policy areas:

• Character - provides a basis for ensuring that development maintains or enhances the character of areas within the District.

• Public Realm - focuses on the space between buildings and how such spaces appear and are used.

• Townscape - focuses on the physical response to character; from how a development responds to its environment to detailed issues of building design.

A5.12 Overarching these themes will be the requirement to submit a design statement with most types of planning applications (see Policy D.5).

A5.13 The following objectives have been taken from the Government's publication 'By Design - Urban Design in the planning system: towards better practice' published in 2000. They provide the context and framework for thinking about urban design. Good urban design will not be achieved by the blind application of standards or specifications, but by a greater understanding, appreciation and application of these urban design objectives. The policy themes that follow take these objectives forward and provide greater clarity and certainty as to what types of development will be permitted in Bath and North East Somerset.

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URBAN DESIGN OBJECTIVES

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CHARACTER

A5.14 How development responds to character is an overriding principle in relation to design in Bath and North East Somerset, and needs to be a prime consideration when seeking to fulfil the other policies in this plan.

A5.15 This approach has been derived from best practice and the characterisation approach adopted in the Joint Replacement Structure Plan, where the character and distinctiveness of settlements and their settings are to be protected and enhanced.

A5.16 In relation to character the difficulty can lie in judging what aspects of character are of particular value. It is clearly inappropriate for development to reflect the character of a place that is not of particular value. Being 'in keeping' or reflecting the context of a place is therefore not necessarily enough and can be a counter productive approach to achieving high quality and innovative design solutions.

A5.17 The character of Bath and North East Somerset is rich and diverse. Varied landscapes include the Cotswolds, the Mendip Hills, and the Avon Valley. Building materials are typified by white lias limestone in the Norton-Radstock area, the use of Bath stone around the City, with sandstone in the Chew Valley and Mendip areas. How the landscape and buildings relate to each other is also an issue, with developments responding to their topography in different ways. There are many issues that relate to character, including social activity and economic function.

A5.18 In some cases character assessments or Village Design Statements such as for Paulton and Peasedown have already been prepared. Applicants should respond to such documents in the preparation of their development proposals.

A5.19 Where development is proposed the positive and negative characteristics of the site and the local context must be analysed in order to determine their special qualities. These should then be reflected in the design proposed. These features could be an existing tree or other landscape feature, or the pattern of streets, views, building heights or materials used.

A5.20 The design should then reinforce and evolve local characteristics that are of particular value. Appropriate and innovative design solutions can be as characterful as 'historical pastiche', and can make a greater contribution to the ongoing development of our settlements. Local characteristics considered poor in terms of design and which undermine the overall character of an area should not be used as a precedent, for example buildings that back onto roads.

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PUBLIC REALM

Introduction

A5.21 The public realm is all space to which the public has ready physical and visual access. It includes all streets and roads be they distributor roads or quiet lanes, public spaces, green spaces, private gardens, squares, footpaths, and parks.

A5.22 This policy theme outlines a number of fundamental issues concerning the public realm, followed by a criteria based policy. All of these issues will be expanded upon in Supplementary Design Guidance.

Connectivity - layout

'Connecting a development to the rest of the town or city is a key priority in designing successful urban form. This is as relevant to new settlements and settlement extensions as it is to the regeneration of existing areas …'

Towards an Urban Renaissance

A5.23 The places in which we live and work are inextricably linked with other places within the same street, village, city or region. New developments need to become part of the settlement in which they are built, used by people that already live there, as well as the new residents, occupiers, and visitors.

A5.24 To make new developments that successfully integrate to their wider context they need to be visually and physically connected to the place in which they are located. They should therefore be physically knitted into their surrounding environment, with as many safely designed access points as possible.

A5.25 The more direct the route and the greater the number of connections, the more integrated a development is likely to be. Existing and potential pedestrian and cyclist desire lines should to be taken into account.

A5.26 A connected environment helps reduce the need to travel by providing for a greater choice of routes, and ensures that local facilities are more easily available to a greater number of people. Additionally such a layout for development encourages activity throughout an area, and contributes to natural surveillance. Whilst highway safety issues are clearly of concern, routes used by vehicles as well as pedestrians and cyclists, tend to be more secure environments than segregated routes. They provide a focus of activity with different users.

A5.27 Buildings and the layout of the public realm should be designed first and can influence the flow and density of traffic, whilst creative traffic management schemes, and shorter streets can help to reduce traffic speeds.

A5.28 Where necessary and in order to achieve the objectives of greater connectivity the Council's Compulsory Purchase Powers may be used to help achieve land assembly.

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Positive relationships - layout

A5.29 All new development should have a positive relationship at street level for pedestrians. This is normally achieved with buildings facing onto streets with entrances and main habitable rooms orientated towards, and clearly visible from, the street. This maximises activity and overlooking of the public realm. There also needs to be a clear distinction between the public realm and private space.

A5.30 Blank elevations fronting onto the public realm should be avoided. This includes all roads within and surrounding development sites. Where highway or safety concerns seek to limit the number of access points onto roads, then parallel access roads or traffic calming measures should be considered in order to ensure that a positive relationship to that road is achieved.

A5.31 In applying this approach account must be taken of the character of an area. There may be circumstances where the dominant characteristic is that buildings are set back, with high walls or a dense landscaped frontage to the street. In such circumstances, and where these dominant characteristics are particularly valued, the aim of overlooking of the public realm may be less of a priority.

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Density

A5.32 The aim of making the most efficient use of land and seeking higher density development is an important consideration. However, it is essential that a balance is achieved between the density of a development and its effect on the character of an area. Achieving this depends largely on the benefits of a higher density development in any given location, and the values placed on character.

A5.33 A development site with existing or potentially high levels of public transport accessibility and close proximity to local facilities will make a greater contribution to the sustainability and urban design objectives of the plan if built at a higher density. A site in a rural location where perhaps there is limited access to local shops or public transport will benefit much less from being built at a higher density, and other factors are likely to be of greater relevance.

A5.34 The character of an area should take precedent over the desire to maximise density.

A5.35 For specific allocated sites where planning briefs are to be prepared, more detailed information will be provided regarding the densities required. Reference to Policy GDS1.

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Mixed uses

A5.36 The creation and safeguarding of mixed use environments is one of the three Government themes (the others being design and sustainability) that underpin their approach to the planning system, as outlined in PPG1. Whilst encouraging mixed use development, attention needs to be paid to the needs of the location and issues of character, residential amenity, security, and reducing the need to travel. Variety in the size and specification of office or workshop developments, and variety in the tenure, type and size of residential properties, is also of particular importance.

A5.37 Proposals should respond to the local context, either by increasing the existing mix of uses in an area, or by introducing a mix in an otherwise single use area, where this is seen as appropriate and deliverable. Proposals should not reduce the existing mix of an area.

A5.38 In encouraging mixed uses the Council will promote the mixing of uses within buildings, for example with offices or residential over retail premises, see Policy HG.12. Such an approach is an effective way of achieving mixed uses in the implementation of development proposals.

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Car Parking

A5.39 In order to reduce the impact of parking on the character of an area, the built form needs to be considered first, with roads and parking fitted into the spaces created. In order to create valued places, a flexible approach to the location of and requirement for car parking provision is necessary. Further information is provided in PPG15.

A5.40 Different approaches will be required in residential and non-residential developments, and further information is contained in the Access chapter where locational aspects are explored in more detail. The following paragraphs relate to residential car parking.

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Residential Car Parking

A5.41 The provision of individual on-plot parking spaces can limit the range of built forms and layouts that can be created, and should only be provided where a satisfactory design solution can be achieved. A mixture of locations for parking, including on-street, allows for far greater flexibility in building form and layout, enabling the creation of attractive places to live, and to pass through. On-street parking can also encourage 'eyes on the street', enhancing the natural surveillance of, and activity on, the public realm.

A5.42 Small parking courts that relate to particular development proposals can be a useful way of accommodating cars. For security reasons and to avoid over-dominating views, there should generally be no more than 10 spaces in a parking court. The parking court should be designed so that it is properly overlooked from most or all of the development that it serves. The inclusion of dwellings within parking courts can assist in natural surveillance and therefore security levels.

A5.43 PPG3 also requires local authorities to "place the needs of people before ease of traffic movement in designing the layout of residential developments" and to "seek to reduce car dependence by facilitating more walking and cycling, by improving linkages by public transport between housing, jobs, local services and local amenity, and by planning for mixed use" .

A5.44 More information on parking standards and accessibility issues in general is contained in the Access chapter.

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Community Safety

A5.45 The design of our built environment can be a determining influence on the occurrence of crime, and on the more widespread problem of fear of crime. An appropriately designed environment will enhance feelings of well being and instil a sense of ownership and of care. It is important to recognise that well designed environments should not make strangers feel excluded, and such a fortress approach is not endorsed. This works against the need to create connected places, and strangers provide the informal surveillance necessary to deter the occurrence of crime. Creating a clear distinction between public and private spaces where buildings front onto public space, is one of the key measures to deter crime and to help create feelings of community safety.

A5.46 Many issues concerning community safety such as achieving natural surveillance and positive relationships in layouts have been addressed in the preceding paragraphs. It is no coincidence that attractive and well designed environments are also places where people feel safe, and the opportunities for crime to occur are reduced. Achieving community safety requires an integrated approach, not one that only seeks a bolt on solution. B&NES and the Police are committed to reduce the impact of crime by ensuring that all development proposals have satisfactorily sought to design out crime.

A5.47 Circular 5/94 'Planning out Crime' states that crime prevention is capable of being a material consideration in determining planning applications. The 'Secured by Design' Police initiative is also an important consideration, and dialogue will take place on relevant planning applications between the local planning authority and the Police's Architectural Liaison Officer.

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Council Initiatives

A5.48 The Council is currently involved in a number of important initiatives throughout the District, and will instigate more throughout the Plan period. Examples are many and include the preparation of Supplementary Planning Guidance, Character Assessments, as well as the emerging Public Realm Strategy for Bath, the Norton-Radstock Streetscape Strategy, the Landscape Character Assessment, the Biodiversity Action Plan, the Public Art Strategy, and the World Heritage Site Management Plan.

A5.49 It is important that development proposals take account of the objectives of these initiatives.

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Public Art

A5.50 The Council's emerging Public Art Strategy is a key initiative to encourage the increased provision of public art throughout the District. A key mechanism for achieving this is through the development process.

A5.51 Including the work of artists in the creation and regeneration of the public realm is usually referred to as Public Art. Public Art is not an artform in itself. It comes about where an artist's skill, vision and creativity have been used to enhance the quality of a particular site. Public Art should say something about a particular site, its history, special qualities or the people who inhabit it.

A5.52 Public Art has one consistent quality: it is specific to the site and relates to the context of that site. Other than that it can take as many forms as artists have ways of working.

A5.53 Good quality Public Art adds value to new development, and the input of artists can help to deliver other policy objectives in a more creative way. It provides additional benefits to the quality of development schemes, enhancing the attraction to future occupiers and investors. It enhances the quality of buildings, the public realm and people's experience of it. The emerging Public Art Strategy contains advice and information on how to achieve public art.

A.5.54 To achieve the best quality public art, it is important that a public artist is engaged at an early stage in the development and design process, rather than public art being seen as an add on.

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TOWNSCAPE

A5.55 Townscape policies generally differ from those for the public realm in that they relate more to the visual aspects of development rather than the more functional public realm issues.

A5.56 Townscape acts at a variety of levels, from the way a development responds to the landscape in which it is placed, to how a building's size may contrast with its neighbours. It is about how a development physically and visually responds to its context. The townscape approach is the mechanism to achieve the desire to maintain and enhance the character of an area.

A5.57 Whether new development respects or contrasts with local character can only be determined on a site by site basis when contextual issues can be taken into account. Existing policy documents will provide useful information about the character of the District, one example being the 'Landscape Character Assessment' (see para C2.7).

Townscape:

• Considers the wider context and immediate setting. The role of development in relation to location, landmark or background buildings.

• Is concerned with the overall visual relationship of building to context - both its setting and its site.

• Is more than defining building forms and needs to assess public and private spaces and their role in the urban experience.

• Encompasses views, including skyline.

• Reinforces established patterns of built form, spaces and movement routes.

• Is concerned with how scale and detail should relate to pedestrian movement.

A5.58 Developments need to provide an appropriate response depending on the character of the area in which it is placed. This is a broad issue encompassing many more detailed concerns such as orientation, materials, proportion and scale. For example a corner site could be visually prominent where a more dominant, landmark building could be an appropriate response.

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Landscape & Landscape design

A5.59 It is important to ensure that a development responds sensitively to the landscape in which it is placed. The appearance of land, include its shape, form, ecology, natural features, colours and the way that these components combine.

A5.60 Landscape design used creatively and as part of the design process should enhance the quality of schemes. It is inappropriate to use planting to hide developments and disguising a building infers it responds poorly to its context. Landscape design also embraces hard material for example for surfacing, structures and walls. Reference to Policy NE.1

Morphology

A5.61 Morphology is concerned with the form and structure of things, and in this context it is used to refer to the form and structure of our settlements. This includes the pattern of streets, blocks, plots, the individual elements of buildings, and the relationships of each to each other. The morphology of places is an important aspect of their character. New development should therefore generally reflect the morphology of surrounding areas, and of the development site itself.

A5.62 A thorough analysis of the morphology of an area should provide a suitable range of design options for new development. For example and regarding the position of a building on its plot, an analysis should determine whether it is most appropriately built directly on the back of pavements, set back behind front gardens, or a combination or range between the two.

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Scale, height & massing

A5.63 Scale is taken to mean the size of parts of a building or its details, particularly in relation to the size of a person.

A5.64 Height generally determines the impact of development on views, vistas and skylines.

A5.65 Massing is the combined effect of the arrangement, volume and shape of a building or group of buildings in relation to other buildings and spaces.

Adaptability

A5.66 Places and buildings need to be designed to allow for, and to accommodate, change over time. Buildings originally designed for one purpose will undergo pressure to change to other uses, or simply to be adapted to accommodate a growing family. Buildings should therefore be designed with enough flexibility to allow a new use to be satisfactorily accommodated, without complete rebuilding or to enable extensions to be added when required. It is about providing for developments and layouts that can reasonably be adapted to help meet the demands of future generations.

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Appearance

A5.67 The visual appearance of development encompasses many aspects. It includes the craftsmanship, building techniques, styles and lighting of a building or structure. The number and composition of elements on the building's façade, and the contrasting relationships between them, as viewed from near and far, help to determine visual quality and interest.

A5.68 The issue of the visual appearance and style of development is particularly controversial, and is where much debate about the preoccupations and subjectivity of design control is located. It is however, of proper public interest and a legitimate planning concern.

A5.69 There are many approaches that can be taken, and which can be passionately argued. The approach to be taken in Bath and North East Somerset should be a contextual approach, where new buildings respond to their context. The emphasis in most situations should also be towards contemporary design, rather than historical pastiche.

A5.70 For extensions to existing buildings, it will generally be appropriate for the design to reflect the appearance of the existing building.

Materials

A5.71 One of the common characteristics throughout the district is that its many areas are made distinct by the use of similar materials. Bath is a prime example of this where the same type of stone is used throughout most of the city. This contributes so much to the unity of the city's appearance, and to its character, and is very unusual for a settlement of its size. Most villages and towns also exhibit similar characteristics, and it is important that for most buildings, the materials used reflect the context. There will be some circumstances where the building proposed may be unusual, be it in its design or use, and where other materials are more appropriate.

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THE DESIGN STATEMENT

A5.72 As referred to in PPG1 Design Statements demonstrate how schemes have been designed to respond positively to the character of the area in which they are proposed.

A5.73 Design statements should accompany all development proposals except those of minimal visual impact. The degree of detail necessary is dependent on the complexity or sensitivity of the application and the site, but it is anticipated that in most cases the Design Statement will be short and succinct. They should always be clear and precise, avoiding unnecessary waffle or ambiguity, and suitably illustrated to explain ideas with greater clarity.

A5.74 The Design Statement should set out how the scheme satisfies the urban design objectives, and should demonstrate how each of the policy criteria have been met. The provision of a Design Statement, if undertaken appropriately, should aid the decision making process and should enable a wider audience to understand the rationale for adopting a particular design approach.

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