C O N T E X T 1 7 2 : J U N E 2 0 2 2 25 REGULATIONS AND CODES of planning there was little in the way of design policy beyond platitudes that poor design should be refused. Some planning authorities sought to fill the policy lacuna with design guides, which first appeared in the early 1970s. The seminal Essex Design Guide (1973) was denounced by architects as a rulebook. Its critics tended to ignore the fact that it set out fundamental principles of spatial arrangement that were rarely applied in housebuilding at the time. Similar design guides were provided by such authorities as Cheshire County Council and the Peak Park Planning Board, but few managed to match the depth and impact of the Essex guide. A large number of locally produced design guides evolved in the following decades, often having regard to specific subjects, such as house extensions, shopfronts, conversion of traditional farm buildings and development in conservation areas. While there has always been some hostility to design guides, there can be little doubt that those which have been influential over long periods, such as the North Norfolk Design Guide, have reinforced local distinctiveness and character. Design codes evolved, distinct from design guides, in that they usually set out a more precise template for appropriate development in a specific place. National design policy eventually embraced urban design and townscape. However, the changes ushered in by PPS5 in 2010 and the NPPF in 2012 saw references to urban design largely expunged, replaced with a short set of design policies that encouraged design codes, but repeated previous warnings that design policies should not attempt to impose architectural styles or particular tastes, nor should they stifle innovation, originality or initiative. At the same time the one-size-fits-all policies for the different heritage designations saw the eradication of a townscape approach to conservation areas. Current practice The government’s current interest in good design was signalled in late 2018 with the establishment of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. This was tasked with championing beauty in the built environment and advising the government on the reforms needed to ensure that new homes were built to much higher, locally popular design standards, and reflected local character and preferences. In addition to the publication of the National Design Guide and the National Model Design Code, the government has reinforced the NPPF design policies and associated online Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) to put a greater emphasis on design. In the words of the then secretary of state Robert Jenrick, who made the changes, ‘for the first time in the modern planning system, beauty and placemaking will be a strategic policy in their own right… this will put an emphasis on granting permission for well-designed buildings and refusing it for poor-quality schemes’. If only it were that simple. Most English local authorities are yet to produce their own design guide or design code, and it is too soon to evaluate the impact of the government’s aim to achieve design quality through such documents. However, it is clear that the production of design guides and codes needs considerable specialist input if they are to be effective. Unfortunately, most local authorities no longer have architectural departments and most modern planners are not trained in design. While some authorities employ urban designers, the conservation and design officers of the past have often given way to more specialist conservation officers, who do not necessarily have design skills.While conservation and design stalwarts continue to fly the flag for design in some authorities, there is considerable concern that local government as a whole does not have the skills or capacity to produce the sort of design guides and codes that the government envisages. Design codes could be procured from the private sector, but they will be of little use if those involved in making decisions in the planning authorities do not have the knowledge and understanding to apply the principles espoused. Government advice stresses the need for community involvement in the production of design codes, but effective involvement needs to be facilitated by people who are in commend of the relevant design issues. The design skills shortage in local government Below left: Unity Square, Nottingham (completed 2021). Since this ungainly bulk was built opposite the Grade II* listed Midland Railway Station, the city council has adopted a Design Quality Framework. It is unclear whether earlier adoption would have moderated the overbearing effect on the listed building or its intrusive impact on the powerful Queen’s Walk vista towards the station and the tower of the Grade I listed St Mary’s Church beyond. Below right: The former Robin Hood Hotel, Newark-onTrent. Only the front wall of this Grade II listed building was retained, grafted on to a bland replica and utilitarian hotel structure in this recent redevelopment in the Newark Conservation Area. It is unlikely that a design code would have saved the historic building – its destruction would seem to be the result of decisionmakers who do not have the necessary understanding of conservation principles and practice.
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