Delivery of Dunton Hills Garden Village will contribute to growth that meets the borough’s housing and employment needs, whilst providing supporting infrastructure and facilities, consistent with the borough’s village character. It  is a corporate priority and essential part of the Council’s emerging Local Development Plan strategy for growth. Ensuring that the garden village can be delivered in line with aspirations required clear masterplanning and guidance to be in place.

Work started on the creation of design coding/guidance during 2020 following completion of the Framework Masterplan Document and mandatory principles for the site. A community co-design process was undertaken to inform preparation of the guidance (Appendix C of the report). The intention is for this design guidance to be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and hold material weight when determining planning applications. The report provided members with the draft design guidance SPD (Appendix A of the report) and Framework Masterplan Document (Appendix B of the report). It recommended that consultation take place on these documents in line with requirements. A Communications Plan for the SPD (working document) provided a summary of engagement activities (Appendix D of the report).

Members thanked the work of Phil Drane, Coby Tomlins and the team for the detailed report and information provided. 

After a full discussion, Cllr Hossack MOVED and Cllr Parker SECONDED the recommendations in the report.

A vote was taken and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY.

Members are asked to:

R1. Approve that the draft Dunton Hills Garden Village Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document (Appendix A) and Framework Masterplan Document (Appendix B), be subject to public consultation in line with requirements.

Reasons for Recommendation

The Council’s Local Development Plan proposes policies for the delivery of a new community at Dunton Hills Garden Village that require growth to be brought forward through a masterplanned approach. This reflects the size and complexity of bringing forward a new garden village, which will be the borough’s largest development project in living memory. Detailed design guidance is essential to interpret the higher-level requirements of policy and principles set out in the Framework Masterplan Document.

For this guidance to have material weight in the decision-making process it is proposed that it be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). To be adopted as an SPD there are requirements for public consultation set by national regulations.