Brentwood Town Centre is under increasing pressure to meet development needs as the borough’s main centre and focus for economic activity.   An increase in the number of Town Centre planning applications has resulted in the need for specific design guidance to ensure that development enhances local character, maintains and protects heritage, and improves the quality of design for buildings and spaces. 

Work on the Brentwood Town Centre Design Guide started in 2017.  Public consultation took place between February and March 2019.  Responses have been processed and addressed in the final issue of the Design Guide (Appendix A).  A Consultation Statement has been prepared, setting out a summary of consultation responses and how these have been considered (Appendix B).

Adopting the Brentwood Town Centre Design Guide as a Supplementary Panning Document (SPD) will provide the Council’s Planning Development Management Team with the tools to advise applicants on high quality design and determine development proposals in line with this expectation.  This is consistent with the Council’s emerging Local Development Plan (Pre-Submission Local Plan, February 2019).  It is also consistent with the National Design Guide and updates to planning practice guidance on design, published by Government in October 2019.

Cllr Tumbridge MOVED and Cllr Mrs Hones SECONDED the recommendation in the report.

A vote was taken by a show of hands and is was RESOLVED.

1.         Approve the Brentwood Town Centre Design Guide (Appendix A) as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION

Brentwood Town Centre is under increasing pressure to meet developments needs.  It is the borough’s main centre with sustainable transport links and key services.  It is the focus for economic activity centred on the High Street.  It provides brownfield development opportunities in a Green Belt borough.  This has resulted in increased development activity and planning applications in recent years.  As a result, design guidance is needed to enhance local character, maintain and protect heritage and history, and improve the quality of design for buildings and spaces.

In October 2019 the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government published a new National Design Guide, alongside an update to planning practice guidance on design (Design: Process and Tools).  This places a stronger emphasis on the roles of non-strategic policies in providing a clear indication of the types of development that will be allowed in a local area.  Planning practice guidance refers to local design guides and highlights their importance in communicating local design expectations and requirements (paragraph 005, reference ID 61-008-20190315, revision date 15 03 2019).  It sets out that local design guides should be informed by the 10 important characteristics of good places set out in the National Design Guide.  After review, and despite being prepared in advance of the launch of the National Design Guide, the Brentwood Town Centre Design Guide is in line with these characteristics.

To assist the Council determine planning applications in the Town Centre it is recommended that the Design Guide is adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) so that it holds necessary weight in the decision-making process.