Views needed on National Park’s new draft Design Guide
August 2, 2021
Mark Waller-Gutierrez, Planning Lead Specialist, introduces an innovative design guide that is now out for public consultation.
The design quality of all new development in the National Park is critical to help us carry out the first purpose of National Parks – “to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area”.
There are policies in the Local Plan, in particular SD5 (Design), which set out the broad requirements for good design.
The draft Design Guide aims to interpret those policies in more detail and provide guidance on good design standards for new development. It covers development scales from domestic extensions to larger-scale housing or non-residential development.
Providing guidance on best practice for achieving good design outcomes, it illustrates what ‘landscape-led design’ means for development in the South Downs. Topics that are also covered include integrating car parking, green infrastructure materials, boundary treatments and architectural details.
The document does not, however, prescribe how development should be designed in a particular geographical area of the South Downs.
The distinct character of the many varied places across the National inform the design approaches for a particular locality.
The document is crammed with useful illustrations, with examples of good and poor practice, as sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!
The document can be accessed here.
We would really appreciate comments from the community who live, work and visit the South Downs National Park.
Comments on the document, which must be received by 6 September, can be sent by email to planningpolicy@southdowns.gov.uk or in writing to The South Downs Centre, North Street, Midhurst GU29 9DH and marked for the attention of Mark Waller-Gutierrez. The final draft will be reviewed and amended where appropriate in response to the public comments, and these public comments will be reported to the Planning Committee when it is asked to consider adoption of the document this autumn.
