The Scottish Government

Name

Andrew Stewart

Job title

Organisation

East Lothian Council

Address

East Lothian Council, John Muir House, Haddington, EH41 3JA.

Telephone

01620 827257

Fax

01620 827723

Email

astewart3@eastlothinan.gov.uk

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Development Plans Development Management Development on the Ground Community Involvement

4 Title of entry

Design Standards for New Housing Areas

Professional knowledge Innovation Management Sustainable development

Partnership Community interest Regeneration Customer satisfaction

The project aim was to produce design standards that improve the urban design of new housing areas, a key focus being to review road design and to promote Home Zone development. For the first time, the Design Standards for New Housing Areas revise and draw together into a single document East Lothian Council's key planning and transportation requirements for the design of new housing areas. This is to provide customers with a single reference document that details the urban design principles the Council will apply to the design of its new housing areas, and to establish in same the information expected from customers in support of their applications for planning permission and road construction consent, so the Council can determine the design principles proposed for these jointly.

Scottish Ministers have increased the profile of design and given local authorities the context to improve design quality. Almost 6,000 new homes, including a new settlement, are to be built in East Lothian up to 2015. In that context the Council wished to provide a useful and informative set of design standards for customers to explain how this growth will be delivered. The standards focus on traditional urban design principles, and to ensure road design could be responsive to such designs the Standards for Development Roads document was also reviewed. This was to move away from road and car dominated housing layouts and to ensure there is the flexibility in road layout design necessary to design attractive and distinctive places which better reconcile people, places and their movement needs.

The project aim was to provide design standards that require a higher quality urban design in new housing areas, while the objectives are to ensure new housing areas: create an attractive environment with a distinctive sense of place and identity; minimise the influence of roads and vehicles on housing layouts; support community activity and play in public space; reduce social isolation, particularly for the elderly and those with mobility problems; spread vehicle and pedestrian traffic through a network of streets to provide pedestrian and cyclist friendly layouts; maintain a low risk of accident and injury on roads by ensuring a maximum vehicle speed of 10 mph by design in Home Zones. By requiring well informed and comprahensive masterplans the stardards will also lever efficiencies in Development Management.

The project began in March 2004 with establishment of the project working group. A number of topic papers on key design issues were circulated, site visits to exemplar developments were held, and in excess of 20 internal revised drafts of the standards were prepared prior to the final consultation draft being released in January 2006. Changes were made to the emerging document and the Standards for Development Roads document was also revised. This ensured consistency between planning and transportation requirements so that Road Construction Consent can be issued to schemes compliant with the new standards. The standards were adopted by East Lothian Council as Supplementary Planning Guidance, becoming operative on the 1st of June 2008, prior to local plan adoption. As such, the project ran for four years.

A joint working group of officers was set up with staff from planning and transport divisions. Other departments were consulted and drawn on for advice and to be informed when required. The draft SPG was put to full public consultation over a six week period and over 250 copies of it were sent to organisations with an interest in housing development in East Lothian. It was placed in all local and mobile libraries, on the Council web-site and at the planning reception in Haddington. While a very limited response was returned, discussions were held with Homes for Scotland on technical issues to ensure the standards could be implemented. Midlothian and Scottish Boarders Councils were also consulted with a view to adopting the revised policy documents jointly, while Fife Council expressed interest in the process too.

Key internal partners were those Council departments with an interest in the built environment and in the adoption and maintenance of it. They were actively involved in reviewing the approach and the consent, adoption and maintenance procedures. This joint approach represents the Councils commitment to raising design quality in housing areas and to ensure the principles of the design standards are corporately supported, embraced and implemented. Numerious external organisations were approached and informed of the Councils change in approach. These external agencies included the infrastructure providers and government organisations, the emergency services, the Access Forum and RSL's. Development industry interests were also consulted, including indavidual builders and Homes for Scotland.

At this stage the provisions of the Design Standards for New Housing Areas are being incorporated into the Councils emerging Development Frameworks and Briefs for housing sites. As a result, these requirements are being incorporated into the evolving developer masterplans for sites. Indications through discussions with house builders are that they are giving greater attention to design and master planning requirements at the early stages of the procurement process, engaging experienced and specialised external architectural and urban design practices to prepare masterplan submissions consistent with the new design standards. Early signs are that the front end loading of design work required by the standads will bring efficiencies in the process and improve the design of housing areas procured.

This work is the first in Scotland to reconsile the issues between road design and housing estate design. It explains how traditional urban design principles should be applied to contemporary developments to produce attractive designs and distinctive places that respond to their context and the needs of those who will live, work and play in, as well as move through them. It requires close working using pragmatism and professional judgement to find solutions. It reviews the basis and direction of design policies reflected in housing layouts of the last 30 / 40 years, and at the same time challenges others to review their approach and the range and format of products used in creating new housing areas. It represents an integrated local design policy that has learnt from, reviewed and improved on policies of the past.

25th August 2008