Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

(1) 15. Development Management

15.1 The following section contains policies designed to provide guidance for householders, business owners and others wanting to undertake development in Sandwell.

Design Quality

15.2 High quality design is an essential element both in placemaking and in reflecting the distinctive character of the area and will help deliver the Strateic Objectives by setting challenging but appropriate standards. Achieving sustainable development is fundamental to the Vision for transforming Sandwell environmentally, socially and economically. Each part of the borough is distinct and successful place-making will depend on understanding and responding to their unique identities through high-quality and sensitive design proposals. Development proposals will be expected to deliver successful urban regeneration and expansion through high quality design that provides economic, social and environmental benefits.

15.3 Innovative modern design will also have a significant part to play in mitigating and adapting to climate change. This is achieved by ensuring that buildings and landscaping are designed to offer comfortable and attractive living environments reflecting local traditional design qualities and features, while also addressing issues around climate change in the form of the use of green energy technologies, a reduction in carbon generation and the efficient and effective use of water, planting and materials.

Justification

15.4 Urban areas, settlements, towns and villages in the Black Country all possess their own distinct character. Successful place-making will depend on understanding and responding to these unique localities and supporting the delivery of high-quality design proposals that are complementary to local character and vernacular.

15.5 High-quality design will help to stimulate economic, social and environmental benefits, including ensuring that new homes and other buildings are designed and built to help to mitigate and minimise climate change impacts. Ensuring good design is embedded across Sandwell will help support regeneration and the delivery of an inclusive and robust economy, attracting people and businesses to both relocate to and remain in the area.

15.6 The Government published an updated National Design Guide in January 2021 that set out a series of aims and objectives for achieving well-designed places. The document identified the key themes of good design and goes on to set out a list of ten characteristics^[206] that drive it. Paragraph 36 of the Guide was clear that the ten characteristics reflect the Government's priorities and so provide a common overarching framework within which issues around good design should be considered:

36. 'Well-designed places have individual characteristics which work together to create its physical Character. The ten characteristics help to nurture and sustain a sense of Community. They work to positively address environmental issues affecting Climate. They all contribute towards the cross-cutting themes for good design set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.'

15.7 The National Planning Policy Framework (2021) addresses the issue of good design throughout, including in paragraph 130, which states that permission should be refused for development of poor design that fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions.

15.8 Locally, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) have published a West Midlands Design Charter^[207]. The Charter was produced in collaboration with the various public bodies that make up the WMCA and was tested with developers, designers and investors from the private sector.

15.9 The Charter represents a regional commitment to good place-making and will be used to support applications for WMCA funding for new development (including residential, commercial and mixed use). Its key themes include:

1. character;
2. connectivity and mobility;
3. future readiness;
4. health and wellbeing;
5. engagement;
6. stewardship and delivery;

which in turn encompass 12 further principles of good placemaking^[208].

15.10 Sandwell Council will support urban regeneration by ensuring all new developments exhibit high-quality design. A high-quality environment is also an essential prerequisite for economic competitiveness and housing choice.

15.11 Great opportunities exist to transform areas into high quality places for people to live, work and invest in. This will involve, in some cases, the reinforcement or reinvention of a sense of place and local identity within Sandwell and a commitment to high-quality design if it is to maximise the benefits from the opportunities offered by transformation on this scale.

15.12 At the same time, Sandwell has a strong tradition of housing existing immediately alongside industrial and employment uses; this aspect of its character and economy should be protected by the application of the agent of change principle, in relation to existing uses adjacent to proposed development sites, which can be found in Paragraph 182 of the NPPF (2019).

15.13 This policy seeks to integrate key design principles with an approach that interprets and reflects both local distinctiveness and the overall character of Sandwell. High-quality design relates to buildings, architecture, the spaces within which buildings sit, the quality of the public realm reflected in its streets and spaces and the relationship between the development and the surrounding area.

15.14 To ensure that development proposals accord with policy requirements, the Design and Access Statements accompanying planning applications should follow Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment guidance.

15.15 The protection and enhancement of Sandwell's canal network and natural waterways will be sought to the extent possible through the design and layout of appropriately located housing and employment development and by the integration of waterways into those proposals to create attractive waterside development. This will act as a unifying characteristic with the wider Black Country's urban structure and landscape.

15.16 Sandwell recognises the potential of public art to enhance the design of development and the quality and amenity of local areas. Public art can be free-standing or incorporated within the overall quality and design of buildings and landscaping and can involve the engagement of local artists. The Council will welcome the inclusion of public art in schemes across Sandwell.

15.17 A key objective for new developments should be that they create safe and accessible environments where crime, the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour do not undermine the quality of life, health or community cohesion. Good design, layout and spatial relationships (including the use of sensitively designed and located landscaping that reduces opportunities for anti-social behaviours) can make a positive contribution towards improving community safety in an area. It is the intention of Sandwell Council to work with the police towards the reduction of crime and the fear of crime, and anti-social behaviour across Sandwell. This will be a material consideration in all planning proposals.

15.18 Sport England's Active Design guidance promotes public health and community activity through building an infrastructure that creates opportunities for all types of physical activity, and the Council welcomes its use in designing schemes and housing layouts.

15.19 The fifth principle of the West Midlands Design Charter refers to the need to address climate change through good design;

Principle 5 – Climate Resilience

Developments should incorporate climate adaptation measures that respond to the short and long-term impacts of climate change and address the environmental impact of the proposal across its lifecycle.

15.20 Climate change mitigation and adaptation measures will be addressed through the specific climate change policies in the SLP and the renewable energy and BREEAM requirement for new development, which are set out in Policies SCC1 - SCC6.