About urban design

Urban design is about shaping the design of buildings, groups of buildings and the spaces between them to create attractive and well-functioning places to live and work in. It involves shaping the relationship of buildings to the setting of the wider area and also how places are connected. The council supports the delivery of high quality design in a variety of ways including:

• providing design advice on planning applications and pre-application enquiries
• preparing masterplans and design codes for large developments and providing advice on those produced by developers
• assessing the quality of completed developments
• providing design advice on the development and regeneration of council owned land
• ensuring a strong planning policy framework through the inclusion of robust policies in the Local Plan and the publication of supporting guidance such as Supplementary Planning Documents
• providing design advice on Neighbourhood Plans and supporting the production of accompanying design guidance and codes
• providing design advice and planning guidance on possible development sites in the form of design briefs and concept statements
• helping to manage the North East Hampshire Design Review Panel, an independent group of architects and other professions who provide expert advice to the council on key development proposal

Our commitment to creating good quality places

The council is committed to achieving the highest standards of design and as such has adopted the Design Quality Charter. This marks a commitment to a multi-disciplinary approach and working alongside local communities and other organisations to deliver high quality design.

Design Quality Charter

A high quality living environment is a key aspect within the shared Vision for Basingstoke and Deane to 2026. We are committed to helping achieving this through a high standard of design in the rural and urban areas of the borough. We recognise the different components that combine to create design quality and will ensure the implementation of the necessary mechanisms for its delivery. We acknowledge that we must cooperate with the many other organisations and bodies responsible for the management and development of buildings and the public spaces between them to achieve a high standard of design quality. We call upon those organisations and bodies to commit to delivering the components necessary to deliver the design quality identified in this charter.

In the pursuit of design quality in the built environment, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is committed to delivering the following:

• ways of working to ensure that creating quality places is a high priority
• a design-led multi-disciplinary culture which plans, designs and manages new and existing places in an integrated way to achieve high quality
• quality design policies which underpin the Local Development Framework, including detailed guidance on creating high quality development where necessary
• community involvement in the planning, design and management of places
• decision making which considers the wider value of high quality design as a major consideration rather than cost alone
• opportunities to improve the quality and management of existing places
• raising the awareness of councillors and officers of design and of the key role of character and distinctiveness

Adopted 31 May 2011

The leaflet below highlights some of the ways in which the council helps the achievement of high quality design.

Our commitment to creating good quality places