Return on investment

While the costs incurred in preparing a code can be a concern for local authorities, the Pathfinder programme has highlighted that significant returns can be achieved from the coding process.

Once adopted, codes can provide wider benefits by promoting inward investment, delivering on corporate objectives and driving development and regeneration. This is because a design code has the potential to make the planning process more efficient by speeding up assessments, improving applications, minimising appeals, and helping junior development management colleagues to develop their competence sooner. A design code can also attract inward investment by driving development and regeneration, which in turn will help the local authority to deliver its wider corporate objectives for social and environmental good.

In developing their code, the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council Pathfinder team had two important objectives closely aligned to the council’s strategic plan. First, they wanted to improve clarity on expectations for new development through their planning approvals process, thereby saving time. Second, they wanted to deliver a greener and more sustainable street network and increase the level of street adoptions through Section 38 highway agreements.

Elsewhere, the Town Centre Design Code developed by Mansfield District Council supports their corporate vision, which sets out high-level objectives for placemaking in the town. Overtly expressing how the intended code would align to their corporate vision in reports to various committees, such as the scrutiny commission, cabinet, and mayoral report, was a successful tactic. The code was received positively at later stages of the process, aiding its adoption.

Chatham Centre Design Code 2050 vision.

The Medway Council Pathfinder team focused on the centre of Chatham, which has underperformed for many years. Developing a vision for change – for a more vibrant, greener and commercially successful urban centre – was therefore the focus of their code, including significantly growing the centre’s residential population to support the high street. The code is now at the heart of their marketing strategy, helping to improve Chatham’s branding and identity. With the potential to unlock a number of redundant sites, the code’s long-term benefits and return on investment have the potential to substantially offset the cost of its initial preparation. Medway feel confident that return on investment will be considerably more than the initial expenditure.

As part of this effort, the Council is also exploring innovative funding and delivery models to demonstrate how Medway’s development company can lead by example. This work aims to assess whether long-term patient investment can be leveraged to develop masterplanning areas identified within the code, particularly where Medway have significant land holdings. This work is exploring ways to promote local ownership through a ‘Medway Mortgage’ based on pioneering rent-to-buy initiatives that are yet to be fully embraced in the UK but have been used effectively abroad. These delivery approaches show how local authorities can use design codes creatively to address financial challenges while focusing on long-term quality delivery.