Bridging siloed working: The role of collaboration in design code development

Although much of the work involved in developing a design code will be led by planning teams, lessons learned from the Pathfinder programme confirm that it is important to collaborate with many other local authority departments from the outset. This allows you to acknowledge and account for differing priorities, needs and concerns, which improves both the code-writing process and its outcomes, helping the code to benefit as many parties as possible.

Results from a 2024 survey of the Pathfinders2 confirmed that the code-writing process was usually led by the planning team. They are best placed to leverage the necessary political support and make sure that the code is in line with local plans, policies and objectives. The survey results also stressed the vital role of collaboration.

Tactics for effective collaboration included conducting focused workshops at key stages to ensure that various service delivery teams and interest groups across the council – including elected members and development management colleagues – are involved. Previous research findings3 also showed that it is helpful to nominate ‘coding champions’ from these groups.

Here are some of the other key lessons learnt.

Aligning the code with other corporate priorities

Collaboration across departments and directorates allows you to align your code with the local authority’s wider corporate priorities. These are likely to include growth and regeneration, strategic development, placemaking, affordable housing, climate resilience, community health and wellbeing, and equality, diversity and social inclusion.

Striking the right balance between meeting the code’s core planning objectives and taking opportunities to progress relevant corporate priorities is a strategic judgement that can only be made with adequate engagement across all parts of the local authority. Doing so will help you not only to work out and agree a clear, achievable and relevant scope for the code but also, importantly, to secure leadership support.

The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s design code’s focus is on housing as a way to improve quality of life and address deprivation. This is directly related to the Council’s Corporate Plan, which has a priority to: “meet the needs and aspirations of our diverse and growing population” with “more high quality homes in neighbourhoods where people want to live and can thrive” and to “help ensure the district has green, safe, inclusive, and cohesive places which people are proud to call home.”

Feedback from community and stakeholder engagement revealed specific ways in which the design code could respond to these aspirations, materially affecting the detail of the code’s development. Equally important to the project was the willingness of internal colleagues to engage right from the start, described by the Bradford team as one of their “strong points”.

Reflecting on the coding process, the Bradford team highlighted the importance of establishing support from corporate leadership to help deal with pressures as they arose over the course of the project.

The Mansfield District Council Pathfinder team’s task of aligning their code to the local authority’s wider strategic objectives was made easier thanks to the recent publication of a town-centre wide masterplan and their vision statement for the town, Towards 2030, A Strategy for Mansfield. This preceded the production of their design code and already enjoyed support from both the council and stakeholders, which meant the coding team hit the ground running.

They did not take leadership support for granted, though, and they were mindful, for example, to express how they intended the code to align with the corporate vision and objectives in reports to committees. This focus on the town’s wider strategic aims informed the code’s eventual set of townwide, area-specific and site-specific design rules. The tactic secured the full support of senior managers, which helped to smooth the adoption process.