From policy to practice: The role of development management officers in design coding

One of the primary users of design codes are development management (DM) officers. Codes help them to apply planning policy and make planning decisions. To be truly effective therefore, the production, adoption and implementation of design codes must engage DM officers from the start. Doing so ensures that the code works for DM officers and can boost their confidence in making decisions.

You should not forget, though, that design codes are used by many groups besides the DM team, including everyone else in the local planning authority, councillors, relevant external consultants, stakeholders and statutory consultees and members of the public.

Key stages for DM involvement

Whether design codes are produced internally by the LPA or externally by consultants, they will be more effective if the people leading the work engage with DM officers early and consistently throughout the process.

Given their day-to-day work on assessing and determining planning applications, DM officers have a strong collective understanding of the local area and the nature of development proposals that come forward, especially in relation to where good quality outcomes are not being achieved. Their knowledge and experience can add considerable value to the process of developing and implementing a successful design code.

DM officers’ involvement is especially important when it comes to defining priorities and thus agreeing the design code’s scope. Understanding what is being coded – and why – provides a sense of clarity and certainty. This assures good outcomes and helps to manage the project’s limited resources. See also ‘From planning to execution’.

The Pathfinder projects yielded plenty of stories of successful DM engagement. At Gedling Borough Council, for example, the code’s objectives were not only clearly aligned to the local authority’s three corporate priorities – ’Characterful Gedling’, ‘Greener Gedling’ and ‘Connected and Healthy Gedling’ – but also closely mapped to national and local planning policies.

To be effective however, the code had to be useable and, as far as possible, easily managed by the LPA. This meant narrowing its scope to objectives that address the building types and most frequently encountered issues most in the target area. This meant focusing on alterations and extensions, small and large sites, formalising minimum distances between properties, and the wide variety of local character areas.

The project was led by the LPA’s policy team, who worked with external consultants to develop the code. Aware that their DM team had the most day-to-day experience of negotiating planning applications, the policy team implemented a system of checks to ensure that the code stayed true to its mission. Early versions of the code were piloted within the policy team and tested against current and former planning applications for improvements. The final version was then shared with DM officers, who assessed the code’s usefulness and value in a similar way.

Consulting DM officers in this way not only ensured that the code worked but also secured their buy-in, dispelling cynicism and increasing the chances of successful implementation.

The Lake District team collaborated with their DM colleagues to help them to define the scope prior to consultants coming on board. Notably, they co-created a mind map that allowed them to narrow and clarify the key design issues, including window design, use of materials, natural light, and privacy. These were then set out in the consultants’ briefs.

Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council’s pragmatic solution was to let DM officers lead the project and write the code themselves. They were able to set their code’s main themes and priorities as a responsive set of practical answers to common day-to-day issues. Because the code aligned closely to their needs, the DM team bought into it strongly, easing the overall process.

Gedling Council’s code focusses on Characterful Gedling, Green Gedling and Connected and Healthy Gedling.