Policy T1: Promoting High Quality Design. A policy to support design proposals is supported. However, a policy that has been drafted as a ‘catch-all’ to respond to every eventuality is considered to provide a risk of making some schemes unviable. It specifically does not respond well to different sized schemes, for example, as drafted the policy requires all schemes to provide public art, which would not normally be expected of smaller sites.
A further example is that the following criteria is considered to be unnecessary when all development is required to be ‘sustainable’ by preceding strategic policies. The criteria itself is also not quantifiable- “There is demonstration of provision and/or access to essential services and facilities sufficient to support existing and new growth”.
It is considered that the 21 criteria within the policy could easily be streamlined, and the policy would not be any less impactful. This is especially the case when there is a further Housing Design policy, set out at Policy DM5 (discussed further below).