Planning Inspectorate Newsletter - Issue 2
Training in Making Design Decisions
Achieving high quality design in both the urban and rural environment is central to the creation of attractive and inclusive communities. That objective of good spatial planning has been supported in recent years by the adoption and publication of a raft of national and local policy and guidance documents. The Inspectorate is alive to the challenge of ensuring that its decisions or recommendations consistently apply the principles of good design embraced by those documents.
As a part, therefore, of the continuing professional development of all Inspectors, a staged approach to updating their skills was launched in December 2005. It starts from the premise that where design is a material consideration, Inspectors will know, or have read, or can access:
- national (English or Welsh) design policy (such as in PPS1 etc);
- national advice (such as in ‘By Design’ and related publications);
- Development Plan design policies and supplementary planning documents or guidance;
- the case evidence in individual applications, including Design Statements;
and that that knowledge and information can be assumed to be understood.
However, given that an Inspector’s special skill is to make a decision by applying knowledge to the facts and the feelings in each case, recent training has gone on to suggest that there can be followed a logical reasoning process. That process can enable a degree of objectivity to be demonstrated and isolates the subjectivity inherent in exercising design judgment, by:
- reflecting on & explaining the Distinctiveness of the Site and its context;
- reflecting on & explaining the Distinctiveness of the Application;
- reflecting on & explaining the Design Values to be used in the decision;
- assessing the Visual Impact of the Application;
- applying the relevant Values to the site Impact;
and then (after taking into account other material considerations that may apply, including the achievement of a wider urban design agenda and any mitigation that can be achieved):
- making the Decision as to whether the proposed development achieves the desired Design Quality.
It is recognised that Inspectors come to their casework with a variety of professional skills and experiences, including those with architectural or urban design qualifications. The latter are allocated more major casework where design is a significant issue. However, it is our objective that our approach to decision making will help all Inspectors to play their part in achieving good design. To do this, a second stage of design appreciation training was undertaken in the spring of 2006, involving outside expertise.
Keith Durrant MA BArch RIBA ARIAS MRTPI FRSA
Planning Inspector
