Design Quality and Planning Control

Hammarby Sjostad, Sweeden

The planning system aims to ensure that developments deliver places that are of high quality and sustainable. Projects developed collaboratively based on sound urban design principles should therefore find it easier to obtain planning permission.

The granting of planning permission is a crucial milestone for any development and this process will impact significantly on the quality of place delivered. It is therefore important to understand the fit between the planning and urban design processes, and what needs to be agreed at each stage.

A robust and positive planning process will help to protect and potentially improve the design quality. This can be achieved through:

• Establishing a clear project vision and objectives
• Working collaboratively - from pre-application to post-planning monitoring
• Establishing a robust project management structure – potentially using planning performance agreements

In developing materials for submission stakeholders should work together to ensure these have considered the views of the community and wider stakeholders and are of appropriate detail for the scale of project. Larger projects are likely to require agreement on design parameters and principles through an outline planning application. Where outline permission is granted it is important to ensure that principles and parameters do not become watered down later on.

A number of additional controls can be put in place through the planning process to ensure that commitments, especially involving design quality, are ‘fixed’. These include:

• Planning conditions
• Planning obligations
• Design codes