Design Codes and Plot Passports to deliver custom and self build communities

by Duncan Hayes

Design Codes and Plot Passports are proactive tools that can be used to support the delivery of custom and self build developments, and are not only useful for future residents, developers and enablers, but also for local authorities.

The Right to Build Task Force publishes guidance and training advice for local authorities working to deliver custom and self build locally, as well as offering bespoke consultancy work. As part of this it recently ran a Masterclass on the ways in which Design Codes and Plot Passports can encourage and guide the building process

The use of Design Codes are a much more widespread?tool – and are used on a range of developments to frame activity and aspirations for the site, but less so with Plot Passports.

This is because Plot Passports are uniquely linked with custom and self build sites, as they set the parameters for what’s acceptable on individual plots, allowing for variation within the context of the wider Design Code.

While Design Codes are used on a wider range of sites, it is on multi-plot sites that Plot Passports come into their own, as they are effective tools for proactively managing how developments evolve.

Planning policy seeks to ensure that development is suitable for a given area, in terms of its environmental impacts and in the way it accords with the detailed planning issues in the interests of the wider community.

Design Codes and Plot Passports, together, are able to offer mechanisms to help manage the way in which development comes forward so that it is appropriate in terms of scale, design concepts and palette of materials in a given locality but importantly enables opportunities for design choice, and innovation. . Ideally, they should frame activity while avoiding being overly prescriptive.

This gives the custom build enabler or developer confidence about how much freedom they can offer their buyers, while providing peace of mind to local communities where they are building that any future development coming forward would be working within the parameters of the permitted design code.

This certainty around what will be built can also help minimise risk for enablers and help attract finance.

There can sometimes be a misconception that custom build sites will allow design liberties that mean the final development will not fit into the local context, but Design Codes and Plot Passports help prevent this. In this case a failure to adhere to the parameters will constitute a breach of planning conditions?as Design Codes and Plot Passports will normally be a requirement of a planning condition. As much as this reassures local people, it also means the buyers of the plots know that they will be living with on a development that not only will have cohesiveness on completion of a site, but also in the context of the wider local area.

?Design Codes:

• Capture aspirations for the site into specific guidance.
• Promote design variation, creativity, innovation and originality.
• Should be concise, measurable and enforceable.
• For example, they may set treatments and boundaries for adjacent properties, building lines and projections, built forms and maximum heights and volumes, external detailing and materials, parking and more.

Plot Passports:

• Can deal with many of the same elements as the design code does, but on a plot level.
• Offers purchasers a snapshot of what is – and isn’t – acceptable on that plot.
• Provides flexibility, such as around layout, positioning or materials, that allows customisation that is managed.
• Can ensure?variation of design on a single home level that works within a site-wide vision.
• Manage and optimises the development, planning and decision making process.

With the new National Model Design Codes, design codes will become a standard tool for public sector planners to set design quality expectations, informed by the local vision and context. Design codes themselves can be set by local authorities as part of their wider approach to planning, as with the National Model, but they are also created by the enablers and developers – or landowners – promoting sites, especially on multi-plot custom or self build developments.

For local authorities, they can also relieve work loads, by setting expectations that can be assessed with regards to compliance to the Design Code. What’s more, they can be applied on any size of development, although on smaller developments a light touch would be more appropriate and proportionate.

CASE STUDY: GRAVEN HILL

A good example of a large site that uses Plot Passports effectively is Graven Hill (main image), where different areas of the development have different design controls, framed by the Plot Passports. Applied in this way, they ensure that anyone buying on the site can get full planning permission for their bespoke home in just 28 days, which is a huge benefit for buyers and developers alike.

However, Graven Hill is atypical in itself, as the Plot Passports are reasonably prescriptive, due to the nature of the site being permissioned under a Local Development Order. This mechanism helps the development deliver its fast track approach to planning.

The Graven Hill Local Development Order (Third Revision) 2017

From Cherwell District Council's website:

The Graven Hill Phase 1 Local Development Order (Third Revision) 2020 (referred to as the “LDO Third Revision 2020”) came into force on the 20 November 2020 and is the main planning document that must be referred to when preparing applications for Confirmation of Compliance at Graven Hill.

The LDO Third Revision 2020 has been made to facilitate the delivery of self-build dwellings on the site. It simplifies the planning process by allowing applications for individual plots to be fast tracked through a process known as “Confirmation of Compliance”, whilst providing certainty that individuality and variety of design would be supported within the parameters set by the approved Masterplan and Design Code.

About the Task Force

The Right to Build Task Force tracks the activity of many authorities as they create policy and guidance to support them to meet their duties, as set out by the Right to Build legislation, and many authorities are choosing to implement a percentage policy. Typically, this places a requirement for the developer of medium to large sites to include a percentage, often 5%, of the homes for custom and self build. Using Plot Passports is an effective way to shape these sites, especially for developers who may not have experience of delivering bespoke homes in this way before.

As such, they can benefit both the authority and the developer and de-risk the process for the buyer too, setting out the expectations at the point of sale. And they don’t have to be just on detached plots, as they can be adapted for a range of models, including terraces and semi-detached homes, as well as shell homes where the weatherproof shell is turned over to the buyer to complete.

Read the Q&A from the Design Code and Plot Passport Masterclass – and keep on eye on the Updates section of the Right to Build Task Force’s website for news about future masterclasses for local authority planners.

The next Masterclass will look at examples of custom and self build developments, and the differences in the approaches - date to be confirmed.

Image credit: Duncan Hayes