Supplementary planning policy - revised residential design guide 2014
The revised Supplementary planning guidance on residential design provides detailed design guidance for all aspects of new residential development.
The comprehensive policy document sets out detailed design policies on a wide range of subject matter including highway design. It aims to raise residential quality consistently across the borough as well as ensuring that housing environments are attractive, integrated, accessible, flexible, comfortable, safe and identifiable for those people who live in the borough, as well as improve the perception of housing in Sandwell.
The guide is designed as a working document that enables developers, officers and other interested parties to reference detailed design policies linked to Building for Life 12 (BfL12). The council's approach to link locally adopted residential design policy to BfL12 will ensure consistency in applying policy to the national framework and provide a basis for negotiation with developers to improve schemes where necessary. This will also influence the structure of supporting design and access statements so that the commitment to residential quality is clear.
The application of BfL12 will be particularly relevant to major schemes of 10 units or more, where the council will also use the framework to evaluate that schemes achieve high scoring before being recommended for approval.
The revised residential design guide was adopted by the council in January 2014 after a statutory period of consultation, and it replaces the following previously adopted policy documents
- Residential design guide supplementary planning guidance 2004
- Residential intensification paper supplementary planning guidance 2007
- Building for life: 20 questions 2011
Regeneration and Economy
Sandwell CouncilFreeth Street
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