Issue - meetings

Rushcliffe Design Code

Meeting: 08/07/2025 - Cabinet (Item 6)

6 Rushcliffe Design Code Supplementary Planning Document pdf icon PDF 287 KB

The report of the Director – Development and Economic Growth is attached.

Additional documents:

Decision:

It was RESOLVED that:

 

a)               the proposed revisions to the Rushcliffe Design Code Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) be supported;

 

b)               the Director– Development and Economic Growth be granted delegated authority to adopt the Rushcliffe Design Code SPD, and to publish an Adoption Statement at the point of adoption; and

 

c)               the Director– Development and Economic Growth be granted delegated authority, in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing, to make any necessary final minor textual, graphical and presentational changes required to the SPD prior to adoption.

Minutes:

The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing, Councillor Upton presented the report of the Director – Development and Economic Growth, which outlined the Rushcliffe Design Code Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). 

 

Councillor Upton said that the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act required every local planning authority to produce a design code, either as part of the local plan or as a supplementary planning document, which was what the Council had chosen to do. He said that there was a requirement for the design code to reflect local architectural character and design preferences and that the Council had appointed a specialist architectural consultant to help with its preparation. He said that it had undergone many hours of scrutiny through the cross party Local Development Forum over the past year and been through several workshops with designers and developers and had six weeks of public consultation. He said that this Design Code would replace the existing one from 2009 and would be user friendly and available online.

 

Councillor Upton said that it would provide a set of design rules which would form material considerations in the determination of relevant planning applications and would provide greater certainty for applicants as to the Council's expectations for design quality, including a list of mandatory requirements and links to further explanatory guidance.

 

In conclusion, Councillor Upton thanked Harper Parry Architects for their technical expertise, the Local Development Forum for their hours of scrutiny and Officers Emma Fawcett and the Planning Policy Manager for their hard work and rigorous overview.

 

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor Brennan noted the extensive work and consultation in the creation of the Design Code and thought it to be accessible, easily readable, very well presented and user friendly, enabling applicants to identify the relevant areas for relevant developments that they wished to bring forward. She said that it provided a starting point and demonstrated the Council’s ambition that future developments in the Borough should be of a very high standard that reflected the communities alongside which they were being built and should produce great living spaces for residents.

 

The Leader echoed comments made and said that the Code was important in helping to ensure that the standard of design in the Borough remained high.

 

It was RESOLVED that:

 

a)             the proposed revisions to the Rushcliffe Design Code Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) be supported;

 

b)             the Director– Development and Economic Growth be granted delegated authority to adopt the Rushcliffe Design Code SPD, and to publish an Adoption Statement at the point of adoption; and

 

c)             the Director– Development and Economic Growth be granted delegated authority, in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing, to make any necessary final minor textual, graphical and presentational changes required to the SPD prior to adoption.