Questions for Design Champions and Heritage Champions
- Has your council ever refused planning permission on the grounds of design
quality? CABE's wall chart Design at a Glance is a handy guide for ensuring your council’s decisions are based on the latest planning policy statements and guidance
- Are the decisions of your council based on a clear understanding of your local
heritage and its significance? EH's Conservation Principles provide a logical approach
to making decisions and offers guidance on how to ensure sustainable management of
the historic environment
- Does your authority use design and access statements when determining
applications? These are now compulsory for all relevant applications and CABE has published Design and Access Statements: how to write, read and use them which helps assess design quality
- Is your council making the most of heritage assets in regeneration schemes?
Understanding how places change, and recognising the significance of their history, is
the key to successful and sustainable regeneration. EHs publication Regeneration and
the Historic Environment sets out the benefits of re-using heritage assets and Shared
Interest showcases successful heritage-led development schemes
- For new housing schemes, is your authority working with the Building for Life standard? CABEs list of 20 common-sense questions comprising Building for Life assess the quality of housing
schemes
- Streets form the backdrop to our everyday lives - does your highways department
recognise the importance of design and heritage in creating quality streets and
pavements? The guidance Manual for Streets emphasises
the importance of design for pedestrians and bicycles. The EH Streets for All manuals set
out good practice for street management and historic features
- Does your procurement team understand the value of good design and heritage?
CABE's publication The Value Handbook outlines values that good quality can bring. EH
valuing the historic environment publications provide evidence and methodologies for
measuring the value of heritage projects
Publications are free. CABE guidance can be downloaded and ordered from
www.cabe.org.uk/publications.aspx. EH guidance is available at www.helm.org.uk
or for a hard copy email: customers@english-heritage.org.uk