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High quality places & design

Vision – Liveable and connected

Addressing the need for high quality places and design links to the 2040 vision of Exeter being liveable and connected city. Providing high quality developments, public spaces and infrastructure will improve the city as a place to live, work and visit.

Vision – Healthy and inclusive

Addressing the need to provide high quality places and design links to the 2040 vision of creating a healthy and inclusive city. Attractive places and high quality design provide public spaces, access to nature and opportunities for active travel which improve health and inclusivity.

Vision – A leading sustainable city

Addressing the need to provide high quality places and design links to the 2040 vision of Exeter’s potential as a leading sustainable city. High quality places and design support people in adopting more sustainable lifestyles which strengthens the identity of Exeter as a leading sustainable city with vital net zero ambitions.

Vision – City of culture

Addressing the importance of high quality places and design links to the 2040 vision of Exeter being a city of culture. High quality place-making and design will be influenced by the culture of our city to provide attractive environments with a strong identity and communities living lives enriched by cultural activity.

Objective: Deliver the development we need in high quality, liveable, connected places. Helping to deliver the strategic priorities of a net zero carbon city, a healthy and active city, housing and building great neighbourhoods and communities and thriving culture and heritage.

Introduction

The quality of the places in which we live, work and visit is fundamental for so many reasons, including to support our health and wellbeing, attract investment, generate pride in our city and help achieve our net zero ambitions. Development offers opportunities to create high quality places that respond to Exeter’s distinct characteristics, reflect local culture and integrate with existing communities, promoting social cohesion and healthy lifestyles.

The Exeter Plan must ensure that development is located in the right place and provides well-designed buildings and spaces. On this basis, development quality is a key part of the spatial strategy which sets out the importance of providing high quality, mixed use development at optimal densities appropriate to local characteristics to minimise the need to travel and maximise walking, cycling and public transport. High quality places will also be supported by the delivery of a range of infrastructure, an issue which is considered elsewhere in the Exeter Plan.

Building on the spatial strategy, the Liveable Exeter principles provide more detailed concepts which will ensure that the strategic brownfield developments will provide memorable places, outstanding quality, welcoming neighbourhoods, liveable homes, safe and healthy streets and spaces for people and wildlife.

These Liveable Exeter principles for the strategic brownfield developments have been developed into a series of further design principles which should apply to all developments, requiring high quality development across the board. Design codes and other guidance, produced and adopted by the City Council will also play a key role in achieving this aim.

Chapter Summary

The policies in this section seek to deliver the development we need in high quality, liveable, connected places.

To see and comment on the full versions select "next" at the bottom of the page.

D1: Design principles

Policy D1 sets clear design principles for development and will ensure that planning permission will not be granted for development of poor design that fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions.

D2: Advertisements

Policy D2 sets out the considerations when making decisions on proposals for advertisements. These are focused on amenity and public safety.

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Design principles

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Producing high quality places is about more than just providing attractive buildings. It relies on the right uses being located in the right locations. It requires an understanding of how the space will be used by the community. It needs an appropriate amount development for the site. It is based on an appropriate layout, linking to the surrounding area. It is about the spaces and infrastructure which are delivered. And then it is about the specific scale and design of the buildings and how they relate to each other and the public spaces.

Place-making and design is vital at every stage of development. It can only be achieved by considering all relevant issues at the earliest possible stage and by taking a collaborative approach that involves the community and a series of stakeholders.

Ensuring high quality design needs us to look forwards and backwards; there is significant value in both protecting and enhancing what is of heritage significance and in recognising Exeter’s distinctive character. In addition, it is equally important that development creates new distinctive places which may be seen as of townscape value and heritage significance in the future.

The Exeter Plan spatial strategy sets out that that the majority of residential development will be undertaken on strategic brownfield sites. In order to accommodate our housing needs, there is an expectation that development on these large sites will be undertaken at a higher density than what may have been present beforehand. Considerable care must be given to the design of these schemes to ensure that they are not overbearing in nature, particularly where the built form of surrounding areas are of lower density.

D1: Design principles (Strategic policy)

To promote high quality design, development proposals will be supported where they:

Create high quality distinctive places;
Ensure that the location, layout and built form complement the surroundings;
Include a robust and long lasting landscape framework which takes advantage of existing landscape features;
Contribute to the provision of a compatible mix of uses which work well together to create vital and viable places;
Retain and refurbish existing buildings of good townscape and historic value;
Integrate measures to address climate change in ways which contribute to the character and appearance of the proposals;
Create or maintain a high quality public realm and make provision, where appropriate, for public art and cultural activity as an integral part of the design;
Are designed to be inclusive for all groups;
Ensure that the scale, massing and height of buildings and other structures relate well to the site and its surroundings;
Adopt contemporary and innovative design solutions, where appropriate;
Are visually attractive as a result of high quality architectural detailing and landscaping;
Use high quality materials which relate well to materials in the locality;
Are sympathetic to local character and the historic environment;
Retain and protects existing trees of good arboricultural and amenity value;
Include native trees in appropriate locations, including on-street; and
Integrate all service, utility, extraction systems and refuse facilities so that they complement the scheme.

All development must be undertaken in accordance with the relevant principles outlined in any adopted design-related SPD and/or design code.

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In addition to planning applications for regular types of development, the City Council also has responsibility for making decisions on applications for advertisements. This process is managed through a specific set of national regulations for advertisement consent which are slightly separate from the regular planning process.

National regulations state that there are only two considerations for making decisions on advertisement consent applications:

The effect on amenity; and
Public safety.

This narrow set of considerations does not enable restrictions to be placed on what is being advertised through the planning process. This is a matter for the Advertising Standards Authority.

Policy D2 sets out the more detailed matters relating to amenity and public safety which can be considered when making decisions relating to applications for advertisement consent. As with the other design policy in the plan this will play a role in promoting high quality places in the context of an assessment of a proposal’s local impact. In some cases, the consideration of amenity and public safety will be quite separate. In other cases, including in relation to the need to avoid street clutter, amenity and public safety will be closely related.

D2: Advertisements

Proposals for advertisements will be supported where individually and cumulatively they would not harm amenity or public safety taking account of:

The positioning, scale, materials, colour and lighting of the proposal;
The character and historic, architectural and cultural significance of buildings, their settings and the wider area;
The safety and functionality of the highway and wider transport network; or
The safe operation of any security and surveillances systems.

Digital advertising installations should generate on-site renewable energy where possible.

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