Design and Access Statements
With a few exceptions
(detailed below), all applications for Planning Permission and
Listed Building Consent will need to be accompanied by a ‘Design
and Access Statement’. The ‘Design and Access Statement’
needs to explain:
- The design principles and concepts that have been applied to
the development – i.e. relating to the amount, layout, scale,
landscaping and appearance of the development, and how the design
of the development takes into account its context.
- How issues relating to access to the development have been
dealt with – i.e. the policy adopted relating to access and how
relevant development plan policies have been taken into account,
whether any consultation has been undertaken, how any issues which
might affect access have been addressed, how prospective users will
be able to gain access to the development from the existing
transport network, reasons for choosing the main points of access
to the site and the layout of internal routes, and how features
which ensure access will be maintained.
- In relation to all applications for Listed Building Consent,
the design principles and concepts that have been applied to the
scale, layout and appearance of the works, and how these and the
adopted policy relating to access take account of the special
architectural or historic importance of the building, any important
physical features of the building, and the building’s setting.
Applications which need to be
accompanied by a Design and Access Statement but are submitted
without one will not be validated until the Statement has been
received. Four copies of the statement are
required.
The following planning
applications are not required to submit a Design and Access
Statement:
- Material changes of use of land or buildings;
- Engineering or mining operations;
- Householder planning applications, unless any part of the site
lies within a Conservation Area or an Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty.
Additional
Guidance on the preparation of Design and Access
Statements
Guidance on Design and
Access Statements is included within Department for Communities and
Local Government Circular (DCLG) 01/2006 ‘Guidance on changes to
the Development Control system. A copy of the circular can be
downloaded from the DCLG
website. Alternatively you can
click here to view a copy of this circular.
The Commission for
Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has also published a
useful guide entitled ‘Design and Access Statements’: how to write,
read and use them’ (June 2006). A copy of this Guide can be
downloaded from the CABE website.
