DEV20 - Place shaping and the quality of the built environment
The Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan has now been adopted! To find out more please visit the Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan: Adoption page.
Visit the interactive Plymouth Plan to see other policies that affect decision making across Plymouth City including the Council and its partners.
Development proposals will be required to meet good standards of design, contributing positively to both townscape and landscape, and protect and improve the quality of the built environment through:
- Using materials and design solutions that are resilient to their context and will endure over time. Larger scale development should seek to address Building for Life criteria or a similar design framework.
- Having proper regard to the pattern of local development and the wider development context and surroundings in terms of style, local distinctiveness, siting, layout, orientation, visual impact, views, scale, massing, height, density, materials, detailing, historic value, landscaping and character, and the demands for movement to and from nearby locations.
- Achieving a good quality sense of place and character through good utilisation of existing assets such as quality buildings, heritage assets, trees and landscape features and attention to the design details of the scheme. Masterplanning approaches will be strongly encouraged for major schemes.
- Delivering locally distinctive design.
- Delivering landscape design that is appropriate to the location of the development, with full consideration given to its future management and maintenance and the need for landscape measures that are resilient.
- Ensuring that the layout and details of new development adequately contribute towards high standards of community safety and reduce opportunities for crime and fear of crime.
- Rectifying and repairing damaged environments and townscapes.
- Enhancing the appearance of key gateway locations and routes into Plymouth and the main towns.
- Integrating public art into proposals for major developments in Plymouth. Artists should be engaged in the process at an early stage, when the design brief is being scoped. The use of public art will be particularly promoted in strategically important gateway locations for Plymouth and in the city's core tourism area, including the City Centre.
