Much of our work integrates planning with urban design and placemaking. A couple major projects where this has been particularly important have successfully reached key milestones over the past week.
St Cuthberts Garden Village: Strategic Design SPD
The Hyas team have been supporting Carlisle City Council in various ways over recent years to help progress the St. Cuthbert’s Garden Village of 10,000 new homes. One of our latest workstreams has been supporting the preparation of the St Cuthbert’s Garden Village: Strategic Design Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to provide additional guidance in between high level policies in the adopted Carlisle District Local Plan 2015-2030 and the emerging site specific Local Plan . The SPD is now out for Statutory Consultation from 10th November – 22nd December 2020.
The Strategic Design SPD promotes a positive planning process and establishes the Council’s expectations about masterplanning and design quality. It sets the next level of strategic design guidance for the whole of the new settlement, by defining the key structuring and place making elements necessary to underpin good design and delivery – providing a clear basis on which to develop detailed proposals in a co-ordinated way.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions, it was vital that we undertook meaningful early engagement with local communities and stakeholders, to retain the positive track record of strong proactive engagement on the proposals. We adapted from our usual in person design workshops and face to face meetings to host an array of virtual discussions, including a digital design charettes session, all of which played an important role in shaping the SPD.
To view the draft Strategic Design Supplementary Planning Document, please click here
Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Placemaking Studies
Hyas also recently gave evidence at the virtual Examination in Public session on the Councils’s emerging Borough Plan, attending as an expert witness on ‘placemaking’.
The Council have included area specific policies which set out principles to secure high quality outcomes for 3 important areas in the Borough. Hyas were commissioned to prepare ‘Placemaking Studies’ as part of the evidence base for the Local Plan for 2 of these areas:
- Maidenhead Town Centre, as the main centre for the Borough and with ongoing developer activity and future opportunities for new uses and intensification. The Town Centre is also soon to benefit from a stop on the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail). Download the study:Placemaking Study – Maidenhead Town Centre (2019)
- South West Maidenhead area, as the largest allocation in the plan for circa 2,600 residential units and associated retail, employment and social infrastructure. The site is close to the town centre and is coming forward through a small number of separate developers, thus requiring a comprehensive and coordinated approach. Download the study: Placemaking Study – South West Maidenhead (Oct 19)
Our work on both studies included full appraisal of the wider background evidence, interactive workshops with local community groups, site promoters and other interested parties. The studies included the preparation of conceptual proposals and key principles to guide future development. The intent is for the work to be evolved further through the subsequent preparation of area specific SPDs which can provide additional helpful guidance to support the delivery of high quality placemaking outcomes for these important areas.
The Examination in Public has been ongoing over recent months, delivered through a series of Hearing Sessions using the Zoom platform. These have generally gone very well and suggest a positive future to be able to use technology to deliver processes which have traditionally been undertaken in other ways. All the Hearings are available on the Council’s YouTube channel, and the Hearing Session that we attended and provided evidence at can be found by clicking here.
