Housing Quality & Design

What Is It?

Essex is an area of high housing demand, due to its proximity to London which is causing pressure on the quality and quantity of housing being delivered across the County.

Through the Essex Planning Officers Association all Essex Local Planning Authorities are collaborating to improve the quality of housing development in Essex through establishment of a pan-Essex innovation and quality project.

What Are We Doing?

This project’s remit is to deliver the Essex Design Guide (complete), Essex Quality Panel and Essex Planning & Viability Protocol as well as deliver the Home Quality Mark in Essex.

Operating countywide the guidance materials and initiatives outlined on the pages in this section and in the attached link will provide support, advice and additional direction to all 14 Essex LPA’s and developers to enhance the quality, affordability and provision of infrastructure in new developments. This work seeks to complement and enhance the aspirations of district councils for the establishment of high-quality and vibrant communities throughout Essex by ensuring sufficient resource is available to support the delivery of good quality, well built, affordable development.

Quality Design Place-based approach

This work is about more than just quality design; it seeks to bring about a step-change in how public and private sector collaborate to create the distinctive places that people want to live in. In addition to enhancing the pace of housing delivery, it is equally important that the new places we create are of an excellent standard and which are great places in which to work, live and enjoy.

With funding support, this proposal is about more than just quality design, it seeks to bring about a step-change in how public and private sector collaborate to create the distinctive places that people want to live.

There has always existed an inherent tension between being prescriptive on style, scale, density and form to protect the character and context of an area whilst alternatively being flexible based on local need. With the quality design agenda underway in Essex and the pro-growth Local Plan making, the Essex Planning Officers Association expectation is that the resources secured through this bid l will support the creation of a holistic planning and design system that will;

• Ensure excellence in design across Essex
• Create quality communities where people aspire to live.
• Ensure the right level of infrastructure contribution is secured through the planning process.
• Ensuring appropriate levels of affordable housing is delivered by developments, responding to the housing white paper and reducing the risk of homelessness.
• Encourage investment and positive appetite
• Responding to the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and the changes in the NPPF (see latest factsheet below).

Key Links For Further Information

Department of Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (formally Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Building Beautiful Places – Factsheet

Essex Design Guide –

https://www.essexdesignguide.co.uk/achieving-quality/

Essex Planning Protocol –

http://www.essex.gov.uk/Environment%20Planning/Development-in-Essex/Documents/BW_1268_PS_Greater%20Essex%20Planning%20Protocol_AW2.pdf

Essex Developers Guide –

http://www.essex.gov.uk/Environment%20Planning/Development-in-Essex/Documents/Developers-guide.pdf

Brilliant Buildings: delivery sustainability, Willmott Dixon –

https://www.housingessex.org/assets/uploads/2020/10/Willmott-Dixon-Brilliant-Buildings-Delivering-Sustainability2.pdf

All information –

http://www.essex.gov.uk/Environment%20Planning/Development-in-Essex/Pages/Developer-information.aspx