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Policy Context
2. Policy Context
2.1 This guide is one of a series of Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) that provide more detailed advice on planning policies. This Householder’s Guide: Design of Extensions and Alterations SPD amplifies current Local Plan First Review 1995-2011 design guidance policies DG1 and DG4 (see box for policy wording) and, together with the National Planning Policy Framework, forms the basis for Exeter City Council's determination of planning applications. The objective of the Local Plan First Review 1995-2011 design guidance policies is to promote good design in all development proposals.
2.2 This Householder’s Guide: Design of Extensions and Alterations SPD is likely to need updating once the emerging Exeter Plan, the new Local Plan for Exeter, is adopted.
2.3 This SPD provides further advice on the design of householder extensions and alterations as these, individually and cumulatively, can significantly impact townscape and living conditions for neighbours. No proposal is too small to have an impact, and Exeter City Council requires all applications to achieve high standards of design and living conditions. Applicants are advised to appoint an architect or other appropriately qualified professional to carry out the design work.
2.4 Many places and streets in Exeter are designated as ‘conservation areas’, where additional policy and legal protection exists to help conserve and enhance the character and appearance of these historic areas.
2.5 There are also a number of well-designed areas of housing within the city that have a strong, distinct character, which include designed open amenity areas and public spaces. Examples include the post war housing around Wonford including Burnthouse Lane and Rifford Road areas, and newer developments at Gras Lawn and Wyvern Barracks either side of Barrack Road. These unique characteristics should be protected, and further guidance is provided in this document.
Exeter Local Plan First Review 1995-2011: Design guidance policies
Policy DG1: Development should
a) Be compatible with the urban structure of the city, connecting effectively with existing routes and spaces and putting people before traffic;
b) Ensure that the pattern of street blocks, plots and their buildings (the grain of development) promotes the urban character of Exeter;
c) Fully integrate landscape design into the proposal and ensure that schemes are integrated into the existing landscape of the city, including its three-dimensional shape, natural features and ecology;
d) Be at a density that promotes Exeter's urban character and which supports urban services;
e) Contribute to the provision of a compatible mix of uses that work together to create vital and viable places;
f) Be of a height that is appropriate to the surrounding townscape and ensure that the height of constituent parts of buildings relate well to adjoining buildings, spaces and human scale;
g) Ensure that the volume and shape (the massing) of structures relate well to the character and appearance of the adjoining buildings and the surrounding townscape;
h) Ensure that all designs promote local distinctiveness and contribute positively to the visual richness and amenity of the townscape;
i) Use materials that relate well to the palette of materials in the locality and reinforce local distinctiveness.
Exeter Local Plan First Review 1995-2011: Design guidance policies
Policy DG4: Residential development should:
a) Be at the maximum feasible density taking into account site constraints and impact on the local area:
b) Ensure a quality of amenity which allows residents to feel at ease within their homes and gardens;
c) Ensure that the boundaries of private rear gardens facing public places are designed to make a positive contribution to the townscape;
d) Where front gardens are included, provide enclosure to create defensible space.
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