Sustainable Communities and Design Briefs

What is a Design Brief?

The emerging Telford and Wrekin Local Plan 2041 identifies three Sustainable Community sites to help meet the borough's future development needs.

These are strategic sites which will deliver new homes alongside employment, community facilities, infrastructure, open space and sustainable travel connections. Their development involves different landowners and developers; this may involve individual parts of a site coming forward through separate planning applications over time.

Policy HO2 of the emerging Local Plan (2041) therefore requires a Design Brief and Masterplan to be prepared for the entirety of each Sustainable Community site. The purpose is to provide a coordinated framework for the development of the whole site, so that its environmental, social, design and economic requirements can be considered together, and individual proposals contribute towards an integrated and sustainable community.

The Design Brief and Masterplan are there to make sure we look at the site from the outset, rather than considering individual parcels in isolation. It establishes a clear vision, strategic design principles and an overall spatial framework to guide the long-term planning and development of the Sustainable Community.

Policy HO2 also requires the Design Brief and Masterplan to be informed by consultation with the local community and approved by the Council before the first planning permission for part or all of the Sustainable Community (outline, hybrid or full) is determined.

Put simply, the Design Brief establishes the overall framework first, with individual planning applications subsequently coming forward within that framework.

What will a Design Brief cover?

Each Design Brief will be specific to its site, however, shall provide a clear and coordinated approach to important matters such as:

  • the vision and objectives for the site

  • the site's context, character, constraints and opportunities

  • strategic design and place-making principles

  • landscape, open space and green and blue (including flood risk) infrastructure

  • movement, access and connectivity

  • land uses and development

  • scale, density and character

  • sustainability and climate response

  • infrastructure and community provision

  • phasing and delivery

These are reflected in the structure of the Council's Design Brief Manual.

Design Brief Manual

The Council has prepared a Design Brief Manual to provide a clear and consistent approach to the preparation of Design Briefs for the Sustainable Community sites.

The Manual sets out the core information expected within a Design Brief and provides guidance for applicants, site promoters and their design teams. It is intended to provide consistency while allowing each Design Brief to respond appropriately to the scale, complexity, character, constraints and opportunities of its site.

Link to download the Design Brief Manual (.pdf Size: 11373Kb)

Have your say on emerging Design Briefs

Community and stakeholder involvement is an important part of preparing a Design Brief.

As set out within the Design Brief Manual, applicants should engage with the Local Planning Authority from an early stage to agree a community engagement plan which will set out the key stakeholders, methods and objectives. Following preparation, a formal consultation should take place with time for review and refinement before approval being obtained by the Local Planning Authority for adoption.

When a draft Design Brief is available for public consultation, details will be provided below, directing you to the developer’s consultation website.

Please Note: The Design Brief and Masterplans have been prepared by the relevant Sustainable Community Site Consortium, and not by the Local Planning Authority. Following consultation, the documents will be considered and determined by the LPA.

Approved Design Briefs

Once a Design Brief has completed the relevant process and has been formally approved, the final document will be published here.

Approved Design Briefs will provide the framework to help guide the future planning and development of the relevant Sustainable Community site. The Design Brief process document specifically provides for approved briefs to be published on the Council's website following adoption.

Approved documents

There are no currently approved documents.