Nottingham City Council, as any other Local Authority, is preparing to develop an Authority Wide Design Code, a forthcoming mandatory piece of legislation in England and Wales to drive how development happens in each area.

NOTE: “To provide maximum clarity about design expectations at an early stage, all local planning authorities should prepare design guides or codes consistent with the principles set out in the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code, and which reflect local character and design preferences. Design guides and codes provide a local framework for creating beautiful and distinctive places with a consistent and high quality standard of design. Their geographic coverage, level of detail and degree of prescription should be tailored to the circumstances and scale of change in each place, and should allow a suitable degree of variety.” (NPPF, 12.133).

PROCESS

According to central government deadlines, Nottingham is aiming to achieve a final draft Authority Wide Code (NAWC) by the Spring of 2026. The production of a design code involves extensive engagement and testing. In the next few months, we will be inviting industry, academia and communities to participate in discussions about how the city should evolve in the future. We now invite anyone who might be interested in participating, to sign the expression of interest below, to be notified of any NAWC related activity in the future.

2024 - NAWC Delivery programme

Updated 15.08.24

1. Vision for the city - Confirmed June 2024

   An engagement programme informed the final version of the Vision for Nottingham City.

2. Setting out priority themes for the Authority Wide Code - Concluded July 2024

3. Writing of NAWC sections - August to December 2024

   • Movement - Completed

   • Nature - Completed

   • Homes Space Standards - Completed

   • Architecture - Completed

   • Longevity - Completed

   • Built Form - In progress

   • Identity - In progress

   • Resources - Pending

   • Use - Pending

   • Public Space - Pending

   • Homes & neighbourhoods - Pending

4. Preparing justification and evidence document - October to January 2025

5. Consultation of final draft - January 2025

6. Revisions

7. Final website available - March 2025

2025 - Nottingham Area Codes

A. ANALYSIS - May 2025

A1 Zone Classification Map:

A1.a NCC - Nottingham City Centre

A1.b CNC – Commercial Neighbourhood Centre

A1.c PRA – Primarily Residential Area

A1.d ERA – Expansion Residential Area

A2 Zone Classification Map by priority:

A2.a Risk: development pressure, community involvement and built environment condition

A2.b Heritage assets: Conservation Areas + Number of Listed Buildings + Number of entries in the Local List

A2.c Urban Green: Green factor (GF = total zone area m2/green areas in the zone m2) + Tree Canopy factor (TCF = total number of adopted trees/GF = total zone area m2)

B. STRATEGIC VISION - Sept 2025

     B.1 Vision engagement (ongoing)

     B.2 Applying DQF criteria in a Strategic Code format

C. EVALUATION – A+B overlapped - Nov 2025

Establishing an order of priority by area

D. DETAILED ANALYSIS OF PRIORITY AREAS - Jan 2026

    D.1 Character appraisal

    D.2 Character determinant variables

 E. LOCALISED ENGAGEMENT FOR PRIORITY AREAS - May 2026

 F. DEVELOPMENT OF AREA-BASED CODING CRITERIA - May 2026

    F.1 Criteria

    F.2 Illustration (acceptable, not acceptable)

    F.3 Code compliance standards

    F.4 Code compliance appraisal tool

 G. CODE PRODUCTION – June 2026

 H. TESTING THE CODE – June 2026

 I. ADJUSTING – July 2026

 J. ADOPTION – June 2026

Testing the NAWC

PILOTS

Prior to adoption, the NAWC principles will be piloted in real life case scenarios. A report will be produced to confirm the applicability and/or to inform any amendments. The results of the principles performance during the pilot tests will be made available to the public.

EVALUATION

An audit of all the different Assessment Forms completed for each planning application granted permission will be conducted on an annual basis. The audit will focus on the following:

DQ. Design Quality Variables

DQ.1 Identifying the number of positive design changes which have occurred as a result of each principle. Highlight the principles with more changes and the principles with fewer or no changes.

DQ. 2 Establishing trends and deviants for each principle. Identifying the possible reasons for deviants and trends (including process issues).

DQ. 3 Establishing trends and deviants across all principles. Identifying the most used principles (resulting in the highest number of changes) and the principles that did not lead to any scheme changes.

DQ. 4 Identifying the principles that led to planning conditions being imposed on the scheme and highlighting any trends and deviants.

A. Adoptability Variable

A.1 A NAWC survey will be submitted to Case Officers to ascertain:

A1.1 How easy the NAWC was to implement in practice (0=difficult; 1=easy; 2=very easy)

A1.2 How often the NAWC has helped the planning officer form a stronger case to justify the planning decision/recommendation (0=never; 1=often; 2=very often)

A1.3 How often the NAWC has helped the planning officer form a stronger case in an appeal situation (0=never; 1=often; 2=very often)

A1.4 The extent to which the NAWC helped the planning officer overall as a design negotiation tool (0=never; 1=often; 2=very often)

REVISION PROCESS

The NAWC revision will coincide with the review of the Local Plan. The Heritage and Urban Design team, an appointed qualified Urban Designer or a Design Review Panel will review the audit reports and recommend changes or modifications to the principles. Statutory consultation/engagement on the Local Plan will enable minor amendments to be made; major amendments will require community and industry engagement as per the approach set out in the Community Engagement Guide in the Design Quality Framework (www.dqfnottingham.org.uk).

applying the nAWC

JUSTIFICATION OF PRINCIPLES

The NAWC principles will be created to assist developers/applicants/designers in ensuring that their proposals contribute positively to achieving the NAWC vision for Nottingham. Each principle will be accompanied by a justifying paragraph, this will emerged from the guidance and best practice in Sustainable Development shown in the Design Quality Framework (www.dqfnottingham.org.uk).

NAWC COVERAGE AND WEIGHT

The NAWC principles will be mandatory for all developments taking place in the City of Nottingham and will apply to all scales of development.

COMPLIANCE APPRAISALS

Compliance will be required to be demonstrated graphically and/or with sufficient, robust evidence, as required. Compliance will also be appraised by City Council planning officers using the relevant Assessment Tools; these tools will be made available to the public to allow applicants to carry on their own appraisals prior to submission. A PDF copy of every Assessment Form completed by the case officer will be downloaded and saved along with all other planning documents as a form of decision justification.

Pre-application

Officers will apply the relevant Assessment Tool at Pre-app stage to support their feedback on the basis of compliance evidence. The appraisal results will help focus the Pre-app discussions on the key issues to resolve.

Planning application submissions (outline and full)

Officers will apply the relevant Assessment Tool at Planning stage at least once and for every significant scheme change at the officer’s discretion to support their decision/recommendation on the basis of compliance evidence. The appraisal results will help focus any remaining discussions, minor changes required and/or planning conditions to be applied to the scheme.