Herefordshire phase 1 National Model Design Code testing programme

Herefordshire Council was one of the 14 local planning authorities selected to take part in a six month testing programme which applied the new National Model Design Code to their local area and circumstances.

The key objectives for Herefordshire's testing programme were:

  • To understand how the relationship between design codes and neighbourhood plans work in practice and how community engagement techniques can be used to facilitate a countywide and local design codes
  • To establish how the current neighbourhood planning policies and background evidence can be used to inform a countywide Herefordshire Design Code
  • To establish how engagement techniques and communication networks used in neighbourhood planning can be expanded to incorporate design coding
  • To establish a future hierarchy of design codes across the county
  • To establish how parish councils can use the code
  • To translate the National Model Design Code into locally rural based templates and guides to assist local communities to produce a design code for their area.

The test programme in Herefordshire has seen the local planning authority's neighbourhood planning team work directly with four case study parish councils to establish whether design coding could be undertaken at a local community level alongside the production of a neighbourhood plan.

This has involved creating a compendium of local distinctive templates, worksheets and guidance notes, based on the National Model Design Code, to assist parish councils to gather the information required to produce their own codes. The aim is to enable a standardised approach with the ability to be responsive to the rural environment of Herefordshire. This methodology has been successfully demonstrated in the high level of neighbourhood planning carried out within the county.

During the programme, templates and worksheets have been tested, firstly with representatives of the parish councils, then members of their local communities, using a variety of engagement methods from traditional face to face to digital online platforms.

These are the outputs from the testing programme:

Guidance notes

Information and worksheets

Pilot study documentation