The role of village design statements in fostering a locally responsive approach to village planning and design in the UK

Abstract

Consensus is evolving around the need for development in villages to respond to its locally distinctive setting. Local distinctiveness itself evolved mainly as a set of local responses to local circumstances, termed here ‘local responsiveness’. Village Design Statements (VDSs) were conceived by the Countryside Commission as a means to reverse the widespread erosion of local distinctiveness in villages by encouraging local communities, together with planning authorities, to define the character of their localities and assess the type of design that would be appropriate for new development. This paper, through testing a hypothesis, assesses the extent to which Village Design Statements can contribute to locally responsive village planning and design. Through an examination of five pilot Village Design Statements, and drawing on the results of a research project for the Commission led by the author, the paper shows that VDSs can satisfy several, but not all, of the requirements for a locally responsive approach alongside the deployment of other related planning instruments.