To ask the Minister for Infrastructure whether guidance is issued to local councils in relation to the extent to which urban design considerations can be used to justify refusal of a planning application.

My Department’s policy and guidance should be taken into account in plan-making and decision-taking and will therefore assist councils in reaching their determination on planning applications. The Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) sets out five core planning principles for the two-tier planning system, one of which is ‘Supporting good design and positive place-making’. The SPPS recognises that good urban design and place-making can change lives, communities and neighbourhoods for the better, and can create more successful places to live, bringing people together, and attracting business investment.

In addition, my Department’s ‘Living Places: An Urban Stewardship and Design Guide’ sits beneath the SPPS and provides strategic guidance to planning authorities and all other users of the planning system on how our urban places, whether a city or a village, should develop and change over time. It sets out the key principles behind good place-making and urban design, and seeks to inform and inspire all those involved in the process of managing (stewardship) and making (design) urban places, with a view to raising standards across the North. It emphasises the importance of collaboration and the commitment of all professions and stakeholders to raising design quality.

All planning applications for new development proposals should be considered by the relevant local council (or my department, as appropriate), on a case by case basis, taking into account the local development plan, regional planning policy (including the SPPS) and guidance (including Living Places), local circumstances and all other material considerations. Ultimately, the application, relevance and weight to be accorded to planning policy, planning guidance and all other material considerations, such as urban design and place-making, is a matter of judgement for the relevant planning authority.