How can officers improve design quality through the pre-app process?

This Practice Note considers how a more rigorous system of monitoring and tracking design guidance can give officers confidence when appraising the merits of a scheme and help to secure design quality.

Drawing on their experiences during a year-long placement (April 2019 - 2020) in the London Borough of Hounslow by Amanda Rashid, it sets out measures that development management officers can take to appraise design quality and track feedback. The Practice Note is accompanied by three trackers that can be used by Authorities during the pre-app process, these are: the word document Urban Design Tracker and Majors Meeting Tracker both published in May 2020, as well as a more comprehensive spreadsheet, Urban Design Comment Tracker published in April 2021.