ESSENTIAL REFERENCE PAPER C HARLOW AND GILSTON GARDEN TOWN DESIGN GUIDE NOVEMBER 2018 The Garden Town sits in the Peterborough heart of the UK Innovation Corridor, which offers an unparalleled opportunity in an exceptional location close to London, Stansted Airport and Cambridge to deliver both housing and economic growth, and to build on the area’s key strengths as the next global knowledge region in the UK. Kettering C A M B R I D G E S H I R E A14 Bury St Edmunds Cambridge B E D F O R D S H I R E Bedford S U F F O L K Haverhill A10 Ipswich Royston Sudbury Milton M11 Keynes Letchworth Garden City Hitchin M1 Buntingford Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst Stansted Airport Stevenage Colchester Luton Braintree Bishop’s Stortford A120 A1(M) The Garden E S S E X Ware Town H E R T F O R D S H I R E Welwyn Garden City Hatfield Hemel Hempstead St Albans Broxbourne Chelmsford Epping Potters Bar Chipping Ongor Watford Loughton Enfield M25 Brentwood Wembley Basildon Southend - on - Sea Stratford 2 LCY LHR L O N D O N M25 LGW £ INTRODUCTION The Garden Town’s new neighbourhoods and villages Harlow and Gilston was designated as a Garden Relationship with the Garden Town Vision Town by the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government in January 2017 and will comprise Although this document is presented in a stand alone new and existing communities in and around Harlow. format, it should be read in conjunction with the Set in attractive countryside, new neighbourhoods to Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Vision. The Design the east, west and south and new villages to the north Guide takes the principles and objectives of the Vision will be established, with transformative investment in as its starting point and provides a framework and transport and community infrastructure. considerations to help deliver these principles, based on suggested characteristics and opportunities of the new East Herts, Epping Forest and Harlow District Councils Garden Town growth areas. These will help inform a are working together with Hertfordshire and Essex collaborative masterplanning and application process. County Councils to ensure plans for the Garden Town support sustainable living and a healthy Relationship to Local Plans and other documents economy; provide a good quality of life for existing The NPPF, Local Plans and Local Transport Plans and future residents; and respond to local landscape should therefore be viewed as the starting point for and character. The Garden Town Vision has been planning policy and guidance covering the Garden prepared to help shape the future of the Harlow and Town. The three District Council’s emerging or recently Gilston Garden Town. adopted Local Plans support the Garden Town development and the associated social and physical Purpose of the Design Guide infrastructure required for this. The Vision and Design The guidance in this document has been produced to Guide have been developed in accordance with these support the Garden Town Vision, through setting out Local Plans, and reflect the principles for the Garden the Garden Town expectations and aspirations for the Cities originally developed by Ebenezer Howard, delivery of high quality and sustainable developments. and more recently by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA). The Design Guide is aimed at those involved in the The Vision and the Design Guide have been endorsed delivery of developments within the Garden Town, as material planning considerations by each District including in the context of the growth and regeneration Council, and are intended to remain a consideration of the new Garden Town Communities and Town alongside and beyond the life of the respective Local Centre. Specific users will include: Land Owners, Plans and their allocations. They will not be superseded Developers, Designers, Architects, Landscape by emerging policies or guidance, unless indicated. Architects, Engineers, Garden Town and Local Authority Officers and the Garden Town Quality Reviewing and monitoring this document Review Panel (QRP). The Vision and Design Guide will be used as a consideration when proposals for growth This document will be reviewed regularly (maximum and regeneration are presented to the Garden Town every two years) to ensure that it remains fit for QRP. purpose, and updated as necessary. HARLOW AND GILSTON GARDEN TOWN DESIGN GUIDE November 2018 3 Land value capture and stewardship A Quality Review Panel (QRP) has been established for the Garden Town, to ensure the highest quality at New facilities will not be sustainable without well each stage of the process in the design and delivery organised management structures supported by of the town. The Panel, which comprises a team of consistent revenue streams. As such, the capture multi-disciplinary design and development experts, will of land value from the uplift in granting planning review Garden Town guidance as it is developed, and permission and the stewardship of community and emerging masterplans and proposals for sites within the natural assets is central to the original Garden City Garden Town. principles, and to the TCPA’s contemporary vision for Garden Towns. Planning performance agreements and The District Councils will, therefore, review the resource recovery most appropriate framework required to establish an effective system of land value capture and long-term To promote efficient and effective joint working and to stewardship for Harlow and Gilston Garden Town. front load the planning process, the use of Planning Performance Agreements will be strongly encouraged for sites located within Strategic Masterplan areas. This Application of design policies and design will promote joint working between all parties, including review statutory consultees, and will assist in focusing the The Vision and Design Guide forms part of the issues that will need to be addressed prior to the evidence base of each of the District Councils’ Local submission of planning applications. Plans, though is not formal planning policy. The Local Plans for each of the District Councils, and existing design policy such as the Essex Design Guide and Harlow Design Guide, should all inform the development for masterplans and proposals. 4 KEY PRINCIPLES FOR HEALTHY GROWTH Four themes have been identified and each of these The key principles and indicators can be have a set of principles to help guide development viewed in the companion Garden Town Vision and growth across every aspect of the Garden Town. document. Settlement-wide plans setting out the A series of indicators sit beneath these principles to broad spatial approach for each theme are set out shape and inform strategic decisions and support on the following pages. the transformation of the Garden Town. To A A D A er plo B G Town C y C Responsiv distinctiv T or er acilities B d Pl an ac y on an e Hhy ti d m m a a o r H k neighbour n e o D n R D m in villages o e A g c g S e E W T e H s LS U Iv R E T I Corridor P itage A P26 S P8 Hlow Gston S G Town P24 P18 E GA P T A hang e I d r G Wedg twork and future proofi ng S E n u infrastructure u a t M H c s e ta W u o S p tr v i a s e n A D c L D m a R s a b d fr masterplanning e le an In nt L n ee B Gr Biodiversity Iegrat ansport climat ity alternativ eferr s U ec ener ener C vation C treets haract B D Revit twork A A diagram setting out the inter-relationship between the four themes, their set of relating principles and the page numbers to find them in this document. Long term stewardship ties these themes together. New facilities will not be sustainable without well organised management structures supported by consistent revenue streams. HARLOW AND GILSTON GARDEN TOWN DESIGN GUIDE November 2018 5 VISION FOR THE GARDEN TOWN Hunsdon The pioneering New Town of Gibberd and Kao will grow into a Garden Town of enterprise, health and sculpture at the heart of the UK Innovation Corridor. Harlow and Gilston will be a joyful place to live with sociable streets and green spaces; high quality homes connected to fibre optic broadband; local centres accessible by walking and cycling; and innovative, affordable public transport. It will set the agenda for sustainable living. It will be.... ...ADAPTABLE ...HEALTHY • Buildings which are designed to • Accessible routes that encourage be flexible in their use over time people to move actively - to walk, rather than being replaced cycle and skate - and are inclusive to all abilities • Transport infrastructure that can adapt to new technologies and • Sociable streets and local centres changing habits that encourage daily interaction • Green infrastructure that • Space for food production - Roydon supports a variety of uses such improving mental health and as play, walking, cycling and access to good nutrition Roydon community events • An active and vibrant town Pinnacles • Local industry that can respond centre with a strong cultural and to economic shifts and the commercial offer emergence of new sectors. • A good range of active leisure • A place that can adapt to facilities climate change ...SUSTAINABLE ...INNOVATIVE • A fully integrated public transport • At the forefront of public rapid network that connects within transit technology WATER LANE and beyond the Garden Town • Innovative building design, • A place where people are construction and performance inspired to work locally and encouraged to travel actively • New models for housing types and housing delivery • Self-sufficient neighbourhoods with their own centres •