Developers should pay for design review, official report says

Developers should pay for design review through planning or pre-application fees, an independent report on the future of Design Council Cabe has concluded.

The review, carried out by former head of design at the London Development Agency Peter Bishop, said there was still a need for expert-led design advice and support in the era of localism but said this should be delivered in a less centralised way, through local planning authorities.

Bishop’s report - launched this morning at Design Council Cabe’s headquarters in central London, involved consultation with 450 organisations and individuals and was influenced by an industry-led advisory group including the RTPI, RICS, RIBA, the Home Builders Federation and the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment.

Speaking at the launch, Bishop said Design Council Cabe needed to position itself as a body which could “broadly” speak for the industry in order to persuade the government and local councils of the need to ensure good design.

Bishop said: “All the major bodies and institutions need to come together on a shared agenda to build a national infrastructure where good design can flourish at all levels.

“Design Council Cabe has a key strategic role as a facilitator, as a champion and as a principal adviser to government.”

The Bishop Review was commissioned following Cabe’s merger with the Design Council in April.

Bishop also said that poor design could blight communities for generations and that the poorest people often suffered most.

He called the draft National Planning Policy Framework an “impressive document” but said that the expertise of planning departments, particularly in the area of design, had been steadily eroded over 25 years, leaving a gap in the necessary knowlege.