Breckland Design Guide

Breckland Council has prepared, with the help of its residents and other stakeholders, the Breckland Design Guide and the Breckland Landscape and Settlement Character Assessment. The aim of these supplementary planning documents is to raise the bar in the design of new development across the Breckland District by providing developers and their agents with guidance on what is expected from the design of their schemes.

The Breckland Landscape and Settlement Character Assessment (PDF) [39MB] describes the character of Breckland. This document describes the distinctive characteristics of each market town in Breckland but it has also identified character areas types which are common to all of them. For villages, a unique methodology has been developed to describe their character based on their historic origin and morphology (their development pattern) and their relationship to the landscape.

This document forms the baseline for the Design Guide and should be the starting point for any new development scheme The Breckland Landscape and Settlement Character Assessment is intended to be used in conjunction with the Breckland Design Guide to assist applicants in understanding the character of their development site to enable their designs to not only sensitively respond to the character of the area but also to enhance it.

The Breckland Design Guide (PDF) [33MB] has 6 overarching themes with design guidance for each.

• Theme 1:  Guidance on complementing and enhancing local character through the thorough understanding of the local context.
• Theme 2: Guidance on including the local planning authority and communities early on within the design process.
• Theme 3: Guidance on developing schemes which integrate with nature and the local landscape.
• Theme 4: Guidance on providing active travel links to services and parking design.
• Theme 5: Guidance on creating distinctive character to respond sensitively to the local context.
• Theme 6: Guidance on creating climate responsive designed development.

Applicants and their agents will be expected to demonstrate how their designs have incorporated this guidance within their development schemes.