Agenda item

The Board considered a briefing note from the Director of Regeneration and Economy that provided a review of the draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) update of the Coventry Shopfront Design Guide.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) defined Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) as ‘documents which add further detail to the policies in the development plan. They could be used to provide further guidance for development on specific sites, or on particular issues. Supplementary Planning Documents were capable of being a material consideration in planning decisions but were not part of the development plan’.

Officers outlined how it was established good practice to update SPD’s over time to ensure that they remained relevant and robust. This draft SPD was a comprehensive review and update of the 2014 Design Guidance on Shopfronts for Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings and was to provide clear guidance for applicants considering works to retail shopfronts across the city.

The quality of retail frontages could have a significant qualitative effect upon the character and quality of streets across the city. The draft SPD sought to provide best practice guidance for shop front design and established ten key principles of good design. The SPD also recognised and advised approaches across a range of architectural styles found across the city, which sought to ensure that the SPD would be able to guide development proposals across a wide variety of contexts.

The presentation outlined key tenets of the plan, including what was and was not allowed in shopfronts and examples of appropriate and inappropriate shop fronts. It also briefly outlined the history of the policy, and its continuing importance.

In considering the briefing note, the Board questioned officers, received responses, and discussed matters as summarised below:

• That stickers obscuring the view of a shop window would be considered a breach of the SPD, as the guidelines stated there needed to be transparency from the window to the street.
• That some existing shops may not be compliant, but the SPD could only be enforced on new planning applications, not on shops approved prior to the SPD.
• That new planning applications are given a balanced judgment when compared to criteria on a case-by-case basis, so the restrictions were not black and white.
• The SPD is designed so meeting guidelines should not cost more, and failures to meet criteria should be due to design issues instead of cost based.
• That at its conception, the SPD was designed to recognise different areas are likely to look different and this would be taken into account so areas aren’t forced to conform to design codes that don’t suit them.

RESOLVED that the Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board (4):

1)  Notes their support for the public consultation of the updated Shopfront Design Guide SPD.

2)  Requested the following comments be considered by the Cabinet Member as part of the consultation feedback:

a.  Efforts be made to ensure reports are written in plain English.

b.  Examples are to be balanced so as not to only use national chain shops as positive examples and smaller local shops as negative examples.

c.  Ensure the report is clear on guidelines regarding neon signage.