ACE calls for national digital catalogue of design codes and rule-checking tools

In its response to the government’s Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance consultation, ACE said the guidance should now be supported by a new layer of digital planning infrastructure that allows local authorities to implement design standards more quickly and consistently. 

The organisation proposes a national digital catalogue of modular design code components, such as street types, block layouts and frontage standards, that local authorities could adapt and publish rapidly when preparing local design codes. If proposals comply with the relevant code standards, planning departments could streamline approvals through a ‘comply-through-code’ pathway. Naturally, such catalogues would need to be machine-readable and version-controlled.

ACE members also highlighted the potential for automated rule-checking tools to test planning submissions against design code requirements, such as height limits, daylight rules or active frontage ratios, helping reduce officer workload and increase consistency in decision-making.  

Ben Brittain, director of public affairs at ACE, said: “If we’re serious about building the homes our country needs, we do need to move faster, but design quality cannot be sacrificed in the process. For ACE and our members, it is mission critical to deliver both. Beauty and good design are non-negotiable in creating healthy communities where people feel a true sense of belonging.

“Digital tools offer the potential for planning authorities to be more efficient in their approach, without compromising the character and quality of the places and environments we build. A national catalogue of design code modules, assisted by automated validation, will allow them to focus on design quality with the resources available to them.  

“The government’s ambition to introduce design codes through the Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance is a welcome step in supporting councils to bring forward local design codes more quickly, particularly in a planning system facing very real resource pressures. A digital design code catalogue can help with this while delivering speed and providing greater certainty for communities and developers alike.”