What is Downham Market by Design?

This is the project to produce a Town Design Statement for Downham Market.

A town design statement is a published document describing the physical appearance of a town. Downham Market's town design statement will describe the town both as a whole, and in distinct parts according to the variations in the character of the built environment. It will explain what makes the town special. It will set out recommended design guidelines that any new development should consider.

Design statements elsewhere have been cited in planning appeals and used to reject planning applications that do not take local design sufficiently into account. A Town Design Statement does not determine whether or where development may take place, but influences what sort of building and street scene is created or maintained. It provides local people with more influence and can improve the design quality of new development.

The production of a Town Design Statement for Downham Market is supported by the Town Council, the Planning Department of the Borough Council for King's Lynn and West Norfolk, and by Norfolk County Council. Guidelines for the process to be followed are defined by Central Government which also requires local planning authorities to take account of properly prepared Statements. The Countryside Agency has published some useful information on Design Statements.

Who's producing Downham Market's Town Design Statement?

Each design statement must be produced by people who live in the area and once a draft is available, further town-wide consultation is an essential part of the process.

In Downham Market this project is being widely publicised to encourage all interested townspeople to take part at some stage in the process.

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