Resident engagement, informing Thurrock Council’s ambition to review, expand and update their design guidance ‘Residential Alternations and Extensions (RAE) SPD’ into a design code.
– Local Authority: Thurrock Council
– Location: South Ockendon, Grays, Corringham, Tilbury
– Status: Forming part of the community engagement for the Baseline Analysis stage of the National Model Design Code (NMDC) process
Overview
In April 2024, Thurrock Council, as one of 10 government-selected Pathfinder authorities, was awarded £80k of grant funding by the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLHUC) and Office for Place (now disbanded and absorbed by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)) to review, expand and update their existing residential alterations and extensions guidance. The final output, expected in 2025, will be a set of updated guidance, including specific design codes which will be published online/digitally in an accessible format. The target audience is Thurrock residents (owner occupiers/landlords/tenants via landlords) who are not experienced in the planning system and want to make improvements to their homes.
Brief
As part of its engagement strategy, Thurrock Council commissioned Design South East – a not-for-profit organisation that supports local authorities and their stakeholders to deliver design quality through the planning process – to lead several local walking tours, with the objective to discuss with local people the existing context and an emerging vision for Thurrock’s updated Residential Design Code. This follows the process set out within the National Model Design Code (NMDC). The walkabout model provides an opportunity for collaborative conversation between the Council and community, mediated and facilitated by Design South East, to help the Council to better understand what ‘good design’ means to residents in their neighbourhoods.
Project
Four walking tours were held over the course of two months on two Saturdays, planned and facilitated by the DSE team (Helen Goodwin and Clare Bond), with support from Council officers. Each walkabout took place in a different area; South Ockendon, Grays, Corringham, Tilbury. The locations were selected in collaboration with the Council to broadly cover the nine Thurrock house types that they identified, and capture the opinions of a diversity of Thurrock residents. Each tour was two hours long, including approximately one hour of guided walking and one hour of workshop-style discussion at the local library. Residents joining a walkabout did not need specific skills or planning experience, just an interest in their local area and a willingness to share ideas about the design of homes and streets. A prompt sheet was shared with attendees and used to direct discussions. DSE also developed a resident survey which captured quantitative details about the experience of residents, to complement the walkabout discussion.
Outcome
An illustrated report captured the feedback from attendees of the four walkabouts and summarised the key findings of each of the sessions, as well as providing an over-arching summary of common themes identified. The survey was designed as an engagement tool for the Council to continue to be used more widely to gather broader resident views.
Impact
The opportunity to engage with discussions around the design of homes and streets was very positively received by residents.
– Helped to build trust been residents and the Council, gaining buy-in;
– Created new channels for on-going communication between residents and the Council;
– Gathered valuable resident insight, essential in design coding;
– Provided critical friend support to the Council with our broader design coding expertise;
– Established templates/tools for the Council to use for further design code engagement;
Our learnings
– The importance of ‘deep’ engagement with the community, allowing the time and space for in-depth, detailed conversations;
– The importance of combining 1-1 engagement with group discussion to ensure those attending hear the diverse views of others in their community;
– The value of including tours of the area which is the focus of the engagement;
– The value of collecting qualitative data to complement that collected via conversation;
Testimonial
‘Residents are wise experts that enrich our work as design officers and provide us with insightful research that shapes our design work for the borough. With DSE assisting us I felt that residents had a trustworthy and impartial partner to encourage conversation and give locals the confidence that they were part of the process of putting together the Residential Design Code.’
Amy Linford, Design & Place Manager, Thurrock Council