Placemaking

From the perspective of a water company, the key elements of good design are ensuring that new development can help mitigate carbon emissions and be resilient to the effects of climate change over the long term, through: - Sufficient green and blue infrastructure to incorporate the full range of multi-functional benefits (recognising proportionality needs to be considered at various scales). - Sustainable construction methods that minimise embodied carbon and future-proof buildings so that they are resilient designs that factor in water efficiency and integrated water management measures to reduce demands on potable water resources and maximise opportunities for water reuse.

Design policies should set an ambitious framework for high quality sustainable and resilient designs to provide a clear indication of what developers are expected to deliver to achieve places people want to live, work and play in, but also feel that they are well-considered in terms of environmental future-proofing. We recognise that specific design elements will be detailed in other policies (e.g. Green and blue infrastructure provision, surface water management, water efficiency and integrated water management measures), but the design policy provides an opportunity to set clear expectations for new development in terms of its appearance, and layout, but also it's functionality and resilience. There are no specific design measures that should not be included in a design policy.

- Set clear principles for water stewardship to enable sustainable future - see Enabling Water Smart Communities innovation project www.ewsc.org.uk - Clear expectations for green and blue infrastructure provision that maximise environmental gains, reduce flood risk through SuDS, and provide opportunities for integrated water management. - Future-proofing new development so water reuse is factored in from the beginning to avoid costly retrofitting (rainwater harvesting and reuse, greywater recycling, - individual properties and community scale) with dual pipe systems to enable water reuse for toilet flushing and garden irrigation. - Ambitious water efficiency standards to help safeguard water resources over the longer term against challenges of climate change and population growth, whilst leaving more water in the environment to enable nature recovery.

Other

There is scope for design codes at all scales. Design is an important consideration for many communities, and this is clearly evident in neighbourhood plans coming forward across our region. There is an opportunity to provide strategic design codes that apply across the whole city council area, with more detailed design codes at a neighbourhood level, or even through identified 'character' areas.

I don’t use the Essex Design Guide

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The 1997 version of the Essex Design Guide does not include the key sustainability factors for building a resilient future, that we, as a water company would consider to be essential in any design policy today. Our expectation is the design guidance will help to reflect our long term ambitions: make the East of England resilient to the risks of drought and flooding; enable sustainable economic and housing growth in the UK's fastest growing region; by 2030, be a net zero business; and work with others to achieve significant improvement in ecological quality across our catchments. We support the section on Services and Access which provides detail regarding the routeing of underground services, including sewers. Although signposting would be required to updated standards and guidance. Further information can be found on our website https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/developing/

It is considered that the most important sections included in the 2018 online version are: Flood Management and the link to the Sustainable Drainage Systems Design Guide for Essex: The SuDS Design Guide reference in this section is critical as it highlights the opportunities for integrated water management and the ability to for rainwater re-use (rainwater harvesting/greywater recycling) which is highest on the drainage hierarchy and emphasises the ability to mitigate against water scarcity. We consider that reference to the SuDS Design Guide and rainwater re-use should be clearly emphasised in delivering resilient designs and incorporated within green and blue infrastructure provision wherever possible. Landscapes and Greenspaces: This section emphasises the multifunctional role of greenspaces - although it would be more appropriate to use the terminology green and blue infrastructure. Surface water run-off systems are clearly cited in the key messages section, together with opportunities for minimising flood risk and increasing biodiversity. They key questions are also relevant to ensure developers fully consider the multi-functional benefits that well designed greenspaces can provide, including the integration of SuDS.

No answer given