Policy P15

a) Developers should be required to demonstrate how the proposed development meets the principles of being well planned, designed and sustainable. They should describe what is innovative about the development and what makes it a locally distinctive place, and also describe how parks, play areas, community facilities, open spaces and environmental systems will function and help create the sense of place. Furthermore they should describe how local employment opportunities will be created to support the local community.
In the past it has been argued that smaller developments should be exempt from such requirements, but in places like Knowle where a number of medium sized developments are planned within a small area (resulting in a large development overall), developers should be required to cooperate to produce such statements.
b) Housing developers should not be allowed to construct roads of inadequate width and pavements of inadequate widths.
Some estate roads are only just wide enough for a removal lorry, for example. This is the total road width so two way traffic is not a possibility. Similarly, if a health visitor is making a visit to one house, another health visitor cannot easily access an adjacent house. Furthermore, fire services will only rescue people trapped on an upper floor if two fire engines are present, and the width of some roads do not allow such access. This is totally unacceptable planning.
Pavements should be continuous and also be wide enough for a double buggy. It is not acceptable to build a pavement just wide enough for the slimmest of single buggies. It should not matter whether or not the road is to be adopted by the Council. Furthermore, on some estates pavements have only been provided on one side of the street, alternating with house frontages, which is dangerous for pedestrians and restricts the sense of community.

c) Air quality standards should be included in Policy 15 with a requirement for on-going monitoring.