Content

Salford
City Council - Record of Decision
 
I, Councillor Mike McCusker, Lead Member for Planning, Transport and Sustainable
Development, in exercise of the powers contained within the Council
Constitution, do
hereby:
 
(i)          
Approve the establishment of a Design Review
Forum for Salford and the actions required to facilitate
this;
(ii)         
Approve the full cost recovery charges associated
with the service proposal; and
(iii)       
Delegate authority to the Executive Director of
Place to set charges for the service in the future, and such
actions as may be required to facilitate the effective operation of
the Design Review Forum.
 
The
reasons are:
In 2024 the Council was awarded
funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government (MHCLG) as part of the Planning Skills Delivery Fund to
develop design and heritage skills and outcomes, the scope of which
included the development of a design review process for
Salford.
 
A design review panel typically
comprises a range of built environment professionals with design
expertise (including architects, urban designers, masterplanners, landscape architects, and heritage
specialists) who provide independent advice on design matters.
Design review panels are well established across many local
authorities, particularly those within London and the south east of
England. There are also design review panels which operate
regionally across England. There are considered to be a series of
benefits to establishing a Design Review Forum (DRF) for
Salford.
 
Following the award of funding,
officers have worked to develop and trial the DRF approach. This
has been informed by best practice learning from design review
panels hosted by other local authorities, and by trialling a series
of mock DRF sessions as a means of iterative learning and
refinement. Having undertaken this extensive trialling and
development, it is considered that we are now in a position to
proceed to the next stage with the formal establishment of the
Salford Design Review Forum.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
·        
Direct applicants towards third party providers such
as Places Matter for design review services.
·        
Proposed schemes would not be subject to independent
design review.
 
Assessment of risk:
Whilst the fee associated with
taking a scheme to the DRF represents an additional cost to be
borne by the developer, in the context of the larger scale major
schemes which will be reviewed by the DRF, the fee is considered to
represent a very small component of the typical fees associated
with submission of a planning application and the commission of the
necessary supporting documents. The fee level is commensurate with
the fees associated with other design review services, and as such
it is not considered that this would represent a barrier to
development. The benefits associated with the introduction of a
Salford DRF are considered to demonstrably outweigh any limited
risk in this regard.
 
The
source of funding is:
The service has been designed
to achieve full cost recovery, with the fee payable by developers
to take a scheme to the DRF covering the cost of payments to forum
members, officer resourcing, and associated overheads including
venue and catering costs.
 
Legal Advice
obtained: Supplied by Justin Hobson,
Shared Legal Service 21 February 2025
The establishment of the
Salford Design Review Forum would fall within the Council’s
general power of competence under section 1 of the Localism Act
2011, which includes the ability to charge for the Forum’s
services.
 
Financial Advice
obtained:
Supplied by Martin Anglesey, Accountant 19 February
2025
Commencing in financial year
2025/26, Salford City Council’s Planning Department will
charge applicants £2,950 (plus VAT) in respect of a scheduled
review, and £5,570 (plus VAT) for a bespoke review service.
These charges have been fully costed based on officer time and
other forum members expenses / associated overheads including venue
and catering costs. It is anticipated that income received will
recover these costs, and fees will be subject to change over future
financial years to ensure that cost recovery continues to be
achieved on the Planning revenue budget. The fees to be implemented
are comparable with other Local Authorities / Third Parties who
operate similar schemes throughout the country (Annex B). Project
Innovate is not applicable due to the unique nature of the work
undertaken.
 
Procurement Advice
obtained: Not applicable
 
HR Advice
obtained: Not applicable
 
Climate Change
Implications: Resource efficiency and
sustainable design will be one of the core areas covered in the
scope of the DRF review, and as such the establishment of the DRF
will seek to champion and encourage high quality sustainable design
which has the potential to result in improved outcomes in terms of
the climate change implications of new development.
 
The
following documents have been used to assist the decision
process:
Development Plan (Salford Local
Plan: Development Management Policies and Designations, and Places
for Everyone Joint Development Plan Document).
 
Contact Officer: Gareth
Clegg              
Email: gareth.clegg@salford.gov.uk
 
This decision is not subject to
consideration by another Lead Member.
 
The appropriate scrutiny panel
to call-in the decision is the Growth and Prosperity Scrutiny
Panel.
 

 
Signed: Councillor Mike McCusker                                              
Dated: 12th March 2025
Lead
Member for Planning, Transport and Sustainable
Development
 

 
This decision was published on 14th March 2024.
 
This decision will come into force at
4.00 p.m. on 21st March 2025, unless it is called-in in accordance with the
decision-making process rules.