Neighbourhoods for living

​Neighbourhoods for Living was originally produced to supplement national design guidance and to provide support for the Leeds Unitary Development Plan. The guide specifically provides further clarity for developers and designers in Leeds regarding the following:

• the themes and principles of residential design
• the character and essence of Leeds
• submission requirements and analysis based process

​Neighbourhoods for Living should provide the starting point for anyone involved with new development in Leeds at any scale, and is of value to a variety of groups:

• developers
• design teams
• local amenity societies and community groups
• businesses
• politicians and other representatives of the community
• general public
• students

​Neighbourhoods for Living can be used in a variety of ways (ranging from strategic to detailed) to provide:

• a background to residential-based character analysis
• key principles required for general good practice in housing design
• examples of good practice in drawings and mapping to initiate proposals for a site
• clear submission requirements for planning applications
  Structurally, the guide provides a basis to explore:
• Issues - starting with a particular topic, then using cross references to enable  an holistic approach to design issues to emerge
• Process – the section entitled ‘Bringing it all Together’ provides an approach to the processes of design with case studies. The ‘Outline’ at the start of the document indicates the type of information/drawings required to submit a planning application
  

Neighbourhoods for Living was adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance by Leeds City Council to complement the Unitary Development Plan – 9th December 2003. It is now in its second printing and is also available to download from the internet.