Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

What is a design and access statement?

With a few exceptions, all applications for planning permission and listed building consent need to be accompanied by a design and access statement. This needs to explain:

• The design principles and concepts that have been applied to the development - i.e. relating to the amount, layout, scale, landscaping and appearance of the development, and how the design of the development takes into account its context.
• How issues relating to access to the development have been dealt with – i.e. the policy adopted relating to access and how relevant development plan policies have been taken into account, whether any consultation has been undertaken, how any issues which might affect access have been addressed, how all prospective users will be able to gain access to and through the development, reasons for choosing the main points of access to the site and the layout of internal routes, and how features which ensure access will be maintained.
• In relation to all applications for listed building consent, the design principles and concepts that have been applied to the scale, layout and appearance of the works, and how these and the adopted policy relating to access take account of the special architectural or historic importance of the building, any important physical features of the building, and the building’s setting.

Applications which need to be accompanied by a design and access statement but are submitted without one will not be registered until the statement has been received. Although the length of statements needs to be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the proposed development, they must go into sufficient depth to illustrate the process that has led to the proposal and it needs to explain and justify the proposal in a structured way.

The exceptions to the need to submit a design and access statement are for:

• Engineering or mining operations
• Material changes of use of land or buildings
• Householder planning applications, unless any part of the site lies within a conservation area or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or a site of Special Scientific Interest in which case a statement is required.