Nottingham City Council, as any other Local Authority, is preparing to develop an Area Wide Design Code, a forthcoming mandatory piece of legislation in England and Wales to drive how development happens in each area.

NOTE: “To provide maximum clarity about design expectations at an early stage, all local planning authorities should prepare design guides or codes consistent with the principles set out in the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code, and which reflect local character and design preferences. Design guides and codes provide a local framework for creating beautiful and distinctive places with a consistent and high quality standard of design. Their geographic coverage, level of detail and degree of prescription should be tailored to the circumstances and scale of change in each place, and should allow a suitable degree of variety.” (NPPF, 12.133).

PROCESS

According to central government deadlines, Nottingham is aiming to achieve a final draft Area Wide Code (NAWC) by the Spring of 2026. The production of a design code involves extensive engagement and testing. In the next few months, we will be inviting industry, academia and communities to participate in discussions about how the city should evolve in the future. We now invite anyone who might be interested in participating, to sign the expression of interest below, to be notified of any NAWC related activity in the future.

About the AWDC

Update 07.03.24

Nottingham City Council officers are currently working across departments to produce the documents below, which will be used as a starting point for the engagement process:

• Drafting a vision for the city

• Agreeing the draft area code mapping

Engagement events - coming soon