Community Uses

“Successful communities require a range of local services and facilities including schools, nurseries, workplaces, healthcare, spiritual, recreational, civic and commercial uses.” – The National Design Guide

VISION

Kent’s new communities will be vibrant places where people want to live, work, play and visit. Mixing residential and business development will provide local employment and reduce people’s need to travel. Services will be readily available and integrated into communities, with a range of transport options including active travel and green pathways enabling easy, sustainable movement.

MAKE PLACES, BUILD COMMUNITIES

You should be committed to building communities, not just developments, whether you’re working in a large urban area like Medway, or a small village in the High Weald AONB. You should consult meaningfully with existing residents to ensure your project delivers real community benefits over time, and offers something for everyone. To support community cohesion, we want to see designs that make it impossible to distinguish between affordable and market housing when viewed from the street.

MEET REAL NEEDS

Good design is a mix of housing and other services that serve new residents and the wider community, making a positive social and economic impact on Kent as a whole. You should address the full range of needs, from shopping and employment to access to healthcare and spaces where children can play safely. We want to see shops and business premises placed near to homes wherever possible to help people live and work more sustainably; they may also be clustered within walking distance, or linked by cycle routes, walkways or public transport. Community infrastructure and buildings may have multiple uses, supporting cultural engagement through activities such as maker spaces, arts classes and performance, and sustainability.

ADD GREEN ELEMENTS

You should provide multifunctional green spaces for play, exercise and relaxation, and use green and blue infrastructure for the benefit of biodiversity, air quality, shading and water storage. We like to see allotments, which encourage connections between residents as well as sustainable food-growing; your design should also include recycling facilities, provision for car-share schemes and other measures to support inclusivity and sustainable living.

CONSIDER FUTURE USES

Your design should include infrastructure for changing working practices, particularly digital connectivity for remote working, superfast broadband, and low-carbon hubs with flexible networking and meeting spaces for local entrepreneurs and small businesses. You should also consider the community’s long-term future, by providing an integrated mix of tenure-neutral housing types to suit people at all stages of life. This enables people to stay in their community as their housing needs change, promoting social cohesion and a sense of place.

Please avoid:
Creating layouts that segregate different uses within the community; we want to see integration
Designing for only one type of resident or market sector – provide a mix and variety of housing and tenures
Hiding new facilities and mixed uses beyond the site and away from people; this undermines the sense of community cohesion

Sustainability Checklist:

This characteristic is particularly important for Natural Capital and Sustainable Connectivity.

VISION

MAKE PLACES, BUILD COMMUNITIES

MEET REAL NEEDS

ADD GREEN ELEMENTS

CONSIDER FUTURE USES

Sustainability Checklist:

Characteristic Links:

Context

Public Spaces

Identity

Community Uses

Built Form

Homes & Buildings

Movement & Connectivity

Resources

Nature

Lifespan