Historically MBC had a Design Guide for shop fronts (c.1990s) in the form of supplementary planning guidance (SPG) but no current guidance exists. The proposed guidance provides an understanding of the development of shop fronts and introduces the elements that make a good shop front with a heritage setting, it also provides initial guidance on the other factors that require consideration, such as planning, building control and licensing authorisations.

The reason for the guidance is to aide shop owners/ occupiers to provide high-quality, suitable design shop fronts, and to offer design support for case officers when dealing with planning applications. The guidance could be adopted in the Council’s DPD for “Design & Sustainability” and the Town Centre Strategy.