Cornwall Design Guide: launch update

The Cornwall Design Guide announced for launch this autumn has been delayed until the spring.  I understand this is to provide more opportunity for engagement with key partners, including I hope, the Cornwall Design Review Panel and local representation from the likes of practices, developers, interest groups, parishes/towns and professional institutions.  It appears the issue of collaborative design will be addressed specifically – something I think Cornwall has been keen to take up with useful local lessons from both Dott Cornwall in recent years, and from the Neighbourhood Planning front runners in the county (Rame, St Erth, St Eval and Truro).  This is good news though a guide should not be seen as an alternative to good professional advice.  Guidance is notoriously difficult to produce, especially for a large area like Cornwall whose character is minutely diverse.  It is also easy for a design guide brief to expand to include so many aspirations (from aesthetics, to room sizes to environmental performance for instance) that there is a risk that the key issues get diluted in translation.  With Building for Life, the pointers are available as to the kind of things we should be looking for, let’s hope this shows up in the document.