TE4: Design Principles

Policy TE4: Design Principles

In applying National Decision-Making Policy DP3 on the key principles for well-designed places, development proposals and public realm improvements outside the areas covered by Policies TE1 and TE5 should respond positively to the locally distinctive qualities of the relevant area, as identified in Appendix F – The NFDC Settlement Character Assessment (March 2026).

A) Where relevant to the location, nature and scale of the proposal, development should apply the following locally specific design principles:

i. Rumbridge Street and Old Totton: maintain the predominantly domestic scale and fine grain of the older townscape, including characteristic red-brick buildings, hipped and gabled roof forms, traditional terraces and shopfronts. Larger buildings should be located and designed so that they do not overwhelm the established street rhythm, with opportunities for appropriately designed buildings to mark important corners or vistas.

ii. Eling outside the Conservation Area: respond to the regular street and plot rhythm, predominantly domestic scale and characteristic early twentieth-century red-brick development. Characteristic front and rear garden spaces, roof forms, green verges and traditional boundary walls and railings should be retained and incorporated into development where they make a positive contribution to the street scene.

iii.Testwood and Rushington: retain the distinctive character created by predominantly domestic buildings in generous plots, wide streets, mature trees, green verges and landscaped front gardens. Development, including alterations to access and parking, should avoid the unnecessary loss of those green frontage features or the dominance of hardstanding and parked vehicles.

iv. Hounsdown and Hammond Green: respond to the varied and incremental pattern of development, including cottages, bungalows and later suburban housing, and to the garden settings, verges and incidental green spaces which contribute to local character. Infill development should respond particularly to the scale, plot pattern and building relationship of its immediate street. Contemporary design may be appropriate on larger self-contained sites where it establishes a coherent character of its own.

v. Calmore:
a. within the older village area, maintain its linear village form, varied houses and bungalows, deep gardens, mature vegetation and sylvan character; and
b. within the later estate areas, retain the characteristic open-plan relationship between development and the street, including communal green spaces, mature trees, wide verges and pedestrian and cycle links.

vi. West Totton and Ashurst Bridge: respond positively to the landscape-led structure of the area, including retained hedgerows and field trees, informal building lines and varied setbacks, landscaped frontages and the West Totton Green Route. Development should maintain and, where practicable, strengthen connections between homes, green spaces and community facilities.

vii. North Totton and development on the northern settlement edge: use a landscape-led layout which responds to the area’s more rural character, including existing lanes, woodland, streams, hedgerows, important trees and changes in landform. Development should provide a positive transition between the built settlement and countryside and maintain opportunities for walking and cycling connections into the surrounding green infrastructure network.

viii. Calmore Industrial Area: retain and reinforce the landscaped setting of employment development, particularly the green margins along Brunel Road and the wooded and countryside edges of the area. New or redeveloped buildings, servicing areas and parking should be integrated through landscape treatment appropriate to their scale.

ix.Throughout the area, access, parking and frontage alterations should be designed so that they do not unnecessarily erode characteristic grass verges, front gardens, landscaped margins, mature trees, hedges, walls, railings or communal green spaces which contribute positively to the character of the relevant street or neighbourhood.

B) The application of these principles should not require the replication of existing architectural styles. High-quality contemporary design and innovation that established a distinct identity for Totton will be supported where the proposal responds positively to the characteristics identified for the relevant Settlement Character Area and contribute to a distinctive and coherent sense of place.

C) At Eling Hill and Houndsdown where development is proposed on the southern edge of these character areas, its layout, scale, landscape structure and open-space provision should avoid creating a continuous or visually merging built edge between Totton and Eling and Marchwood.

D) Within all major development sites, the inclusion of Public Art is encouraged. This can include bespoke design stand-alone features, sequences of interventions, architectural elements, street furniture, lighting, wall-scapes / floor-scapes, landscaping and interactive experiences such as heritage trails and play space. It should be unique, of high quality and site specific, responding to the character, heritage, landscape and wildlife of the local area, surrounded by the New Forest and the River Test or illustrating its shipbuilding past, its waterside setting and the Tide Mill.