East Staffordshire Borough Council has long supported the preparation of Village Design Statements and indeed was the first planning authority to prepare and adopt a Design Statement for Yoxall. I am pleased to see that Tutbury’s will soon be included.

The draft local plan carries this support further and recognises that through such guidance a better quality of new development is possible.

To demonstrate the importance that ESBC attaches to Village Design Statements, the council is preparing a program of VDS’s and has a target of at least two new design statements over the next twelve months.

Knowing the hard work that is involved, I was delighted to see that the Tutbury VDS Core Team Group discussed their ideas with the council’s planners. This helps to ensure that the work will be influential in the planning process - and of course the officers are always happy to help and advise.

My thanks to the team and everyone else who has contributed
to this project.