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Chester Public Realm design guide

This Public Realm Design Guide (PRDG) for Chester city centre was produced to set the framework and quality standards for transformational change as a key component in achieving a high quality public realm which complements and is the equal of its architecture, urban form and historic features.

The PRDG’s key objectives are to:

  • provide a coherent approach to improving connections across the city centre, particularly between severed parts of the public realm
  • improve the physical and visual quality of streets for the benefit of residents and visitors, and in turn the city’s economy
  • reinforce Chester’s distinctiveness throughout its public realm
  • redress the balance within the city centre between vehicles and pedestrians/cyclists, such that street design enables civil and social interaction between the two

The PRDG is aimed at all those involved in the investment in, or design or maintenance of the public realm, whether they are overseeing public investment in the public realm or private sector development in the city centre. This will include council employees as well as private sector organisations, developers and consultants. In addition, local businesses may retain an interest as they will benefit from an improved public realm.

Key examples of how the PRDG should be used are to:

  • inform and support Chester Renaissance’s ambitious programme of master planning initiatives already underway
  • inform the design of new and enhanced public spaces and streets
  • help coordinate and prioritise investment in public realm projects
  • provide a framework for external bids for public funding to support improvements to public realm
  • assist council highway officers to secure section 278 agreements to make improvements to highway and public realm
  • assist council development control officers to secure section 106 monies and to ensure that developers deliver public realm that is of a consistently high quality and appropriate to the relevant part of the city
  • guide the council, statutory undertakers and private developers in the selection of surface materials and furniture for the public realm
  • help clarify management and implementation arrangements for streets and spaces

Chester Public Realm design guide documents