A steering group was established, representing a broad range of interests, including the Town, District and County Councils' together with representatives of landowners and developers. Under its direction, a project team carried out detailed work including, defining the development context, establishing design principles, preparing urban design options and solutions, and carrying out public consultation. The approach attempted to ensure that the resources and skills of both public and private sectors were effectively employed. This involved not only sharing operational costs but also, knowledge and information. Although quality means different things to different people, it is primarily about satisfying people's needs and expectations.
Satisfaction is achieved when expectations are exceeded.
A number of concepts which can be applied to the planning and design process which help expose what we are attempting to achieve. Options, Principles and Solutions To exemplify the concept of quality thresholds, it was decided to progress three corresponding development options. It conforms to the specification of adopted planning policy and therefore meets the basic quality threshold. This may have involved the preparation of a simple development brief together with pre-application discussions. Such a development would conform to specification, exhibit some superior attributes, be fit for its purpose and provide some stakeholders with value for money.