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Mixed use development

Goal: Mixed use development or neighbourhood centres should be designed as a focus for the community.

p131. Mixed use centres or neighbourhood hubs should be designed as a central focus for the community. They should provide an attractive and identifiable environment, supported by high quality public realm treatment including street furniture, materials, lighting and planting. All development within the centre should front onto the public realm and make a positive contribution to natural surveillance, identity and legibility.

p132. Providing a public space will create a more welcoming pedestrian environment suitable for pavement cafés and a place for people to linger or meet friends. Setting the public space back from the road will reduce the intrusion of vehicles.

p133. The clustering of buildings and the scale and massing of the centre or hub should contribute to its legibility. The heights and form of buildings will depend on their location within the district and the size of the proposed development. For example, within a more rural village location a neighbourhood hub could consist of two or three 2-storey buildings clustered around a key node whereas in more urban locations or within larger urban extensions it may be appropriate to structure a number of 3 – 4 storey buildings, a school building and crèche around a public space.

p134. Make sure to include residential development within mixed use centres. This should be above to ensure activity and surveillance throughout the day and night. Residential proposals within these locations should consider service yard locations, noise, odour, lighting and air quality issues.

Figure 60

  Figure 53: Mixed use centres

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Village green
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Market square
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Residential square / green
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Town square / centre

  Figure 54: Examples of squares

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Commercial and retail mixed use (Didcot)
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Market square (Thame)
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Commercial and retail mixed use (Didcot)
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Town centre (Wallingford)

The development should ensure:

    1. the location of mixed-use centres and community hubs are conveniently located at the intersections of a well-connected network and be highly visible. Accessibility for all users is integrated into the design of the centre with frequent public transport conveniently located and well-overlooked. Short stay, visitor and disabled car parking spaces alongside secure cycle parking are included. Service areas must not visually dominate or be present in an active frontage;
    2. mixed use centres and community hubs are designed around clustered facilities fronting onto the high-quality public realm as a focal point. Avoid internal shopping centres or malls fronted by parking areas;
    3. the height of buildings within a centre should be appropriate to its context and aid legibility;
    4. include residential development above non-residential uses to ensure activity and surveillance throughout the day and night. Residential proposals within these locations should consider service yard locations, noise, odour, lighting, security and air quality issues;
    5. active frontage should include increased ground floor ceiling heights to provide more generous non-residential spaces;
    6. ‘wrap’ or locate larger non-residential footprints such as supermarkets or leisure buildings within blocks with a perimeter of active frontage.

Note: All design principles are applicable to all scales of development unless otherwise specified; *minor applications, **major applications