Quality Places
Information on the Council's updated development design guidance, the Quality Places Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)
Adoption of the Quality Places Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)
The revised Quality Places guide is a key tool to raise design quality in the borough and to make the best use of land. This update reflects policy changes, new issues such as the climate emergency and the need to plan for higher density development.
The revised Quality Places SPD was adopted by Council on 18 June 2026.
Supporting documents are available on the Planning Policy Updates webpage
Why was the Quality Places Design Guide updated?
The previous Quality Places design guide was adopted in 2011. It contained lots of useful guidance that remains relevant today, however there were areas that needed updating in line with:
- Local and national policy.
- A change in strategy for accommodating new homes in Eastleigh borough with a move to higher density development.
- The rise of new pressing issues that the design of residential development needs to address, for example the climate and biodiversity emergencies.
Where does the guide apply?
The guide will apply to all development for new and rebuilt homes in all parts of the Borough. Different approaches to housing, parking and public realm are suitable in these different contexts - from suburban to town centre living - which will be explained within the design guide.
Guidance is provided at the neighbourhood, street and building scales.
Process of developing the revised guide
We looked at the current Quality Places SPD and discussed this with Council members and officers in the summer of 2024, to consider:
- What the current Quality Places does well;
- Areas that require updating or new material to address current design challenges in the borough; and
- Priorities for the updated document to focus on.
From these discussions, we developed a draft vision and set of priorities for development in Eastleigh and asked for comments on an Introduction, vision and priorities example section.
We have considered some of the key issues facing the borough. The section on Neighbourhoods illustrated how compact living could be designed into existing areas or to create new areas. The section on Streets included design principles to achieve safe, convenient, welcoming streets that encourage walking and cycling. The section on Buildings and Homes proposes principles for the design and integration of parking.
These example sections indicated the style, format and content of what an updated Quality Places Guide might look like. The feedback was used to help inform updates to these sections, as well as drafting the rest of the document.
We also assessed the draft SPD to consider if a Strategic Environmental Assessment and / or full Habitats Regulation Assessment was needed. This screening concluded that they were not required - Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) and Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) Screening Statement