Again, this has posed some difficulties during the last year but these are inevitable when schemes return to panel for a second review and the panel does not include any of the original members. When this does occur clear guidance has been given by the design review panel manager to limit the scope of the second review to the changes and developments made since the initial presentation and this has had some success. 5. Feedback on effectiveness – Some panel members requested feedback on schemes that they had reviewed and although this is often given verbally there is no formal procedure in place. The case studies included in this report go some way towards providing feedback on some schemes but a panel trip to completed DRP schemes for local authority officers, members and design review panel members will be organised in 2009.
There were two Peer Review events held in 2009 when local authority officers visited schemes that had been through design review and compared and contrasted these with similar developments that had not. These events were considered very successful by all who attended and we will be running two similar events during 2010. Invitations will be extended to design review panel members. 6. Strengthening the panel – We are confident that we have a strong multidisciplinary panel in place already but in 2009 we will be looking to supplement this by appointing a further panel member with expertise in the field of sustainable design, to supplement Rosemary Coyne and a panel member experienced in the field of social inclusion, in direct response to the CABE publication Inclusion by Design: equality, diversity and the built environment (CABE, 2008).
Two new panel members, Colin Morrison and Yaser Mir, were appointed during 2009 to provide the skills and experience identified above, both have attended panel meetings and are scheduled to attend more in the current year. Overall, it is felt that the procedural aspects of design review have largely been ironed out over the duration of the seventy five meetings that we have held thusfar, although there are some matters that need continual attention and these are highlighted in the 2010-11 service improvement plan described overleaf.
Figure 16: A design review panel meeting in progress
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