Powell Dobson Urbanists were commissioned to prepare a Public Realm Good Practice Guide together with Capita Symonds, Anthony Jellard Associates and Hamilton-Baillie Associates for five local authorities in South East Wales.

The publication takes national best practice and policy guidance and applies it to a unique geographic area. Our work establishes a set of principles that will incorporate all aspects of the public realm such as landscaping, materials, traffic management, pedestrian priority, maintenance, design, equal access, placemaking and distinctiveness.

The principles recommended by this study has been strongly supported by Design Commission for Wales.We have deliberately not prepared a ‘design manual’ but instead outlined the important factors that Local Authority officers will need to consider in order to place the towns in The Heads of the Valleys at the vanguard of good street design and management in the UK. One of the key recommendations outlines the need to ensure that local differences are celebrated, whilst embracing themes that give the towns in the study area a common identity. Using local materials and local methods of construction was an important element of this approach.