Design principles

Flexibility and climate change: Keeping the Scheme design flexible to allow it to adapt over time to new technological advancements and a changing climate, including building in resilience against extreme weather events as far as practicable.

Water environment: Ensuring that the Scheme does not increase the risk of flooding elsewhere, is resilient to current and future flooding risks, and adheres to good pollution control practice.

Access: Providing suitable access for the safe construction and operation of the Scheme, including local highway improvements where appropriate and practicable.

Amenity: Minimising impacts on amenity where practicable through embedded mitigation within the Scheme design, including design parameters to address impacts on sensitive receptors. Specific mitigation will be included where required and practicable.

Environment-led design: Seeking to protect and enhance the natural and human environment through the design of the Scheme, including siting infrastructure sensitively and designing it to minimise effects on the natural and physical surroundings, while identifying opportunities for enhancement where practicable.

Mitigation hierarchy: Following the mitigation hierarchy by seeking to avoid impacts wherever practicable. Where impacts cannot be avoided through the design process, seeking to reduce, mitigate and compensate for those impacts, where practicable.

Cumulative developments: Adopting a sensitive and responsive design approach to minimise, where practicable, its contribution to cumulative effects.

Heritage: Including setbacks, buffers and screening in appropriate locations to preserve the setting of designated heritage assets where practicable, while also considering below-ground heritage assets in the design of the Scheme.

National Landscape: Designing the Scheme sensitively in relation to the proposed Yorkshire Wolds National Landscape (YWNL), seeking to further the purpose of YWNL and minimise effects on the designation where practicable.

Net gain: Delivering more than 10% biodiversity net gain through the creation and enhancement of habitats for local wildlife and the management of grassland to maximise ecological value, where practicable.

Land use: Being sensitive to existing land uses where practicable and maximising opportunities to strengthen existing green infrastructure, including terrestrial habitats, and blue infrastructure, including water bodies and watercourses. This may include measures such as connecting isolated trees and filling gaps in hedgerows.

Recreation: Seeking to limit impacts on public rights of way, local recreation and access where practicable, while identifying opportunities, where practicable, to improve existing routes and create new permissive access.