Village, Town and Parish Design Statements (VDS)

Village, Town and Parish Design Statements (VDS) are produced by local communities. They describe the distinctive local character of an area and set out principles to guide the design of new development. 

Once adopted by the council they are used to inform and support the policies contained within the Local Plan and can be material considerations in the determination of planning applications.

We have produced a guide for communities thinking of preparing a VDS [29KB] .
 

Current consultation

The local community in Stanford Dingley has updated its Parish Design Statement, originally published in 2010. We are now inviting feedback on the draft version through a six-week public consultation, running from Friday 7 November to 4.30pm on Friday 19 December 2025.

The draft document is available to view online here [286KB] .

Further details about the consultation are available to view online here. 

The following VDS have been adopted by the council:

• Basildon VDS (March 2001) [61KB]
• Bucklebury Vision Parish Design Statement (Oct 2019) [6MB]
• Chieveley VDS (April 2002) [58KB]
• Cold Ash and Ashmore Green VDS (May 2002) [1MB]
• Speen Village Design Statement (VDS) [7MB]
• Beenham VDS (July 2003) [1006KB]
• Hermitage VDS (July 2004) [7MB]
• Inkpen VDS (August 2004) [2MB]
• Newbury TDS (refresh July 2018) [10MB]
• Compton VDS (October 2005) [3MB]
• Pangbourne VDS (November 2005) [1MB]
• Brimpton VDS (2007) [574KB]
• Stratfield Mortimer VDS (November 2007) [1MB]
• Streatley VDS (March 2009) [1MB]
• Hamstead Marshall VDS (August 2009) [1MB]
• Stanford Dingley VDS (January 2010) [5MB]
• Burghfield VDS (August 2011) [2MB]