The complex geology of West Dorset has produced dramatic variations in landscape and diversity in indigenous building materials within the local authority's area. Limestones predominate on the coast and in the north of the district. In the central eastern
and western areas chalk cob and clunch or chalk block are common while in the centre knapped flint with brick or stone detailing is the traditional building material. Small pockets of clay led to localised brick production, especially around Puddletown Heath to the east of Dorchester. it is here that the Broadmayne bricks, which predominate in the eastern districts and in the town of Dorchester, originate.This richness is recognised by statutory designations: 84 conservation areas and over 7,000 listed buildings. This huge total represents over 2% of all the listed buildings in England including nearly 5% of all Grade I and II* buildings and 17% of all the listed thatched buildings in England. Added to this are a very large number of scheduled ancient monuments of all types.

The district did not stand still in the post war years: nearly every town and village has had its share of new development. There have invariably been standard solutions driven by the County Surveyor's road layouts. These have done nothing to reflect or underpin the district's unique qualities. At Fordington Farm Estate in Dorchester, the misapplication of the Essex Design Guide has resulted in a little piece of Essex appearing in the County Town of Dorset.

By the late 1980s public and member dissatisfaction with the quality of new development in West Dorset was being vigorously expressed, making planning permission for new developments almost impossible to obtain. This movement had been focused by a development in 1987 in the hamlet of Salwayash near Bridport which had been designated a Priority Village in the Dorset County Structure Plan. The visual impact of the development by a regional housebuilder at Salwayash hardened the local authority's resolve that nothing like it should happen again. The then Planning Committee Chairman, Councillor John Lock, instructed me to " do something about the situation" even if this meant introducing changes in existing design regulations.

The village of Cerne Abbas provided the basis for the first footprint plan. A series of plans was produced tracing the history and development of the village from the foundation of the Abbey in 980. The exercise was extended by producing a theoretical plan to illustrate how modern development might have been laid out as village streets, thus building on the local distinctiveness of the village. One incidental effect of this approach is that it renders traffic calming by bumps and chicanes unnecessary: in Cerne Abbas, traffic is calmed by design and by the effect of parked cars.

The footprint of individual buildings is also important in responding to existing local distinctiveness. The normal starter home, for example with its narrow frontage and box porch, when rotated through 90 degrees, produces a wide frontage with no need for the porch and allowing the use of traditional roof pitches and window patterns. More importantly this footprint allows an infinite range of architectural solutions adaptable to most urban and rural localities.

The first use of the 'Footprint' approach to be built was two separate developments in Abbotsbury, including private and social housing. These developments in Back Lane show the advantage in visual terms of achieving an appropriate plan form for the houses, the use of local materials, and the siting of the buildings in an urban manner. The initial scheme had been rejected by parish and district councils. An alternative was sketched, literally on the back of an envelope, during negotiations with the agent and the architect. This scheme increased the numbers proposed by four dwellings: two social and two private houses. The private development proved a commercial success even in the depths of the recession in the housing market.

Design Codes and Footprints are not intended to be prescriptive but rather a tool for use in negotiations with developers who may use the masterplan or produce their own version incorporating the essential principles of the concept.

Having taken the developer on board, persuaded him to adopt townscape principles and achieved detailed planning consent, what can go wrong? "There's many a slip twixt plan and brick" is a reasonable adaptation of the old adage to apply to the development control process. Design amendments after the grant of planning permission are almost certain. Continuous monitoring and cooperation with the developer are vital. Time wasted in adversarial contests can be better spent in finding ways to increase quality and distinctiveness.

It should also be remembered that most building operatives are experienced in 'modern' methods of construction and have no experience of traditional detailing. In the Footprint schemes 1 made regular site visits and met all the site personnel. Bricklayers were asked to design the chimneys within dimensional parameters and based on their own observations of traditional details in the area. This gave the bricklayers ownership of part of the design process and pride in the project. The practice of tradesman input to the design process is one of the features of the West Dorset approach which continues on the prestigious Poundbury development for the Duchy of Cornwall.

Poundbury has provided the sternest test of the Footprint/Code principle, applying it to an urban development with mixed and integrated land uses. Here the Prince of Wales appointed Leon Krier as masterplanner for the development, phase one of which is now in its final stage. There are no separately zoned land uses: factories, offices, workshops and shopping are intermixed to provide a sustainable form of development where absolute reliance on car transport is potentially reduced. Construction details, streetscape, landscape and tree planting are dealt with at the design stage. Particular attention is paid to street lighting to ensure an adequate and inviting after dark environment.

Through the Footprint/Code method the whole development team, official, commercial, and trade, become involved and committed to the production of excellence and the creation of developments with character and local distinctiveness. This all began just as the housing market collapsed in 1989. However, for those developers who accepted the Footprint/Code principle and adopted the notion of trade involvement, the market remained buoyant throughout the depression. For some, demand actually increased. Completed developments such as those at Broadwindsor, Abbotsbury, Bradford Peverell and Poundbury have served as exemplars to other builders and their designers on whom the financial and commercial success of this type of development was not lost. Similar proposals for other development quickly followed to the general benefit of West Dorset as a whole.