Planning for the Future - Government White Paper

 

Parliament is at present scrutinising the Government's White Paper - Planning for the Future. Below is Civic Voice's comments and you have until the 24th October to make your comments.

This will have a bearing on how Waltham Forest is allowed to develop over the next few years.

Civic Voice's Comments

Comment on the White Paper

Brief description of the Planning Process

In very simple terms the Government sets Planning Policy ( a review is currently underway which will make the Local Plan even more important) by laying down National Policies and Regional Housing Targets. In London’s Case the GLA and Mayor create the London Plan (currently under review) and sets Policies and Targets for the 32 London Boroughs (the City does it’s own thing!).

Waltham Forest is reviewing its Local Plan and is trying to work out how to achieve the target of 27,000 new homes by 2035. It has already consulted on possible sites and decided to separate out these, so the Local Plan is in two parts. Part 1 is the Polices and this will be published in a week or so, but the list of possible sites has already been published and this is what is being consulted on at the moment.

Is this what is planned for the Town Centre?

Ealing Eyesore

Details of the Ealing eyesore


Apparently Capital & Regional are working on a completely new plan for Walthamstow Town Centre and will be consulting the public in the summer. They have already said they want to amend their existing approved scheme by moving the tower blocks so they are no longer over the Victoria Line tracks. But is the new plan to be something like the 55 storeys approved by Ealing Council? This fits in with the Mayor's revised London Plan wanting to build high at transport interchanges.

The Mayor's Vision

New London Plan

Draft Local Plan

Waltham Forest's consultation on the Draft Local Plan is nearing its end. The experience was illuminating as now it is clear why it seemed such a farce. I have been involved with the Local Plans for many years and after the first one, about 30yrs ago, I decided it was too much work for very little gain.

Now it is clear it is worth no work as there is a guarantee there will be no gain! This may sound like a cynical old man speaking but the reality is more true than I had realised. It started with a friend of mine, who lives in Bromley, saying their council might have their planning powers removed because they were not reaching their housing target. This struck me as being draconian!

I attended the launch of the consultation about the London Plan and was horrified by the way Jules Pipe (Ex Hackney Mayor and now Chief Planning Officer of the GLA) wanted every little space built on and up to increase London's population by 3million! At the Waltham Forest consultations the officers made it clear that unless they agreed to these terms they would have their planning powers removed!

So coming to the detail this year Waltham Forest's new homes target from the GLA was 825 homes per year. Next year they have to ensure 1,800 new homes are built. The process means the officers have to identify every site, large and small, where homes can be built to meet the target. If they argue the target is too large the Planning Inspectors, who have to evaluate their Local Plan, could easily decide the figure is too low and should be increased! This give the council an incentive not to oppose the target from the GLA. 

The end result is there is no point in arguing as the officers have their hands (and their careers) tied and no one is prepared to fight. So we as residents might say that the Victoria and Central Line are at capacity, which no one denies, but that is no reason not to build more homes. Planning does not take in to account utility supplies, or Health Services or Schools so the chances are if the 3 million figure is reached London will just grind to a halt!

Adjacent to Waltham Forest is Meridian Water site where 10,000 homes are planned so why does Waltham Forest have an increased target when such a huge development is on its doorstep?

We all know the Government is in a mess and normal business is barely ticking over, but it now turns out, according to an article in the Evening Standard last night, which says the London Plan has been assessed by the Planning Inspectors who say that the GLA target of 65,000 is "undeliverable" and must be reduced to 52,000 which presumably means our Draft Plan target of 1,800 will be reduced! 

The whole process is wrong - you cannot design decent homes in a top down manner it has to be bottom up, and if by the time the figures get to the  Government and there are not enough homes being built in London, then a new town like Milton Keynes has to be planned for. So why was this not done as soon as Milton Keynes was finished - another fine mess various Governments have got us in to!!

North London Waste Plan - update

North London Waste

Tottenham Hale - thousands more homes coming

Continuing along Forest Road you come to Tottenham Hale which has already had thousands of new homes built. Now even more are planned. The latest ones amount to 1,725 flats which means at least 3,500 more people in the area.


Hale Works

279 flats in 32 storey blocks

Hale Wharf 
Lock 17

500 flats in 21 storey blocks

Albermale Court

120 flats in 6 storey blocks

Ashley Road South

826 flats in 20 storey blocks

Forest Road - thousands more homes coming

Having taken a stroll to the Wetlands I thought it would be interesting to see how over developed the area will be in a few years time. Bearing in mind the Victoria line is already at capacity and these new homes are still unfinished. As to Forest Road and the Tottenham gyratory road network it can barely cope with the existing traffic let alone thousands more people moving in to the area.

The Mayor of London is to blame and his planning guru Jules Pipe (ex Mayor of Hackney) thinks you can create higher density and still keep London moving. The only major infrastructure improvement for getting around London is the Queen Elizabeth line and that opens at the end of this year so it will be interesting to see how quickly that fills up! No wonder people are now starting to leave London and move away from the inevitable congestion.

This is not a definitive list of developments in the LBWF part of Forest Road area but it indicates the scale of the looming problems. Total number of flats 1,498 - at least 3,000 more people moving into the area.

1 Hoe Street

18 flats in 5 storeys

Blackhorse Point

350 flats in 3 blocks highest being 21 storeys

4 to 10 Forest Road
4-10 Forest Road consultation

353 Student flats in 9 to 17 storey blocks

Equipment Works
LBWF Regeneration Equipment Works

337 flats in 7 storey blocks




Blackhorse Mills
LBWF Regeneration Blackhorse Mills

440 flats in 16 storey blocks

Blackhorse Point - update

Blackhorse Point

It is depressing how developers use a public consultation to push their plans to the limit. This is the Blackhorse Road Car Park site and TfL own it so the Mayor should not be selling it for expensive flats. The land should be reserved for social housing. 

Somehow the developer has decided that the public want an even higher block, so in typical "willy waving" architects are so good at, the height is going up to 21 storeys so that it is the highest block around! How a 21 storey building can reflect its Victorian history is interesting - I interpret that as meaning that the Grenfell disaster means bricks now have to be used as cladding will not be accepted by the public!! I hope it also has enough lifts to let people escape! It is nice to know that at one of the busiest traffic junctions in the Borough they will be providing play space for the up to 11 years old!

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your interest in our proposals for Blackhorse Point.

We have now held our second public exhibition where we displayed our updated plans for the car park opposite Blackhorse Road station. If you were unable to attend this, you can download copies of the boards from our project website (www.blackhorsepoint.com).

Throughout our public consultation period we have listened carefully to the feedback we have received and this has resulted in the following:

·         We have reduced the heights of four of the proposed buildings adjacent to neighbouring developments towards the northern and eastern parts of the site. These buildings now range from five to eleven storeys.

·         In order to ensure that we deliver the same number of onsite affordable homes, we will be increasing the height of the building on Forest Road – closest to the Blackhorse Mills development – to 21 storeys. This is only slightly taller than the 18 storey tower at Blackhorse Mills, and the 17 storey student accommodation on the south side of Forest Road.

·         The materials of the tallest building continue to reflect the history of the area.

·         Play areas will be provided within the public amenity spaces for all ages up to 11 years old.

·         With regards to the proposed commercial facilities - we will look into delivering a range of facilities across 9,000 sq ft of retail space. These facilities could include a bakery, grocers, gym and restaurant or pub.

This summer we will be submitting a full planning application to Waltham Forest Council. In the meantime there is still an opportunity for you to provide us with your comments on our proposals. You can do so by completing the Feedback Form on our project website or by emailingBlackhorsePoint@londoncommunications.co.uk with your comments.

Yours sincerely,

The Blackhorse Point Consultation Team

Alternative ideas for the Town Centre

THURSDAY 18 July between 2 and 4pm along the avenue of lime trees

Come along to the Town Centre, the avenue of lime trees, to see the ideas international student architects have. Central St.Martins hosts a summer school for final year architects from around the world. Interestingly they were not impressed with the current plans and some of the displays will highlight this and others will have real vision of how the Town Square could be with proper imagination being applied. Well worth a visit.

London Plan

Just Space

Protests Groups in London

London Plan Conference

LONDON PLAN

Just Space Conference

20^th January 2018

 JUST SPACE  organised a meeting for community groups to hear about the London Plan from the GLA Planners. It is a vast subject and the following are just a few of the highlights of the conference.

1. Jules Pipe – Deputy Mayor in charge of revising the London Plan introduced the Conference by saying the conference would not be recording people’s comments. If they wanted to comment on the plan they had to go online and respond by the 2nd March 2018

2. An independent Inspector led inquiry will be held but it will only take written responses Examination in Public.

3. The key statement is Intensification and Densification.

4. London is expected to grow to 10.5 million by 2041 and need an extra 66,000 homes per year. The Green Belt will be protected and the Mayor wants to encourage development on small sites i.e. take an existing petrol station with no homes and few jobs currently and in its place build a 10 storey block with a petrol station on the ground floor, offices on the next few floors and the rest residential.

5. Rachel Rooney is the Planning Manager in overall charge of the London Plan and outlined its key objectives which would be directed at the Boroughs and will create strong communities.

a.       Best Use of Land – 80% of all trips to be walking or cycling. Protect the Green Belt. Increase Opportunity Areas by 9. (Currently 38). Collaborative approach with the Boroughs.

b.      Healthy City – National City Park with 50% green cover – this includes green roofs etc. Promote collaboration with health groups.

c.       Housing – Much greater role for variety of housing, 66k homes to be built each year, loss of green space to be mitigated. Affordable 50% but if under 35% the developers cost viability study required. They want to encourage developers to go for more than 50% affordable as that will speed up the planning process. Grant funding from the Government is needed. Increase density especially near transport interchanges and Town Centres.

d.      Economy – Protect key offices and workspaces, resist conversion of offices to homes, too much industrial land has already been released for housing. Improve digital connectivity and create Enterprise Zones.

e.       Efficiency – mitigate impact on climate, zero carbon by 2015, energy efficiency. A new fire safety statement will be issued.

      6. It was then opened for questions. Most of the questions related to housing and the problems of affordability for all sections of society. A major concern was that community groups felt alienated from the process and were not involved properly.

       7. Community Panel – a panel of community reps gave their views of the plan. Building stronger communities an imperative. Residents need to engage with the process and respond with their views including at Borough level. Doubt about the need for so much housing post Brexit. More research needed on the benefits of Opportunity areas.

       8. Workshops –

a.       Housing – need social housing, viability study allows developers to dodge the issues, accountability needed and more control by tenants.

b.      Regeneration – Community engagement needed, improve networking, community led plans should be incentivised, find new financial models.

c.       Environment – scrap plastic, create circular economy, and reduce need for transport.

d.      Inclusive Communities – multi facets of London population and food. Unresponsive structures from GLA, and communities should be responsive to each other.

       9. Just Space launched their new Policy Documents – Land Reform, Industrial Strategy, Social Impact Assessment and Health.

By which time the conference had overrun!