Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, launched last week the London
Plan, the first planning and development strategy for London in
a generation. The London Plan provides a framework for managing
London's growing population, which is expected to increase by 800,
000 in the next decade and a half.
It includes an extensive range of policies on transport, housing,
employment and the environment that will set the statutory context
for the Mayor and the London boroughs in making planning decisions,
and support sustainable growth and improved quality of life in the
capital.
The Plan divides London up into five sub-regions, North, South,
East, West and Central:
Central Region: Comprises the boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea,
Camden, Islington, Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark and the City of
Westminster.
The East: Covers ten boroughs on both sides of the Thames (City,
Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Baking & Dagenham, Havering,
Redbridge, Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley).
The West: This comprises the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham,
Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, and Hounslow.
The North: This region will cover the boroughs of Barnet, Enfield,
Haringey and Waltham Forest.
The South: This region is made up of the boroughs of Bromley, Croydon,
Merton, Sutton, Richmond, and Kingston.
Launching the Plan, Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "The London
Plan addresses the greatest single challenge facing our city: how
to accommodate growth in London's economy and population at the
same time as creating a more open and equitable society and preserving
and improving London's heritage and environment.
"The London Plan includes a new house building target of thirty
thousand new homes in London every year. Of these, half will have
to be affordable, and all of them will be built to Lifetime Home
standards so that they are flexible enough to adapt to people's
changing needs.
Nicky Gavron AM, the Mayor's Adviser on Strategic Planning, added:
"The London Plan is the first comprehensive strategic plan
for London in nearly 30 years and a sign of our commitment to improving
and supporting London from the City and West End to local neighbourhoods.
In particular the plan aims to correct the imbalance in wealth and
opportunity between East and West London.
"London's growth must work for all its citizens. The London
Plan is the overall framework to get the right development in the
right place and make London look and feel a better city for everyone
who lives and works here. In particular, London is a young city.
It must be much more user friendly for children, young people and
for families.
"Secondly, London is a wasteful city. We must recycle much
more of our waste and reduce our use of energy, through the sustainable
design and construction of our buildings.
"The London Plan sets out a vision of a renewed and sustainable
London. The key challenge now is implementation. We need commitment
from all of the main players to pull together - the Mayor, boroughs,
government, public bodies and the private and public sector. Above
all, the real test of the plan is how soon Londoners themselves
can see a difference in their part of the city and neighbourhood."
The London Plan outlines a strategy for handling the pressures placed
on the capital by the expanding population and increasing demands
on housing and office space. Providing thirty thousand new homes
in London annually is one of the key targets, and detailed work
has already started on identifying potential new housing
sites.
Two separate consultation periods on development of the London Plan
brought in over 2500 responses from individuals and organisations.
The draft London Plan was also submitted to an 'Examination in Public'
by a Government appointed Panel. The consultation process has resulted
in strengthened policies, particularly on waste disposal and energy
use, and a greater emphasis on the sub-regional development frameworks
for Central, East, West, North and South London, which will bridge
the gap between boroughs Unitary Development Plans and the London
Plan, specifying where new jobs and homes can be accommodated and
providing detailed guidelines on how London's suburbs and town centres
can be revitalised.
Link
to the full report
Greater London Authority Web site |
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.............What's
planned for West London
.................(Highlights
from the London Plan)
The strategic priorities for the West London sub-region will be
to:
• capture the benefits of the economic generators, including Heathrow,
within the sub-region for residents, while ensuring that this
development improves not degrades the environment
• realise the potential of Wembley as a nationally and internationally
significant sports, leisure and business location, co-ordinated
with town centre regeneration and new housing
• identify capacity to accommodate new job and housing opportunities
and appropriate mixed-use development. This is especially important
in relation to the Western Wedge, Heathrow Airport, Opportunity
Areas and Areas for Intensification. It will include co-ordinating
skills
development, transport and planning to improve access to jobs
for people from deprived communities in the sub-region
•
maximise the number of additional homes, including affordable
housing, by exceeding housing provision targets set out in this
plan and secure mixed and balanced communities
• promote and intensify retailing, services, employment, leisure
and housing in town centres and opportunities for mixed-use development
• plan for and secure the necessary financial resources to deliver
planned transport infrastructure for the sub-region including
local
schemes that improve public transport, walking and cycling
connections to town centres and employment locations. Particular
priorities for the sub-region are Crossrail 1, the West London
Tram,
improved bus services and enabling more sustainable access to
Heathrow Airport
• improve the variety, quality and access to available employment
sites, especially within Strategic Employment Locations, to meet
the
identifiable demands for employment land
• ensure that social and community infrastructure is retained,
enhanced and expanded where needed
• ensure that new development is sustainable, safe, secure and
well designed, improves the environment, and takes account of
the subregion’s
heritage. The open space and Blue Ribbon Networks are key features.
Air quality and noise in the Heathrow area are particular issues
• identify areas suitable for tall buildings
• plan for waste facilities in line with the principle of self-sufficiency,
including limited provision to meet part of central London’s needs.
Housing and Employment
West London could accommodate 45,000 additional homes and
86,000 new jobs. Much of this should be located in the ‘Western
Wedge’, the London part of which extends from Paddington in central
London through Park Royal and Wembley to Heathrow and its environs.
Transport
Existing transport capacity and planned additional transport
investment should enable West London to accommodate the forecast
level of growth.
Improvements to local transport including buses, cycling and walking
will be very important in facilitating local access especially
in the earlier
phases of the plan when major schemes have yet to come to fruition.
Three schemes are proposed in the Mayor's Transport Strategy:
• an improved West London Line (Willesden Junction to Clapham
Junction) passenger service, and the building of two new stations
to
serve developments in the West London Line corridor (at Shepherd's
Bush and Chelsea Harbour), which would improve an important part
of the core orbital rail network.
• the proposed West London Tram would relieve congestion and create
extra public transport capacity along a 20km corridor connecting
Uxbridge, Southall, Hanwell, Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush
• the Crossrail 1 branch to the west is currently planned to serve
Paddington, Heathrow and Kingston.
Heathrow
The planning framework should establish the scale of opportunities
and mix of development and seek to harness more of the benefits
of wider cross-boundary growth for Londoners. Objectives should
include securing local and sub-regionally important public transport
improvements, reducing pressures for car use and parking, facilitating
commercial site assembly, decontamination and intensification
of use and bringing forward further housing capacity. The planning
framework should also seek better access to the area’s opportunities
for local excluded communities, build on current strengths, such
as Southall’s ethnic identity and links with the Indian sub-continent,
and enhance and protect the environment. The LDA and Heathrow
Area Alliance should play central roles in developing and implementing
the framework. It should focus on sites within two distinct Opportunity
Areas:
• to the north of the airport, Hayes, Stockley Business Park,
West Drayton and Southall
• to the south of the airport, Feltham, Bedfont Business Park
and Hounslow town centre.
White City
White City already has permission for significant new retail
provision. It abuts a wider 30 hectare area where there is pressure
and scope to intensify activity. This is of more than local importance.
It should be co-ordinated strategically to support the viability
of other West and
Central London centres and to ensure that development is based
on public transport rather than more intensive use of parking
provision, which is already excessive and damaging and which ideally
should be reduced over time. The planning framework should resist
further extension of retail and parking provision, build on the
area’s existing strengths as a centre of broadcasting excellence,
increase affordable housing provision and develop the area’s potential
to contribute to rejuvenation of the office market beyond central
London. It should also relate to the intensification of development
at Shepherd’s Bush.
Town centres
The Sub-Regional Development Framework should, in particular,
explore the implications of developing a wider role for Uxbridge,
of better integrating of Ealing Broadway / West Ealing and Shepherd’s
Bush/White City and of regenerating Wembley.
The planned West London Tram between Uxbridge and Shepherd’s Bush
would generate capacity and support the growth of these town centres.
Ealing would benefit from the scheme as well as from the substantial
growth in capacity gained through Crossrail 1.
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