We know that London is unique in many ways. One of these is that it is the only city in the country, which has a strategic regional level statutory planning document, known as the London Plan, written by the Mayor. The current London Plan is coming up for review, and so Londoners and Councils have all been asked to for their views on the draft London Plan before the 2nd March 2018.
The London Plan is an important document as we have to take it into account when determining planning applications and Brent Council’s own policies (Brent’s revised Local Plan is at one of its consultation stages as well) have to accord with it.
aAt Brent, we have been scrutinising the draft plan to make sure it enables Brent to continue to flourish, support residents and businesses, as well as play its role in maintaining London as a fantastic global city.
There is much in the draft Plan that from a Brent perspective is positive and to be supported. It is based on 'good growth' principles, which focus on creating a more obvious link between new development and improved outcomes for residents, for example, 'Building strong and inclusive communities' and 'delivering the homes Londoners need'. An underlying theme is reducing inequalities across London. You can't argue with these Good Growth principles as statements of how growth should be managed and benefit communities and businesses.
However, there are also some bits which are of concern - although well intentioned for London as a whole, the impact on Brent is of concern. For example, the amount of housing that Brent is being expected to provide to meet London's housing need. As a Council we want to see more housing built, but the Plan sets a housing target of 2,915 dwellings per year for the next 10 years. This is equivalent to an additional home for every 5 that currently exist, which is a high and challenging target to meet. The Mayor and his team have identified some of the outer London areas as being able to take more dwellings. We want to work with the Mayor to find the most suitable locations for housing.
The Plan also requires the protection of existing employment land and ideally finding some more. To meet these current ambitions in particular will be very challenging. Whilst responding positively on the majority of the draft Plan, the Council is likely to object to parts.
If you want to find out more about the draft London Plan, and find out how to comment on it, it is on line at https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan. Additionally, Brent Council is currently consulting on its own new Local Plan, which will shape how the Borough is developed in the future. This consultation document sets out the key future development challenges for Brent and how the Council might address them. The consultation period is open until the 22nd March 2018 and the consultation document and summary of consultation to-date is available at www.brent.gov.uk/shapebrent.
CIIr Ketan Sheth
Councillor for Tokyngton Wembley
Brent Council’s Chair of Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee