London planning news, November 2021

The Mayor is currently consulting on three draft pieces of guidance, parts of which relate to certain policy requirements in the London Plan, published February 2021. This includes:

The guidance on Urban Greening Factor advises on Policy G5 of the new London Plan (NLP). This aims to ensure that all major developments include urban greening as an integral part of the design of the site. The new guidance intends to support applicants and officers evaluate the quality and quantity of urban greening, while also looking at opportunities for this to help meet other requirements relating to biodiversity, flood risk and sustainable drainage, as well as the Mayor’s Healthy Streets initiative.

The Sustainable Transport, Walking and Cycling Guidance advises on how development can integrate walking routes and provide improvements to London’s cycle network in relation to NLP Policy T3 - Transport capacity, Connectivity and Safeguarding. The main focus is on ensuring that the design of new development feels safe, legible, and feature good permeability, to encourage both walking and cycling. The guidance also seeks to safeguard existing and planned public transport infrastructure.

The guidance on Air Quality Neutral and Air Quality Positive relates to Policy SI 1 of the NLP. This requires all new developments to meet specific Air Quality Neutral benchmarks, which are related to the planned use and scale of the development. Alongside the operational emissions related to that development, this also takes into account the emissions associated with a building's construction, including those from the transportation, manufacturing, and installation of building materials.

The consultations on the Urban Greening Factor and Sustainable Transport Guidance will close on 20 December 2021. The consultation on the Air Quality and Air Quality Positive Guidance will close on 27 February 2022.

In addition to these, a final version of the Mayor’s ‘Be Seen’ Energy Monitoring Guidance has also now been published. This is aimed at supporting developers and owners of new major developments in monitoring and reporting on the operational energy performance. This is to comply with the requirements of Policy SI 2 of the NLP, which seeks to minimise emissions from greenhouse gases.

Guidance from the Mayor may be a material consideration where relevant to the determination of planning applications within Greater London.

The Mayor has launched a new charter for London’s public spaces. The Charter is aimed at designers, owners and managers of public spaces, to ensure London’s public realm is safe, accessible, attractive and inclusive to all.

The Charter is based upon eight core principles which relate directly to Policy D8 of the London Plan, particularly the requirements for effective management under part H of this policy. This requires applicants to demonstrate the public realm will:

The guidance aims to support the application of each of the principles, providing further detail as to how this should be applied when new public spaces are provided within new developments. It recommends that the requirements set out in any management plans should be secured under S106 agreements, to ensure the long-term management and maintenance is in place which for the life of the development irrespective of any changes in ownership. The following draft clause is suggested to support this:

It also suggests that landowners of existing public spaces can sign up voluntarily to the principles of the Charter, though its principles can only be enforced against where there is a legal agreement linked to a planning permission.

 

The Secretary of State has rejected an appeal for a proposed 305m high viewing-tower in the City of London referred to as the ‘Tulip’. The key issues focused on the potential harm caused to various heritage assets and strategic views in and around the Square-Mile, and the extent to which the design of the scheme had resolved these.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, had previously directed the City of London refuse permission in 2019, arguing the development would “compromise the ability to appreciate the Outstanding Universal Value of the Tower of London World Heritage Site”, amongst other issues, including the impact on London’s strategic views 10A (Tower Bridge) and Views 25 A.1-3 (Queen’s Walk to the Tower of London).

Similarly, the Secretary of State also considered the negative effect the proposed scheme would have on the significance of a number of heritage assets located within the wider setting of the proposal, agreeing with the conclusions of his Inspector, who noted in their decision:

While concluding that the harm to heritage was less than substantial, very significant weight was given to these issues in the overall planning balance.

The design of the scheme was considered in detail, particularly in regard to the criteria set out under paragraph 130 of the Framework, which relate to the form, function and detailing, its relationship with the surrounding context, impact on amenity, and its sustainability.

The design of the building was considered to reflect its function well, with the SoS commending the consideration given to its ground floor entrances on such a tightly constrained site. However, it was noted that there were no plans how the building may have been re-used once it had served its purpose as a viewing tower, or if the scheme were later to be demolished.

Though it was noted that the scheme would achieve a BREEAM rating of outstanding, the proposals "very high embodied energy" and "unsustainable whole life-cycle’ weighed against this; "the highly unsustainable concept of using vast quantities of reinforced concrete for the foundations and lift shaft to transport visitors to as high a level as possible to enjoy a view."

While moderate weight was given to the economic, tourism and educational benefits of the scheme, the heritage balance was ‘firmly against’ the proposal, and it was concluded that the clear and convincing justification required by para 200 of the NPPF had not been met.

 

Three London boroughs have received funding as part of a Government pilot to support the use of digital tools in the planning system. The Prop-Tech Engagement Fund was launched this summer, to aid better engagement in the plan-making process, help publicise development proposals, and to analyse consultation responses.

The London Borough of Hounslow will receive £100,000 in funding. This will support the creation of a 3D map, enabling residents to visualise proposals and their surrounding context and comment directly.

London Borough of Wandsworth is to receive £30,000 which it intends to use on various initiatives to improve engagement rates with groups often underrepresented in planning decisions.

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is to receive £100,000 to support with the development of an application which will provide augmented reality visualisations of new development proposals.