| Topic: | Summary of what's in the LDF | |
| Posted by: | Vlod Barchuk | |
| Date/Time: | 19/08/10 18:19:00 |
| Most of you will have far more interesting things to do with your lives than read through dull looking council reports. Here’s a quick summary of how things stand. In June, the Council approved in principle a set of planning policies on which it is going to consult this autumn. There will then be a public examination of the plan by a government inspector. The main highlights are: 14,000 more housing units in the borough by 2026. Residential and business development will be primarily concentrated in two development corridors – the Uxbridge Road / Crossrail corridor (particularly in Acton, Ealing and Southall town centers; around key stations at Acton Mail Line, Ealing Broadway and Southall; and, municipal housing estates including South Acton, Green Man Lane and Havelock) and the A40 / Park Royal corridors (particularly in Greenford town centre; North Acton and Greenford stations; Park Royal; and, other industrial estates). Housing densitiy. “Whilst proper regard shall be made to relevant London Plan policies…. the density matrix should not be applied mechanistically and the council will, in particular, take into account primarily the quality of the design, the location of the site and the need to provide a suitable housing mix”. So planning officers will pay even less attention to density levels, with more housing crammed onto available sites. Waste management. 70% of waste currently goes outside West London, the plan is to manage it all within West London. Does ‘managing’ it mean more waste transfer sites/incinerators? No clarity provided on this. Horn Lane industrial site. The intention is “to retain the aggregates and cement works to the north of the station as this is an important railhead for the distribution of construction materials in West London. Opportunities will be sought to reduce further the environmental impact of the industrial activities on the surrounding residential areas.” A railhead meaning vehicles travelling to and from this point. So no effort to encourage alternative developments and to take advantage of Crossrail to change the nature of the area. There is no mention of A40 Green Corridor at Gypsy Corner, which many residents have fought to maintain in face of TfL attempting to put bus depots/ high density housing on this site. The plan does identify the area around North Acton station as suitable for high density housing and tall buildings – draw your own conclusions. Schools. “Increase capacity at primary and high schools and provide new schools for the increase in population where capacity cannot be met. Deliver planned increases in capacity at existing schools.” But no indication given of how many schools and GP premises will be required, nor where these might be located. These are all draft proposals, so will become planning policy if not challenged. |