Annual Monitoring Report 2008
Planning for a Better Watford 0338 - 11/08
Annual Monitoring Report 2008
Contents
1. Executive Summary ...... 4 2. Introduction...... 8 3. Local Development Scheme...... 12 3.1. Statement of Community Involvement...... 14 3.2. Core Strategy DPD...... 15 3.3. Site Allocations DPD ...... 16 3.4. Development Control Policies DPD...... 16 3.5. Residential Design Guide SPD ...... 17 3.6. Section 106 Contributions SPD...... 17 3.7. Charter Place Planning Brief SPD...... 18 3.8. Proposals Map ...... 18 3.9. Evidence Base ...... 18 3.10. Risks ...... 18 4. Contextual Characteristics of Watford ...... 19 4.1. Demographic Structure ...... 19 4.2. Comparison of projected population growth to 2031 ...... 21 4.3. Projected Household Growth 2004-2029 ...... 21 4.4. Ethnicity...... 23 4.5. Crime...... 23 4.6. Deprivation ...... 25 4.7. Economy ...... 26 4.8. Labour Demand and Supply ...... 27 4.9. Built Environment ...... 29 4.10. Education, Skills and Training...... 29 5. Local Output Indicators...... 32 5.1. Transport...... 32 5.2. Environment ...... 40 5.3. Housing ...... 41 6. Core Output Indicators ...... 47 6.1. Business Development...... 47 6.2. Housing ...... 54 6.3. Environmental Quality ...... 64 7. Appendix 1. Glossary of Terms ...... 74 8. Appendix 2. List of Studies which act as the LDF Evidence Base...... 79 9. Appendix 3. 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation ...... 82 10. Appendix 4. Comparison of New Core Output Indicators with Original Core Output Indicators ...... 84 11. Appendix 5a. Local Development Scheme Timetable and Milestones – the original LDS approved by Government Office February 2006 ...... 87 12. Appendix 5b. Local Development Scheme Timetable and Milestones – the revised LDS approved by Government Office July 2007 ...... 88 13. Appendix 6. Watford Context Map...... 89 14. Appendix 7. List of WDP 2000 Saved Policies agreed by Secretary of State’s Direction dated 14 September 2007 ...... 90 15. Appendix 8. Summary Butterfly Conservation Transect Data (Total Butterflies and Total Species) By District 2000 – 2006...... 95 16. Appendix 9. Summary of Housing Commitments @ 31/3/08 and Projected Annual Completions ...... 96
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17. Appendix 10. Outstanding Allocated Sites without Planning Permission @ 31/3/08 ...... 97 18. Appendix 11. Housing Sites listed in Watford District Plan 2000 – Status @ 31/3/08 ...... 98 19. Appendix 12. Summary of 5 Year Assessment of Housing Supply ...... 100
Tables
Table 1: List of local development documents referred to in 2006 and 2007 LDS.... 14 Table 2: Statement of Community Involvement milestones...... 14 Table 3: Core Strategy DPD milestones...... 15 Table 4: Site Allocations DPD milestones ...... 16 Table 5: Development Control Policies DPD milestones ...... 16 Table 6: Residential Design Guide SPD milestones...... 17 Table 7: Section 106 Contributions SPD milestones ...... 17 Table 8: Charter Place Planning Brief SPD milestones ...... 18 Table 9: Age and Sex of Population by numbers...... 20 Table 10: ONS projected population figures...... 21 Table 11: DCLG revised 2004 based household projections and comparison of % increase from 2004-2029 with original 2004 based projections...... 22 Table 12: DCLG revised 2004 based Household Projections by Household Type... 22 Table 13: Ethnic Composition of Resident Population in percentages ...... 23 Table 14: Crime in Watford 2005-08...... 24 Table 15: Reported Number of Crimes 1/4/07 to 31/3/08 per 1000 population by Watford ward ...... 24 Table 16: Median earnings in pounds for employees living in area ...... 27 Table 17: VAT Registrations/Deregistrations by Industry ...... 27 Table 18: Number of and % change in VAT registered businesses for Watford...... 27 Table 19: Jobs density representing the ratio of total jobs to working-age population (includes males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59)...... 28 Table 20: Claimant Count Comparison 2004-2008...... 28 Table 21: Total Claimant Count and Change 2006-2008 ...... 28 Table 22: Qualifications of working age population (males 16-64 & females 16-59) 30 Table 23: Percentage of completed non-residential development within UCOs A, B and D complying with car-parking standards set out in the WDP 2000 ...... 32 Table 24: Percentage of new residential development (net completions) within 30 minutes public transport time of services/key activities ...... 33 Table 25: Car Ownership - % of households and total cars per household ...... 34 Table 26: Method of travel to work - Watford...... 34 Table 27: % Change in Total Vehicle Kilometreage on HCC roads in Watford...... 35 Table 28: Walking to work levels in Watford – proportion of all journey to work trips 37 Table 29: Watford’s cycle route usage – no. of trips per year and annual % change 37 Table 30: Annual output for cycle routes in Watford ...... 38 Table 31: Amount (hectares) of eligible open spaces managed...... 41 Table 32: Average house prices in Watford 3rd quarter 2004-2007...... 42 Table 33: Average house prices & volume of sales –...... 43 Table 34: Households and tenure...... 44 Table 35: Watford Gross Housing Completions 2002-08 by type and no. of bedrooms ...... 44 Table 36: Household spaces ...... 46
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Table 37: Total amount (sq.m.) of additional employment floorspace in Watford – by type (BD1 (i)) ...... 48 Table 38: Total amount of additional employment floorspace in employment areas - by type (BD1 (ii))...... 49 Table 39: Total amount of employment floorspace (sq.m.) on PDL – by type (BD2 (i)) ...... 50 Table 40: Percentage of gross floorspace (sq.m.) developed for employment on PDL – by type (BD2 (ii))...... 51 Table 41: Employment land available by type - sites for which planning permission has been granted (but not implemented) in hectares (BD3 (ii)) ...... 51 Table 42: Amount in sq.m. of completed retail, office and leisure development: within town centres (BD4 (i))...... 53 Table 43: Amount in sq.m. of completed retail, office and leisure development: within local authority area – Watford (BD4 (ii)) ...... 53 Table 44: Net Housing Completions and Projected Completions @ 31 Mar ’08 against Structure Plan Target...... 55 Table 45: Net Housing Completions and Projected Completions @ 31 Mar ’08 against East of England Plan Target ...... 56 Table 46: Total Net Housing Completions by Allocated Site or Windfall Type 2001- 2008 ...... 59 Table 47: Percentage of new and converted homes (gross) on previously developed land (H3)...... 61 Table 48: Affordable Housing Units completed 2007-08 (H5)...... 62 Table 49: Affordable Housing agreed as at 31 March 2008 ...... 63 Table 50: Percentage of new dwellings (gross) completed by net density (previously designated COI 2c)...... 64 Table 51: Number and area of wildlife sites in Watford (E2)...... 66 Table 52: Installed capacity of sites generating electricity from renewable sources (MW), 20071 ...... 72
Figures
Figure 1: Population pyramid for Watford – Census 2001 ...... 19 Figure 2: Number of Employee Jobs by Industry Groups – Watford 2006...... 26 Figure 3: GCSE and equivalent results for young people, referenced by location of educational institution – all 15 year old pupils achieving 5+ A* - C...... 30 Figure 4: Mean House Prices January 2001-March 2008 ...... 42 Figure 5: Annual Income required to fund 90% mortgage at three and a half times salary in respect of average property prices in Watford for period Jan-Mar 2008..... 44 Figure 6: Watford Gross Completions 2002-07 (Years ending 31 March) ...... 45 Figure 7: 2008 Housing trajectory based on Structure Plan Target ...... 55 Figure 8: 2008 Housing trajectory based on East of England Plan Target ...... 57 Figure 9: Great Crested Newt...... 70 Figure 10: Stag Beetle...... 71
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1. Executive Summary
This Annual Monitoring Report covers the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. The purpose of the Annual Monitoring Report is to:
¾ Review the progress of the work programme contained in the Local Development Scheme, with regard to production of new local development documents; ¾ Assess the effectiveness of existing planning policies; and ¾ Identify whether any policies are not being implemented, or should be amended or replaced.
This report is part of a continuing process of developing a more comprehensive monitoring system and provided below is a summary of the main findings of the report:
Local Development Scheme
• A revised 2007 to 2011 Local Development Scheme (‘LDS’) was approved by Government Office for the East of England (‘GO-East’) in July 2007 and published in November 2007 - the LDS timetable is now under review.
• Public consultation on the Core Strategy Preferred Options took place between 18th February and 31st March 2008.
Delays in the production of evidence based studies being undertaken by consultants appointed by the Council, have meant that it has not been possible to move to the submission stage in line with the published timetable – the LDS is therefore currently being reviewed this will have to be agreed with GO – East.
Business Development
• 100% of the 6,712 sq.m. gross floorspace gained to employment this year was on previously developed land, the majority of which was in employment areas and approximately two-thirds of which were true gains, i.e. as a result of the erection of additional units or extensions, with the remainder being in respect of replacement premises or changes of use.
• There has been an overall net loss of 16,344 sq.m. of employment floorspace (following a small net loss of 4,596 sq.m. in 2007 and a significant net gain to employment floorspace of 17,960 sq.m. in 2006), with the majority of the loss scheduled for residential development resulting in a proposed 460 dwellings, almost half of which are under construction.
• Over 80% of the total floorspace gains were in allocated employment areas and over 75% of the total losses were in other areas. This indicates that policies to protect and encourage employment uses in employment areas are being used successfully.
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• The main losses in allocated employment areas were in Clarendon Road and Bridle Path where planning permission has been granted for two hotels. Hotel uses in this area will support the predominant employment uses, particularly given the proximity to Watford Junction Station and the town centre. For this reason hotel use was not judged to conflict with the employment designation. This approach will be reflected in the LDF, probably through the Town Centre Area Action Plan.
• Although there has not been much development activity within the Town Centre, all economic data available for Watford, such as job density, VAT registrations, unemployment and earnings indicate the good health of business in general.
Housing
• The Hertfordshire County Structure Plan housing target was current during this monitoring period and Watford Borough Council has exceeded its requirement of 4700 units of new housing in Watford between 1991-2011, by 387 units. The Council is also on target to meet and exceed the East of England Plan (adopted in May 2008) minimum requirement of 5,200 dwellings between 2001-2021.
• 100% of completed dwellings were on previously developed land (PDL) against a national target of 60%, and our local target of 95%. The Core Strategy will set an appropriate target for residential development on PDL, looking to restrict all development on greenfield land.
• Only two of the residential developments completed this year were of sufficient size to trigger the requirement for provision of affordable housing. These sites have provided72 affordable housing units. Outstanding planning permissions include commitments of 533 affordable dwellings, of which 300 are under construction.
• The forthcoming Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) study, commissioned in partnership with neighbouring authorities, will provide evidence to inform the affordable housing policy within the submission draft of the Core Strategy. The SHMA study seeks to provide information about the mix of housing that is required for both affordable and open market housing.
• The output of the SHMA and other studies such as the Development Economic Study will be used to refine the housing policy further before submission of the Core Strategy. The housing chapter will require substantial redrafting dependent upon the studies’ findings.
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Transport
• Car parking policies are in place to ensure that appropriate provision is made for car parking in relation to new development or in land use conversions. They are intended to restrict over provision and to encourage the use of alternative sustainable transport modes. All non-residential development (within Use Classes A, B and D) completed this year complies with the standards set out in the WDP 2000.
• A key corporate priority is to tackle traffic congestion and encourage less reliance on the car and in support of existing policy T9 and the Cycling Strategy, 12.2 kilometres of new cycle route has been delivered by Watford Borough Council over the last five years. Cycle route usage has increased at all sites monitored with cycle route usage almost trebling at Dalton Way and more than doubling at Ebury Way sites over the same period.
• 100% of new residential development delivered this year is within 30 minutes sustainable travel time of all essential services. This is to be expected in Watford as the town has good public transport links.
• The Council, in partnership with Hertfordshire Highways has been working to deliver the South West Herts Transportation Strategy. The overall aims are to reduce congestion, enable infrastructure to support existing and proposed development, achieve a shift to more sustainable modes of travel, minimise the environmental impact of transport provision and to make the roads safer.
• Monitoring by the County Council of roads they control (which excludes motorways and trunk roads) provides a measure of locally generated traffic change. Although there have been both slight increases and slight decreases over the past five years, the data does appear to indicate that traffic levels have been relatively stable in Watford.
Environment
• The Green Spaces Strategy was adopted by Cabinet on the 9 October 2006, and encompasses the aim of raising the quality of all our parks up to Green Flag Award standard within the following five years. However, we do not intend to make formal applications for all our parks, as it would be too costly and time consuming. Watford Borough Council was successful in winning a Green Flag Award in respect of Cassiobury Park in August 2007 which is valid for 2007-08 and Cheslyn Gardens is now managed to Green Flag standards, although the Council missed out on the actual award for Cheslyn Gardens by one single point this year. The Council is committed to gaining the award in 2009 for Cheslyn Gardens as well as Cassiobury Park.
• Our research has found that no objections have been received in the monitoring period on the grounds of water quality from the Environment Agency (EA) and just three objections to planning applications were received on the grounds of flood risk – one application has since been withdrawn and the other objections were overcome by either the submission of satisfactory
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documentation or adherence to EA recommendations that conditions be imposed on the planning permission. – this shows that saved policies (namely SE 26 to SE 30) that include requirements for flood prevention and defence and the safeguarding of water quality are working.
• Planning approval was given for both Watford Central and Watford Woodside Leisure Centres during this monitoring year and both designs demonstrate low and renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels, high insulation levels, rainwater recycling and ground-linked heat recovery systems to reclaim heat from air and water. The sustainable elements will increase the buildings’ long term viability, both in terms of a reduction in carbon emissions and running costs. This fits in with the Council’s aim to manage carbon emissions in its own premises, and across the town.
Overall our conclusion is that policies are working and this report does not suggest that any immediate changes are required although new policies are being formulated as part of the emerging Local Development Framework. It is recognised that although adopted Development Plan objectives are being met, e.g. parking standards and residential density, the outcomes are not necessarily popular with the communities affected and the objectives will be reviewed through the Local Development Framework.
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2. Introduction
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (‘the Act’) came into force on the 28th September 2004 and has set in place a series of changes to the planning system.
The 2004 Act means that at a local level, District or Unitary Plans are being replaced by a portfolio of Local Development Documents, known collectively as the Local Development Framework (‘LDF’). At a county level, Structure Plans are no longer produced.
The new planning system of using a range of shorter documents rather than a larger single plan is designed to promote greater flexibility to update or amend policies in order to respond to change more quickly, and also enable more opportunity for community involvement in the process.
For the period covered by this report, the Development Plan for Watford comprised the Regional Spatial Strategy (Regional Planning Guidance for the South East (‘RPG 9’), replaced by the East of England Plan in May 2008), the Watford District Plan 2000 (‘WDP2000’), which was adopted on the 3 December 2003, the Hertfordshire Structure Plan (‘SP’) and the Hertfordshire Waste and Minerals Local Plans (which are themselves being replaced by Minerals and Waste Local Development Frameworks). However, it should be noted that from 28 September 2007, only selected policies within the Watford District Local Plan 2000, Hertfordshire Structure Plan, and the Hertfordshire Waste and Minerals Local Plans are ‘saved’ as part of the development plan for the Borough. For the District Plan, details of these are set out in the “Saving Direction” in Appendix 7. Information on the Structure and Minerals and Waste Plans is available from the County Council.
A requirement is that every local planning authority produces an Annual Monitoring Report (‘AMR’) to monitor the policies and proposals of the Local Development Framework.
These are required to:
• Review actual progress in terms of local development document preparation against the timetable in the local development scheme • Assess the extent to which policies are being implemented/achieved • Where policies are not being implemented, explain why and set out what steps are to be taken to ensure that the policy is implemented; or whether the policy is to be amended or replaced • Identify the significant effects of implementing policies in local development documents and whether they are as intended; and • Set out whether policies are to be amended or replaced
The government’s guidelines specify that the Annual Monitoring Reports must contain the following indicators, but recognises that it may not be possible to cover all the prescribed indicators in the initial reports, as some can only be developed as work on the Local Development Framework is progressed, and new policies emerge:
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• Contextual Indicators provide a background and context against which to consider the effects of policies and interpret the output and significant effects indicators.
• Core Output Indicators (‘COI’) aim to provide a standardised set of measurable activities that can be compared on a national basis, and are directly related to and a consequence of planning policy. In July 2008, the Government published guidance, as outlined in Appendix 4, amending the original core output indicators. (Full explanations can be found in ‘Core Output Indicators – Update 2/2008’ issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government (‘DCLG’)). There is also the option to develop local output indicators to monitor local issues which are not sufficiently covered by the core output indicators – we have currently elected to provide such indicators in the areas of housing, transport and the environment.
• Significant Effects Indicators are linked to the Sustainability Appraisal (‘SA’) objectives and should enable a comparison to be made between the predicted effects and the actual effects on society, the environment and the economy, during implementation of planning policies.
All Development Plan Documents (‘DPDs’) within Watford’s emerging Local Development Framework are subject to Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment (‘SEA’). As part of this process, objectives and targets should be developed for considering the sustainability of policies together with significant effects indicators in order to measure the effectiveness of the policies.
A draft SEA and SA Scoping Report was prepared and was published for a period of consultation from 7 March 2006 to 11 April 2006. This was the first stage in an ongoing process – with a further SEA and SA Report being published alongside the Core Strategy Preferred Options consultation during February/March 2008. Also, significant effects indicators will be introduced as new policies are developed within the Local Development Framework. As the Core Strategy has been delayed (see Section 3 for explanation), it now appears unlikely that any will be included in the next AMR.
The SEA and SA Scoping Report was used to undertake Sustainability Appraisal of the draft Residential Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (‘SPD’), and the resulting SA report was published for consultation alongside the draft SPD in March/April 2007. A final SA report will be produced for the adopted Residential Design Guide SPD.
The Local Development Scheme (‘LDS’) is the work programme for the production of the LDF, and contains a timetable which outlines when Local Development Documents are scheduled to be produced. Due to various reasons, discussed in Section 3, the timetable is currently under review.
As the Council is still in the early stages of its Local Development Framework production the Annual Monitoring Report for 2007/08 focuses on monitoring the effects of ‘saved’ policies in the adopted Watford District Plan 2000.
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Many of the Core Output Indicators serve that purpose and this report concentrates on updating the data, giving a year on year comparison where practical and analysis from the baseline figures provided by the previous AMRs; updating the contextual indicators, where new data is available; and adding ‘bundles’ of local output indicators on areas including housing, transport and the environment where additional local data is required. It is anticipated that the number of local output indicators will increase in future reports as policies emerge from new Local Development Documents.
The Government has been developing and testing a national standardised planning application form and associated requirements for validation of applications which was actually rolled out in April 2008. The new system is intended to simplify matters and gather all the data required for monitoring although it appears to be taking some time to be established and work effectively, as our Development Control Section report many enquiries for assistance from the public confused by the complexity of the new forms and/or insufficient information being submitted leading to rejection of the application. A new monitoring database and system is in the process of being developed at our own council level in order to record further data from planning application forms.
Watford Borough Council participates in the Hertfordshire County/District Information Liaison Group meetings, in which issues can be raised and relayed by the County Council to the Regional Research and Monitoring Group (AMR sub group) for clarification and response. Discussions concerning data collection and provision continue with Hertfordshire County Council, which liaises on behalf of the district councils with such providers as Hertfordshire Biological Records Centre (‘HBRC’), and progress is still being made in improving the data collection now required. Apart from other departments within the Council, the Planning Policy Section also initiates enquiries direct with external data sources, such as the Energy Saving Trust and the Environment Agency.
With regards to improvements to the Geographic Information System (‘GIS’) (the mapping system) that the Council employs, the progress to date has been considerable in building up the base data in general although this has little relevance specifically to the LDF. There is a continuing need for training and enabling access across the Council and measures to improve the functionality of the system. With regards to the Open Space Strategy, the process of plotting and checking all Watford’s parks into GIS as part of the PPG17 study is largely completed but still in progress. This procedure has taken longer than anticipated due to lack of staff resources.
This report is in respect of the previous monitoring year so data provided is for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. Additional information that has subsequently become known with regard to more recent developments is supplied within the commentary where it is practical to do so, quoting the dates applicable, such as progress with the Local Development Scheme, in order to provide as up to date a picture as possible.
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The legislation states that the document must be submitted to the Secretary of State (the Government Office for the East of England) by the end of December 2008 and it will also be published on the Council’s website at www.watford.gov.uk/planning.
Government guidance does not require formal public consultation in respect of Annual Monitoring Reports and time constraints between provision of the data and the requirement to submit and publish by the deadline above have prevented us from proceeding with a formal consultation period. However, we do welcome views on the AMR’s format and content so that we can make improvements on future reports and request that any comments be sent to:
Planning Policy Watford Borough Council Town Hall Watford WD17 3EX
Alternatively, you can email comments to [email protected]
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3. Local Development Scheme
The timetable setting out the programme for production of the new Local Development Documents is known as the Local Development Scheme (‘LDS’). All plan-making authorities were required to submit a first LDS to the Secretary of State for approval by the end of March 2005.
Annual Monitoring Reports are required to set out how progress with preparing LDFs during the monitoring year meets targets set in the LDS, and to set out whether changes to the LDS are required.
Watford Borough Council submitted its first Local Development Scheme to the Government Office for the East of England (‘GO-East’) by the statutory deadline in March 2005. GO-East felt that the timetable set out in the LDS was not appropriate because the Council had intended to progress one of its key Local Development Documents, the ‘Core Strategy’, ahead of the timetable for the preparation of the East of England Plan. A revised LDS was published in March 2006.
The LDS was then further revised, and approved by Government Office for the East of England in July 2007 before being published in November 2007 (Appendix 5a shows the 2006 timetable and Appendix 5b the approved 2007 timetable). The reasons for further changes include:
• A decision to undertake further work on the Core Strategy, partly to respond to learning points from other authorities whose Core Strategies have already been through Examination, and partly to pursue further Issues and Options consultation and stakeholder engagement, having received a low number of responses to Issues and Options consultation in 2005/06. • The above delays in the production of the Core Strategy have had inevitable knock-on effects on the timetable for the Site Allocations DPD. • A decision to produce a separate Development Control Policies DPD, to help us produce a shorter, more strategic Core Strategy. • Work to produce a Residential Design Guide was received late from the appointed consultants and required substantial redrafting. The redraft was only received in September 2006, necessitating a review of the overall timetable. • A change of approach in relation to S106 policy, meaning that a separate SPD is no longer proposed. • The Statement of Community Involvement (‘SCI’) and Charter Place SPD have now been finalised, and no longer need including within the forward- looking LDS.
We now need to review the timetable once again and are discussing this with the Government Office. This is due to a number of the potential risks identified in the current LDS occurring at once. Individually it may have been possible to continue despite this, but the combination of risks made this impossible. The particular risks that occurred were:
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Staffing:
• Staff leaving (2), and existing staff (1) changing to part-time working. This led to: • Insufficient staff until replacement staff appointed. This led on to another risk: • First time staff have undertaken this work – newly appointed staff need to get up to speed with the process. • Other priorities for planning staff – there continue to be other projects to work on, such as progressing major development schemes
External input/influence:
• Slippage in timescales for external consultants working on behalf of the Council – timescales slipped significantly for the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) and the London Arc Employment Study. Slippage in the housing studies has a knock on effect on commencement of the Development Economics Study. This slippage occurred despite taking the mitigation measures identified in the risk assessment of working jointly with neighbouring authorities and phasing payments, being due largely to technical issues with data and forecasting methods. We do not consider it possible to produce a sound submission document without the information we expect from these studies.
• Public/stakeholders not understanding the process/usefulness of representations – consultation on Preferred Options resulted in a large number of comments on detailed proof reading issues, specific wording and relatively little comment on the actual Options proposed. Coupled with a new IT system, and staff shortages this meant the responses received took a long time to process and respond to. On reflection the consultation process could have been more clearly explained.
• Insufficient LSP involvement, in retrospect - political desire to produce the Preferred Options consultation on time reduced the scope for liaising fully with the LSP, particularly given the LSP's already busy agenda. Steps are being taken to redress this which will include workshops involving the LSP in spring 2009.
• Outcome of consultation significantly changing policy direction – the outcome of consultation confirmed the need for more evidence to enable us to add detail to some of the policies, particularly quantitative information on retail, employment and housing.
Other resources:
• Insufficient technical/IT resources – we did purchase a new system for managing the consultation but this was implemented fairly late on in the process and new staff did not receive training until well after the consultation
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ended. The majority of respondents did not use the online response portal this time.
Political Issues:
• Uncertainty about further changes to the planning system – new regulations and PPS12 were published in summer 2008.
Two different LDSs were in force during the monitoring year covered by this AMR. In the interests of completeness, progress in the 2007/08 year against both sets of milestones is reported in this AMR (key milestones are shown in italics). The local development documents referred to in the LDSs are:
Table 1: List of local development documents referred to in 2006 and 2007 LDS Local Development Document 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Statement of Community Involvement (‘SCI’) 9 8 Core Strategy ‘DPD’ (Development Plan Document) 9 9 Site Allocations DPD (Development Plan Document) 9 9 Development Control Policies DPD (Development Plan 8 9 Document) Residential Design Guide ‘SPD’ (Supplementary 9 9 Planning Document) Section 106 Contributions SPD (Supplementary 9 8 Planning Document) Charter Place Planning Brief SPD (Supplementary 9 8 Planning Document) Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
A summary follows of the progress of each document.
3.1. Statement of Community Involvement
The SCI sets out whom, how, and at what stage we will consult on the production of the documents within the Local Development Framework.
Table 2: Statement of Community Involvement milestones Milestones 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Comments Date Met? Date Met? Examination period, Apr 2006 9 N/A N/A including commencement of the examination Receipt of May 8 N/A N/A Received June 2006: Inspector’s binding 2006 outside Council’s report control Adoption and Jul 9 N/A N/A Adopted 19 July publication of 2006 2006 document Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
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3.2. Core Strategy DPD
The Core Strategy will represent the Council’s vision for development and conservation in Watford to 2021 and is currently in preparation.
In accordance with the 2007 LDS, Preferred Options consultation on the Core Strategy was expected to take place in January/February 2008, with Submission in July 2008, and adoption in September 2009. Preferred Options consultation actually took place in February/March but the timetable has since slipped for the reasons discussed above and is now under review.
Table 3: Core Strategy DPD milestones Milestones 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Comments Date Met? Date Met? Preparation of Up to Jul 9 Dec 9 Public consultation issues and 2006 2005 – between December alternative options Dec 2007 2005 and January and initial 2006, with ongoing sustainability stakeholder appraisal report, engagement including public consultation (Reg thereafter 25) Public participation Aug-Sep 8 Jan-Feb 9(Partly Preferred options on preferred options 2006 2008 – Feb- consultation took document and Mar) place Feb-Mar formal sustainability 2008 with appraisal report consideration of (Reg 26) representations Consideration of Oct 2006 8 Mar-Jun Partly representations and – Feb N/A ongoing from April discussions with 2007 to Sep 2008. As community and evidence studies stakeholders are still awaited the Preparation of Oct 2006 8 8 timetable for submission DPD – Feb submission is being and any 2007 reviewed. amendments to the sustainability appraisal report Submission of DPD Feb – 8 Jul 2008 8 to Secretary of Mar 2007 State and sustainability appraisal report Public consultation Feb – 8 Jul 2008 8 period on Mar 2007 submission DPD and sustainability report (Reg 29) Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
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3.3. Site Allocations DPD
The purpose of this document is to identify sites for development in accordance with the Core Strategy and give details of proposals and requirements for development.
Table 4: Site Allocations DPD milestones Milestones 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Comments Date Met? Date Met? Pre-production Up to Jul 9 N/A N/A period – 2006 commencement of document preparation Preparation of Up to Jan 9 2005/06 9 Reg 25 work began issues and 2007 to Apr during August 2006 alternative options 2008 with letters being and initial sent to stakeholders sustainability asking for details of appraisal report, sites they would want including public to be considered, consultation (Reg and for any particular 25) uses for which sites are required. Public participation Feb – 8 Jan-Feb N/A Work delayed as a on preferred options Mar 2007 2009 result of changes to document and the Core Strategy formal sustainability timetable; LDS appraisal report revised (Reg 26) Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
3.4. Development Control Policies DPD
This DPD is first proposed in the 2007 LDS. It will set out generic policies for Development Control.
Table 5: Development Control Policies DPD milestones Milestones 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Comments Date Met? Date Met? Pre-production N/A N/A April 8 Although work on the period – 2008 DPD has not formally commencement of commenced, some document evidence has been preparation prepared in parallel with work on the Core Strategy Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
In accordance with the 2007 LDS, Issues and Options preparation is expected to take place between November 2008 and March 2009, with Preferred Options consultation in October/November 2009, submission in June 2010, and adoption in August 2011.
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3.5. Residential Design Guide SPD
The Residential Design Guide (referred to as ‘Design Guide’ in the draft LDS) will contain detailed advice on how the Council will consider the design and layout of new housing developments and domestic alterations and extensions, and will set out the kinds of facilities, amenities and infrastructure that the Council would expect to see as part of the development.
Table 6: Residential Design Guide SPD milestones Milestones 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Comments Date Met? Date Met? Preparation of draft N/A N/A Nov 2005 9 Workshops with SPD and – Jan Council Members, sustainability 2007 residents’ and appraisal report tenants’ groups and Draft SPD and N/A N/A Mar – 9 officers were held in sustainability Apr 2007 December 2005. A appraisal report second draft of the issued for public guide was received participation in September 2006 (Reg17) and consultation took Adoption and Jun 2006 8 Dec 8 place March/April publication of 2007-Jan 2007. document 2008 Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
Whilst the 2007-08 LDS milestone for adoption of the Residential Design Guide is December 2007, adoption is now expected to take place in late 2008. This delay was primarily due to a lack of staff time to devote to this work.
3.6. Section 106 Contributions SPD
This Supplementary Planning Document was intended to set out the contributions that the Council will seek to pay for or provide infrastructure, facilities and amenities which will be needed either as a result of the proposed development or in order for the development to take place. The SPD was proposed within the 2006 LDS but is not included within the 2007 LDS as it has been decided that the relevant policies will be encompassed within the Core Strategy DPD and Development Control DPD.
Table 7: Section 106 Contributions SPD milestones Milestones 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Comments Date Met? Date Met? Pre-production period – Up to 8 N/A N/A SPD no longer commencement of Sep being pursued. document preparation 2007 Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
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3.7. Charter Place Planning Brief SPD
This document outlines proposals for the redevelopment of Charter Place Shopping Centre, including mix of uses and scale of development and supplies the criteria that any potential developer will need to adhere to as part of submitting a planning application. It envisages a high quality redevelopment that will include a number of uses including shopping, leisure, community uses and possibly some residential.
Table 8: Charter Place Planning Brief SPD milestones Milestones 2006 LDS 2007 LDS Comments Date Met? Date Met? Adoption and April 9 N/A N/A SPD adopted in publication of 2006 March 2006, one document month ahead of schedule. Source: Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy
3.8. Proposals Map
The Proposals Map, part of the development plan, is updated on adoption of each DPD. As no new documents have yet been adopted which result in changes to the Proposals Map, no changes have yet been made to the Proposals Map that currently forms part of the adopted Watford District Plan 2000.
3.9. Evidence Base
Much of the evidence base for preparing the LDF has been completed and is published: this is listed in Appendix 2 along with information on additional work being undertaken to:
• complete some outstanding studies; • update studies that may be out-of-date or nearing the end of their shelf-life before relevant DPDs are submitted; and • update or undertake new studies that are recommended or required by new national guidance, or for which guidance or procedures have changed.
3.10. Risks
The published LDS contains an updated table identifying risks, their potential impacts and possible mitigation measures.
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4. Contextual Characteristics of Watford The Borough of Watford is predominantly urban in nature and covers an area of 2,142 hectares (8.3 sq. miles). However, almost 20% of the Borough forms part of the Metropolitan Green Belt which encloses much of the built-up area. The Colne Valley Linear Park, the Gade Valley and Cassiobury Park, which extends almost into the centre of Watford, provide the main open space and nature resources in Watford.
Situated in the South West of Hertfordshire, Watford has several locational advantages due to its excellent communication links. The M1 motorway, with a direct link to the town centre, and the London to Glasgow railway pass through the Borough. London Euston can be reached in 20 minutes by rail, while the nearby M25 motorway has enhanced road access to the major airports at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. Watford has major A-road links to adjoining areas and is also connected to the underground rail network with the Metropolitan Line terminus adjacent to Cassiobury Park.
Traditionally a market town, and a centre for the printing industry, it is now a major town in the region and accommodates the headquarters of a number of nationally known firms. It has developed into an attractive sub-regional shopping centre and important centre for cultural and recreational facilities.
4.1. Demographic Structure
The total resident population for the Borough at the 2001 Census was 79,726 (see Table 9) which is an increase of 5,160 persons or 6.9 per cent since 1991. This compares to an increase of 5.7 per cent across Hertfordshire and a 4.4 per cent increase in England overall.
Figure 1: Population pyramid for Watford – Census 2001
Source: Office for National Statistics 2001 Census
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Table 9: Age and Sex of Population by numbers WATFORD Total Resident Males Females Population All Ages 79,726 39,227 40,499 0-4 5,117 2,570 2,547 5-9 5,305 2,651 2,654 10-14 5,053 2,585 2,468 15-19 4,380 2,191 2,189 20-24 5,004 2,373 2,631 25-29 7,206 3,556 3,650 30-34 7,528 3,822 3,706 35-39 7,093 3,706 3,387 40-44 5,783 3,032 2,751 45-49 4,807 2,424 2,383 50-54 4,781 2,370 2,411 55-59 3,871 1,985 1,886 60-64 3,249 1,618 1,631 65-69 2,866 1,373 1,493 70-74 2,587 1,168 1,419 75-79 2,177 864 1,313 80-84 1,480 534 946 85-89 936 297 639 90 and over 506 102 404 Source: Office for National Statistics 2001 Census
Watford’s population is comprised of 49 per cent male and 51 per cent female, which is broadly in line with the male/female ratio in the East of England and across England as a whole.
There is a significantly larger percentage than the national average of people who are aged 25 to 44 (34.6% in Watford compared with 29.3% of England as a whole - see Figure 1). Children under 15, at 19.4%, make up a higher proportion of the population than people aged 60 or over, at 17.3%, which is contrary to the county and national trend. The average age for Watford is 36.7 years as opposed to 38.6 years in England and Wales.
Watford is the district with the greatest population density in Hertfordshire averaging at 3,751 people per square kilometre, compared with an average of 284 for the region and 380 per square kilometre for England overall.
The most recently published figure (21 August 2008) by the Office for National Statistics (‘ONS’), is the 2007 mid year estimate which is 79,700 (rounded to the nearest hundred in accordance with ONS requirements). This estimate has only increased by 100 from the 2006 mid year estimate, and it is still below the population recorded in the 2001 census for Watford.
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4.2. Comparison of projected population growth to 2031
In order to assist us in our planning objectives, we have considered the most recently available population projections, which are summarised in the table below.
Table 10: ONS projected population figures ONS Revised 2004 based population projections ONS 2006 based population projections Revised 2029 Increase % 2006 2031 Increase % 2004 projected over 25 Increase based projected over 25 Increase base figure years 2004-2029 figure years 2006-2031 2004-2029 2006-2031 Watford 79,500 85,700 6,200 7.8% 79,600 89,300 9,700 12.2% Herts 1,044,800 1,198,100 153,300 14.7% 1,058,600 1,253,700 195,100 18.4% Data Source: Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the 2006-based sub-national population projections on 12 June 2008. They are trend based projections using the recent trends in birth and death rates and migration and do not take into account the future effect of local, regional or national policy.
They are based on ONS’s Mid Year Estimates of population for 2006, and the trend in estimates over the preceding five years. The 2006-based population projections replace the corresponding set, the 2004-based (which were revised in September 2007).
The 2006-based projections suggest a rise in Hertfordshire’s population from the base of 1,058,600 in 2006 to 1,253,700 in 2031, a rise of 18.4% over the 25-year period. In comparison with the 2004-based projections, the 2006-based projections show a marked rise in the increase in population and proportional growth for Hertfordshire overall to 2031.
The highest proportional population growths are forecast for Welwyn Hatfield (33.2% and North Hertfordshire (26.0%) districts. The lowest projected growth is in Stevenage (9.5%) and Dacorum (10.4%). Watford’s projected growth is now estimated at 9,700 (12.2%) over the 25 year period, whereas the revised 2004-based projection was 6,200 (7.8%).
Population projections at district level especially must be viewed as indicative only.
4.3. Projected Household Growth 2004-2029
The 2004-based household projections were originally published by the DCLG on 16 March 2007 and were linked to the 2004-based sub-national population projections first published by ONS in October 2006, and revised on 22 August 2007. As a result DCLG produced revised household projections on the 28 February 2008.
The household projections are an indication of the likely increase in households given the continuation of recent demographic trends. They are not an assessment of housing need nor do they take into account the effect of future policies.
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Household projections are acknowledged to be more uncertain at district level and are limited by the figures being expressed in whole thousands, which make it difficult to deduce a great deal.
In comparing the DCLG revised 2004-based projections with the original DCLG 2004-based projections, the main regional effect is the shift of some growth from London to the other regions. In Hertfordshire, projected growth has increased by 3% over the period but for the districts there are wide differences in the projected growth with St. Albans falling from 31.5% to 24.1% but Welwyn Hatfield increasing from 17.1% to 29.3%. There is no change in the projected growth in Dacorum and Watford, but the remaining districts have increases in projected growth higher than the Hertfordshire figure.
Table 11: DCLG revised 2004 based household projections and comparison of % increase from 2004-2029 with original 2004 based projections DCLG DCLG revised Original Difference % % between Increase growth growth original & 2004 2006 2011 2016 2021 2026 2029 2004-29 2004-29 2004-29 revised Watford 32 33 34 36 37 39 39 7 21.90% 21.90% 0.00% Herts 430 439 461 486 509 531 542 112 26.00% 23.10% 3.00% Data Source: Communities and Local Government – for further information see http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/housproj04rev.pdf Note: Figures are expressed in whole thousands
The average household size for Watford in the 2001 census was 2.43 and the DCLG population/household projection figures for Watford equate to an average household size of 2.15 in 2029, a decrease of 11.5%.
Table 12: DCLG revised 2004 based Household Projections by Household Type
Watford Increase % Increase Household Types 2004 2006 2011 2016 2021 2026 2029 2004-29 2004-29 Married couple 14 14 13 13 12 12 12 -2 -14.3% Cohabiting couple 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 2 50.0% Lone parent 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 1 50.0% Other multi-person 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 00.0% One person 10 10 11 12 14 15 15 5 50.0% All households 32 33 34 36 37 39 39 7 21.9% Private household population 78 79 79 81 82 84 84 67.7% Average household size 2.41 2.39 2.34 2.27 2.22 2.17 2.15 0.86 Data Source: Communities and Local Government Note: Increase 2004 to 2029 in Average household size shows differential household size (increase in household population) / (increase in households) Figures are expressed in whole thousands (excluding average household size and % increases)
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4.4. Ethnicity
The non-white proportion of Watford’s population has increased from 10% in 1991 to 14% in 2001, which is higher than the national average of 9% and reflects Watford’s broad mix of cultures. People identifying as Asian or Asian British amount to 8.2% in Watford, as compared with 3% overall in Hertfordshire. People identifying as Black or Black British total 2.7% in Watford as compared with 1.2% in Hertfordshire as a whole (see Table 13).
Table 13: Ethnic Composition of Resident Population in percentages WATFORD % HERTS % ENGLAND % White 86.0 93.7 90.9 White Irish 2.9 1.7 1.3 Mixed 2.1 1.4 1.3 Asian or Asian British 8.2 3.0 4.6 Indian 2.4 1.6 2.1 Pakistani 4.6 0.7 1.4 Bangladeshi 0.3 0.3 0.6 Other Asian 0.9 0.4 0.5 Black or Black British 2.7 1.2 2.1 Caribbean 1.5 0.6 1.1 African 1.0 0.5 1.0 Other Black 0.2 0.1 0.2 Chinese/Other Ethnic 1.1 0.8 0.9 Source: Figures sourced from Office for National Statistics 2001 Census
4.5. Crime
A low level of crime was stated to be the most important issue in making somewhere a good place to live, from a list of Quality of Life issues, by 72% of the Watford Citizens Panel Community Survey 2004.
The Watford Best Value User Survey undertaken with local residents in autumn 2006 asked the question ‘Thinking generally, which of the things below would you say are most important in making somewhere a good place to live and which would you say most needed improving?’ - 63% (the highest percentage) of those surveyed believed that a low level of crime was most important in making somewhere a good place to live, and 40% stated that this needed the most improving.
Each year local authorities measure how well they do against a set of measures set by the government known as Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI). Statistics related to crime for the three years 2005–2008 are quoted in order to give an indication of recent results. There has been a varying decrease in levels of crime since last year in all these indicators, with an encouraging drop of 36% in violent crime.
One of Watford Borough Council’s corporate objectives contained in the Performance Plan 2007-2012 (Objective 3 – a safer town) is to work in partnership as an effective member of the ‘Watford Community Safety Partnership’ by contributing to the
23 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 delivery of the Community Safety Strategy 2005-08 through priority leads on tackling anti-social behaviour and reducing the fear of crime.
Table 14: Crime in Watford 2005-08
Ref. Description 05/06 06/07 07/08
BV 126 Domestic burglaries per year per 1,000 12.16 15.31 12.64 households in the local authority area BV 127a Violent crime per year per 1,000 population in the 32.16 36.46 23.35 local authority area BV 127b Robberies per year per 1,000 population in the 2.01 2.39 1.40 local authority area BV 128 The number of vehicle crimes per year per 1,000 15.30 15.47 13.58 population in the local authority area Source: Watford Borough Council Performance Plan 2007-2012 Appendix A
Hertfordshire Constabulary has released figures for overall crime in Watford i.e. the overall number of crimes reported. The 06-07 ‘all notifiable crime total’ of 11,933 has decreased to 9,809, which is an overall reduction of 17.80%.
However, provided below are the reported number of crimes on a ward basis for Watford and their rank within the county, which shows that Central ward is the worst ward for crime (reported number of crimes per 1000 people) in Hertfordshire.
Central ward has almost double the amount of the next worst ward in Hertfordshire – Bedwell ward situated in Stevenage (374.69 crimes reported per 1000 population). The 07-08 crime figures (4463 crimes reported) for Central are an improvement on the 06-07 crime figures (5778 crimes reported) by 22.76% so that is at least in the right direction. The next worst ward in Watford for crime reported, with less than 20% the amount reported per 1000 people in Central is Tudor ward – the majority of other wards in Watford show relatively low figures for crime with the lowest in Nascot and Stanborough respectively.
Table 15: Reported Number of Crimes 1/4/07 to 31/3/08 per 1000 population by Watford ward Reported Rank of ward Number of Number of within Herts (I is Crimes 1/4/07 to Population Figures Reported Crimes most crime per Ward Name 31/3/08 (census 2001) (per 1000 people) 1000) Central Ward 4463 6577 678.58 1 Tudor Ward 662 5591 118.40 17 Callowland Ward 594 6653 89.28 38 Meriden Ward 581 6865 84.63 43 Woodside Ward 514 6700 76.72 51 Holywell Ward 539 7176 75.11 58 Park Ward 430 6192 69.44 68 Oxhey Ward 397 6395 62.08 82 Vicarage Ward 443 7149 61.97 84 Stanborough Ward 351 6852 51.23 110 Nascot Ward 251 6532 38.43 159 Source: Hertfordshire Constabulary via Information Management Unit, HCC
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4.6. Deprivation
The Government publishes an Index of Multiple Deprivation (‘IMD’), the most recent being the IMD 2007. This superseded the IMD 2004 and there was some expectation that meaningful comparison between the two datasets would be possible. However, more research is being done on this point and no agreement has yet been reached. The guidance notes from the DCLG website www.communities.gov.uk state: ‘The Index scores from 2004 cannot be compared with those from 2007. Though the two Indices are very similar, it is not valid to compare the scores between the two time points.’ Comparing rankings over time can also be dangerous as the rank of any given area is dependent on the scores of all the others so we are not attempting to compare the two indices but are highlighting some results from the IMD 2007.
There are a number of measures calculated at regional, county and district level from the original scores based on the 32,482 Lower Super Output Areas (‘LSOAs’) in England. There are 3550 LSOAs in our region the East of England, 683 LSOAs in the county of Hertfordshire and 53 LSOAs in Watford. For comparison purposes within the IMD 2007, it is clearer and valid to compare rankings (1 being the most deprived) rather than scores.
To place results for Watford in context, none of the LSOAs in Hertfordshire rank among the most deprived 10% in England and only five rank among the 10% to 20% most deprived. These five are dispersed across five Districts – Three Rivers, Stevenage, Hertsmere, Welwyn Hatfield and Broxbourne - none are in Watford. None of the ten districts as a whole rank among the 50% most deprived in England. Stevenage, the most deprived of the ten districts, ranks 191st out of 354 (among the least 50% deprived).
Watford, which is the third most deprived District in Hertfordshire, ranking 18th out of 48 districts, contains the highest proportion of deprived LSOAs. Three LSOAs rank among the most deprived 10% in the region and nine rank among the 10% to 20% most deprived (see Appendix 3). The most deprived LSOA is in Central ward, north of the Harlequin centre, and ranks 9th in Hertfordshire. Unusually, all four LSOAs in Central ward come within the worst 20% in Hertfordshire, although LSOAs in this category can be found all over Watford, not just around the centre. Only Nascot, Tudor and Park wards do not have any LSOAs within the worst 25% in the county and only Nascot, Tudor, Park and Vicarage wards do not have any LSOAs within the worst 25% in the East of England region.
Separate types of deprivation exist and contribute to the overall deprivation level. Watford is experiencing the highest level of Living Environment deprivation in the county, with seven LSOAs in the 10 most deprived in Hertfordshire in this category, ranking 111th of 354 local authorities in the country (just out of the most deprived 30%). Ten LSOAs (1.5% of LSOAs in Hertfordshire) were ranked among the most deprived 10% in England as a whole on the Indices of Deprivation 2007 Crime Domain. This includes two LSOAs in Watford, both in Central ward in the town centre. Further more detailed information may be found in the Final Report dated August 2008
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‘Deprivation across Hertfordshire: Analysis for the Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement’ by the Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion, from which much of the information supplied here has been provided.
4.7. Economy
The Annual Business Inquiry 2006 shows that half the number of employee jobs in Watford is split between two main groups - the Banking, Finance and Insurance sector (31%) and the Distribution, Hotels and Restaurants sector (29%). The Banking, Finance and Insurance Sector in Watford, with 31% of employee jobs, was proportionately more than any other district in Hertfordshire and the East of England. The number of employee jobs in Watford, 53100, increased by 2,600 (5.1%) since the previous year in 2005.
Major employers in the district include Haden Young Ltd, Mirror Colour Print Watford Ltd, Asda, Marks and Spencer, Tesco Stores Ltd, Watford Borough Council, J Sainsbury Plc, Total UK Ltd, John Lewis Watford and Royal Mail (Watford) Sorting and Delivery Office. Watford has an established office market concentrated around Clarendon Road in the town centre, with easy access via Watford Junction.
Figure 2: Number of Employee Jobs by Industry Groups – Watford 2006
Data Source: Annual Business Inquiry (2006) – www.nomisweb.co.uk
Watford continues to have higher earnings than Hertfordshire in the latest 2007 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and is by national and regional standards a healthy economy.
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Table 16: Median earnings in pounds for employees living in area Watford Hertfordshire Eastern GB (pounds) (pounds) (pounds) (pounds) Gross weekly pay Full-time workers (542.7) 573.3 (529.9) 543.7 (470.0) 479.1 (449.6) 459.0 Male full-time workers (615.6) 628.3 (598.1) 599.6 (520.5) 531.8 (490.5) 500.7 Female full-time workers (476.3) 478.5 (444.1) 463.3 (392.7) 400.4 (387.6) 394.8 Hourly pay Full-time workers (14.34) 14.73 (13.58) 14.00 (11.69) 11.94 (11.26) 11.50 Male full-time workers (15.78) 16.95 (14.74) 14.90 (12.54) 12.84 (11.91) 12.17 Female full-time workers (12.74) 12.38 (11.89) 12.46 (10.38) 10.62 (10.28) 10.48 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (2007 and 2006) NB. Figures in brackets are from the 2006 survey
VAT registrations and de-registrations are the best official guide to the pattern of business start-ups and closures. They are an indicator of the level of entrepreneurship and of the health of the business population. Registrations are not as unusually high as they were in 2005 but the amount of start-ups still outnumber the closures.
Table 17: VAT Registrations/Deregistrations by Industry Watford Watford Eastern GB (numbers) (%) (%) (%) Registrations (425) 325 (14.1) 10.7 (9.5) 8.9 (9.7) 9.4 Deregistrations (285) 280 (9.5) 9.2 (7.8) 7.1 (8.3) 7.4 Stock (at end of year) (3,005) 3,030 - - - Source: BERR - vat registrations/deregistrations by industry (2006) via www.nomisweb.co.uk NB. % is a proportion of stock (at end of year) and figures in brackets are from the 2005 survey
There have been mainly positive increases in the overall number of VAT registered businesses for Watford over recent years with a substantial increase in number for 2005, and a small increase in 2006.
Table 18: Number of and % change in VAT registered businesses for Watford 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 (2,845) 0.4% (2,855) 0.4% (2,845) -0.4% (3,005) 5.6% (3,030) 0.8% Source: NOMIS, taken from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) via www.areaprofiles.audit-commission.gov.uk
4.8. Labour Demand and Supply High job densities are where there is at least one job for every working-age resident (e.g. 1.0). The job density in Watford has risen from 1.11 in 2004 to 1.17 in 2006, and is the highest job density of all the districts in the county; and within the region, only Norwich has a higher job density at 1.33.
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Table 19: Jobs density representing the ratio of total jobs to working-age population (includes males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59) Watford Herts Eastern GB (density) (density) (density) (density) Jobs Density 1.17 0.88 0.84 0.88 Source: Jobs density (2006) – from www.nomisweb.co.uk 27/11/08 N.B. Jobs density – the number of jobs per resident of working age (16-59/64). The total number of jobs is a workplace-based measure and comprises employees, self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces. The number of working age resident figures used to calculate jobs densities are based on mid-2001 population estimates.
There have been decreases in claimant count on a county basis, regionally and nationally over the past two years. Watford is showing the highest decrease of 0.7%.
Table 20: Claimant Count Comparison 2004-2008 Year Watford Hertfordshire East of Great Britain England 2004 1.9 1.4 1.8 2.5 2005 1.9 1.4 1.8 2.4 2006 2.1 1.6 2.0 2.6 2007 1.8 1.5 2.0 2.5 2008 1.4 1.3 1.7 2.2 Source: National Statistics (NOMIS) HCC Unemployment Bulletins for Hertfordshire April 04-08, N.B. Proportions for dates from 2006 onwards are calculated using the 2005 resident working age population.
Since April 2006, the claimant count in Hertfordshire decreased by 2,178 claimants (20.8%). There has been a decrease across the county with Watford experiencing the largest percentage decrease of 32.6% during this period.
Table 21: Total Claimant Count and Change 2006-2008 Change Change 2006/08 2006/08 Herts County & Districts Apr 2008 Apr 2007 Apr 2006 No. % Herts 8,294 9,402 10,472 -2,178 -20.8 BROXBOURNE 836 975 1,114 -278 -25.0 DACORUM 1,275 1,491 1,694 -419 -24.7 EAST HERTS 678 755 811 -133 -16.4 HERTSMERE 758 868 954 -196 -20.5 NORTH HERTS 935 1,036 1,096 -161 -14.7 ST ALBANS 685 751 876 -191 -21.8 STEVENAGE 1,048 1,119 1,172 -124 -10.6 THREE RIVERS 446 561 628 -182 -29.0 WATFORD 716 932 1,062 -346 -32.6 WELWYN/HATFIELD 917 914 1,065 -148 -13.9 Data Source: Hertfordshire County Council Unemployment Bulletin for Hertfordshire Apr 08
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4.9. Built Environment
The Council aims to conserve and enhance the built environment of the town through careful control of development and design, and protection of historic assets.
There are a total of 8 Conservation areas and 50 Historic Environment Character Zones in Watford. Listed buildings number 92 and there are over 200 locally listed buildings.
The Planning and Development Department is currently reviewing the existing conservation areas, preparing area appraisals and management plans for each area in accordance with government advice and evaluating the potential for new areas. In June 2006, a new conservation area was designated in High Street/King Street and the final High Street/King Street Conservation Area Appraisal document was adopted by Council in March 2007.
During 12 February to 25 March 2007, public consultation was held on a draft character appraisal document for the existing Watford Heath Conservation Area. Comments were evaluated and the document was subsequently reviewed. However adoption and publication of the final document did not take place as anticipated during the monitoring year 07-08 – unfortunately, it was delayed until May 2008 due to the prioritisation of other work necessary for the Local Development Framework, but it is now available on our website www.watford.gov.uk. This brings the number of completed character appraisals for 2007-08 to 2 out of the overall 8 Conservation areas.
Conservation Area Appraisals for St Mary’s and the Civic Area are nearing completion (November 2008) and public consultation will take place shortly.
4.10. Education, Skills and Training
In Watford, 6% of the resident population were school pupils or full-time students aged 16-74 years at the time of 2001 Census. This compared with 5.1% of the population in England and Wales.
Watford is within the Local Education Authority of Hertfordshire. In the academic year 2005/06, 67.8% of pupils in Watford achieved 5 or more GCSEs graded A* to C, compared to the England average of 58.5%.
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Figure 3: GCSE and equivalent results for young people, referenced by location of educational institution – all 15 year old pupils achieving 5+ A* - C
80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 % of pupils 20.0 10.0 0.0 9/2001 to 9/2002 to 9/2003 to 9/2004 to 9/2005 to 8/2002 8/2003 8/2004 8/2005 8/2006
Watford East of England England
Data Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families via www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk
Qualifications held by the working age population of Watford are given in the following table, together with Hertfordshire and the East of England for comparison.
Table 22: Qualifications of working age population (males 16-64 & females 16- 59) Watford Watford Hertfordshire East of (numbers) (%) (%) England (%) NVQ4 and 15,900 31.3 26.0 28.6 above NVQ3 and 25, 800 50.9 43.4 46.4 above NVQ2 and 34,700 68.6 62.2 64.5 above NVQ1 and 40,000 78.9 78.2 78.1 above Other 5,800 11.4 9.3 8.8 qualifications No 4,900 9.7 12.5 13.1 qualifications Source: ONS Annual Population Survey (Jan 2007-Dec 2007)
NB: Definitions of qualification levels: NVQ4 and above: e.g. HND, Degree and Higher Degree level qualifications NVQ3 and above: e.g. 2 or more A levels, advanced GNVQ, NVQ3 NVQ2 and above: e.g. 5 or more GCSEs at grades A-C, intermediate GNVQ, NVQ2 NVQ1 and above: e.g. fewer than 5 GCSEs at grades A-C, foundation GNVQ, NVQ1 Other Qualifications: includes foreign qualifications and some professional qualifications No qualifications: no formal qualifications held
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The amount of people in Watford holding NVQ4 or above (31.3%) is higher than Hertfordshire and also the East of England. Similar data was compiled from the 2001 census results and it was apparent that the 23.07% of people (aged 16-74) with a higher education qualification (NVQ4 and above) in Watford was significantly higher than the national average of 19.90%. This also shows that Watford has a high proportion of highly qualified people which has substantially increased over the last seven years.
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5. Local Output Indicators
Local output indicators are to be used to address the effects of policies not covered by the core output indicators and of importance locally. Preparation of the evidence base for the LDF indicates that transport/traffic congestion is considered one of Watford’s most important local issues, together with affordable decent housing and environmental issues.
Thus we are collecting ‘bundles’ of group indicators related to transport, environment and housing which may be added to or amended as our Core Strategy emerges, but are useful research to assist in ascertaining the effectiveness of our current policies and the development of new policies. For ease of reference, they have been combined with the relevant contextual data.
5.1. Transport
Amount and percentage of completed non-residential development within UCOs A, B and D complying with car-parking standards set out in the Watford District Plan 2000 (WDP 2000)
Policy T22 and Appendix 2 in the adopted Watford District Plan 2000 set out Watford’s car parking standards, which are based on maximum demand-based parking as set out in Structure Plan Policy 25: Car Parking, and reduced as appropriate in accordance with the principle set out in Hertfordshire County Council Car Parking Supplementary Planning Guidance: Parking in New Development (December 2000).
Car parking standards are in place to ensure that appropriate provision is made for car parking in relation to new development or in land use conversions. They are intended to restrict over provision, over capacity and to encourage the use of alternative transport modes.
Table 23: Percentage of completed non-residential development within UCOs A, B and D complying with car-parking standards set out in the WDP 2000 Use Class Order (UCO) No. of sites in each Car parking spaces UCO A1 1 1 A2 2 2 A4 3 3 B1 2 2 B1a 1 1 B2 3 3 B0 1 1 D2 2 2 Total 16 16 (100%) N.B. Where a Use Class within A, B and D has not been listed, no developments have completed in that category
There have been 12 applicable developments (two sites had a mixture of uses on each site) which have been completed over the monitoring period of 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008, 9 of which utilised existing car parking spaces. The other 3 schemes
32 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 which applied for new or additional car parking spaces all complied with the WDP 2000 car parking standards.
Accessibility - Percentage of new residential development within 30 minutes public transport time of a GP, hospital, primary and secondary school, employment and a major health centre
(This indicator was previously designated COI 3b but has been removed from the core output indicator set. We will continue to monitor as accessibility is an important issue and integral to ‘better connectivity’ stated in the Regional Spatial Strategy (‘RSS’) Policy LA4: Watford Key Centre for Development and Change)
Accessibility planning is essential to effective spatial planning in order to identify whether people can get to jobs, education, health and other key activities. ‘Accession’ is government-approved software which was funded by the Department for Transport to enable this and help local planning authorities and other agencies draw together transport, land use and socio-economic information. This software package is a Geographic Information System which is able to address all aspects of travel time and cost mapping using digital road networks and public transport timetable data, and enables specific locations to be mapped and analysed.
Hertfordshire County Council, as the highway authority in the county with the main responsibility for transport issues, has been provided with ‘Accession’ and they use the package on our behalf to input the locations of residential completions for Watford, in order to be able to check for accessibility to services as in the above indicator.
The following table shows the results provided by running the program on net residential development for the last three years. Much as expected in an urban area such as Watford, with good public transport, the result for this year is that 100% of net residential development is within 30 minutes public transport time of all services.
Table 24: Percentage of new residential development (net completions) within 30 minutes public transport time of services/key activities % of Total Net Dwellings Completed Service/key activity 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
GP 100% 100% 100% Hospital 98% 100% 100% Primary school 100% 100% 100% Secondary school 100% 100% 100% Areas of employment 100% 100% 100% Major retail centre 100% 100% 100% Data Source: Hertfordshire County Council/Watford Borough Council via Accession software
Accessibility to hospitals did not fare quite as well in 2006 with a result of 98%. Investigation found that those addresses that came within the 2% affected were largely contained in the northernmost part of Watford, around Woodside with one address to the east in Meriden. These areas are the furthest away from rail and underground stations and it must be recognised that they are accordingly not quite as accessible in this respect, as other parts of Watford. However, results can be
33 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 affected because of the particular parameters set, bus/train timetables change and there has been no such repeated result in the last two years. Nevertheless, accessibility and the congestion problem remain high on our agenda.
The county’s prosperity is reflected in the high levels of car ownership and the contribution that this makes to congestion, similar to Watford although Watford has lower cars per household (1.21) than the county average of 1.34 (see Table 25).
Vehicle ownership can provide an indication of the prosperity of an area and also the availability of other travel modes. A comparison between the 1991 and 2001 Census shows that average car ownership in Watford has increased from 1.06 per household to 1.21, a rise of 14%, although the average figure is one of the lowest in Hertfordshire bar Stevenage at 1.16, which could be due to their more urban nature and better, more frequent public transport than in some of the more rural districts. The overall average figure for Hertfordshire is 1.34 cars per household.
Table 25: Car Ownership - % of households and total cars per household Total cars per No car 1 car 2 cars 3 cars 4+ cars hsehld Watford 21.0 45.4 27.1 5.0 1.5 1.21 Herts 17.7 42.0 31.6 6.6 2.2 1.34 Data Source: 2001 Census, ONS
Watford has the highest employed resident population – 41,609 (all people aged 16- 74 in employment who are usually resident in the area) and workplace population – 49,524 (all people aged 16-74 who are in employment and whose usual place of work is in the area) of all the settlements in Hertfordshire. The number of people both living and working in Watford is 20,732, which is 49.4% of the employed resident population and 41.8% of the workplace population. There are 28,411 people working in Watford and living elsewhere, 37% more than the 20,731 people that live in Watford and work elsewhere.
Table 26: Method of travel to work - Watford Employed Resident Workplace Population Population of Watford of Watford Method of Travel Number % of Total Number % of Total Home Works mainly 3,268 7.9 3,268 6.6 at or from home Public Underground 1,098 2.6 583 1.2 Transport etc. Train 2,995 7.2 2,189 4.4 Bus etc 1,787 4.3 2,764 5.6 Car Car driver or 25,101 60.3 32,856 66.7 passenger Other Bicycle 966 2.3 1,010 2.1 On foot 5,553 13.3 5,755 11.7 Other 841 2.0 829 1.7 Total 41,609 100 49,254 100 Source: Census 2001 Workplace Table W203
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Watford has the highest net in-commuting in Hertfordshire (the difference between employed resident population and workplace population) at 7,736 persons. Over 60% of people travel to work by car, either as a car driver or passenger, which contributes to the problem of traffic congestion in Watford (see Table 26).
The level of traffic congestion was identified in Watford’s Citizens’ Panel Community Survey 2004, as being the top ‘Quality of Life’ issue that needed the most improving. Road congestion and traffic growth was also identified as key issues by Hertfordshire residents in the Hertfordshire County Travel Survey 2005, together with maintaining existing roads and improving bus and rail facilities.
Hertfordshire County Council is the highway authority for all public roads in the county except the motorway and trunk road network, which is the responsibility of the Highways Agency (executive arm of the Department for Transport). The County Council’s main source of information is obtained from the ongoing Traffic Data Counting Programme which primarily monitors road traffic levels and vehicle type.
A large element of the motorway and trunk road network is of a long-distance nature so a comparison of traffic on just Hertfordshire County Council controlled roads (which excludes these) provides a measure of locally generated traffic change.
Table 27: % Change in Total Vehicle Kilometreage on HCC roads in Watford 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 - 0.4 % -0.6 % +0.5 % -0.6 % +1.04 -2.9 Source: Hertfordshire’s Traffic and Transport Data Reports 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 N.B. + denotes an increase and – denotes a decrease in traffic flow levels.
Although there have been both slight increases and slight decreases over the past five years, the data does appear to indicate that traffic levels have been relatively stable in Watford. In most districts in Hertfordshire, traffic flows on the local network (HCC roads) decreased or remained relatively stable to 2006 levels.
The latest predictions from the National Trip End Model (TEMPRO version 5.3), Department for Transport (DfT), indicate that car traffic growth in Hertfordshire is now expected to grow at a faster rate than the national average.
There is considerable variation between districts in the predicted growth levels from the base year of 2001. Expected growth rates for some districts such as East Herts (25.1% by 2011 and 43.7% by 2021), North Herts and Stevenage are substantially above national projections and the county forecasts. These higher levels of traffic growth take into account the proposed increase in the number of new households and jobs in each of these districts identified within the current draft of the East of England Regional plan. Watford is predicted to grow more in line with forecasts for the county overall - from the base year of 2001, Hertfordshire’s traffic is predicted to grow by 20.1% by 2011 and 35.6% by 2021 and Watford’s traffic is predicted to grow by 20.5% by 2011 and 35.1% by 2021.
In the AMR 2007, we included data on ‘Annual average daily flow of cars across screenlines/cordons in Urban Regional Interchange Centres’ pertaining to a Target No. 35 contained in the draft Regional Spatial Strategy, which was to:
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‘Stabilise car traffic levels in urban regional interchange centres (one of which is identified as Watford) at 1999 levels’. This exact target/policy is not included in the adopted East of England Plan, neither is the appropriate data available in the East of England Monitoring Report.
However, earlier this year the government published a list of national performance indicators. One of these related to a Congestion Target (NI167). Hertfordshire County Council is following the preferred methodology for non-metropolitan authorities and is using the following indicator: ‘Vehicle journey time per mile during the morning peak on major inbound routes in the large urban centres, weighted by the relative traffic flow on those different routes’. To ensure consistency with other plans the main urban centres are those designated as Key Centres for Development and Change or Regional Transport Nodes in the East of England Plan and are Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Stevenage, Watford and Welwyn Garden City/Hatfield. Bishop’s Stortford has also been included (due to nearby potential growth at Stansted Airport). Journey time information from in-vehicle GPS devices has been supplied by the DfT, which will be analysed to identify a baseline journey time figure and thereafter updated. Once initial figures are obtained a performance target will be developed through the HCC Congestion Group.
In terms of tackling congestion, a congestion task group has been set up to cover the Watford and South West Hertfordshire area. The group will review and co-ordinate all relevant activities (in terms of highway design and the mitigation of impacts from new developments) in addition to identifying key pressure points in the network and suggesting potential engineering solutions for inclusion in future work programmes. It is the intention that in future similar forums are established in the other urban centres by the congestion target.
The adopted East of England Plan has 15 specific policies relating to transport but a clear priority is to increase passenger and freight movement by more sustainable modes, while reflecting the functionality required of the region’s transport networks.
Walking, cycling and public transport are important elements of the transport agenda making a contribution to a sustainable transport system. By increasing the attractiveness of sustainable transport methods, there is a real potential to reduce reliance on the car.
Watford Borough Council produced a Pedestrian Strategy for Watford in July 2003 aimed at encouraging people to walk and ensuring that we have an environment that is clean, safe and attractive to walk in. In line with Hertfordshire County Council targets, the aim is to ensure that by 2008, walking is the main travel mode in 33% of all journeys in Watford.
In the 2001 census, figures showed that Watford has a much higher proportion of residents walking to work than any other district in Hertfordshire (13.3%) and higher than the county average (1.8%) of those travelling to work by bicycle at 2.3%.
The 2005 County Travel Survey collected travel diary information. An analysis of trip purposes in the county overall shows that one in 5 (20%) of all outbound journeys were trips to work and a further 6% were transport connections, often as part of a
36 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 journey to work. The other main reasons for journeys were shopping (14%) and recreation (13%) - returning home again accounted for 33%. The highest levels of walking to work were found in Watford (18%). Walking is also the second most popular mode for food shopping (after car) and again the highest levels of walking to shops were found among Watford residents.
Table 28: Walking to work levels in Watford – proportion of all journey to work trips 1991 Census 2001 Census 2005 County Travel Survey 11.5% 13.3% 18% Data source: Hertfordshire’s Traffic & Transport Data Report 2005 - base survey data (Report stated in error a figure of 22% which is the overall figure for all trips for walking rather than to work) N.B. The County Travel Survey results are given in whole numbers only.
Since the late 1960s, national cycling levels have been less than a quarter of the level of 1950. In the 2005 County Travel survey, overall 43% of adults surveyed owned a usable bicycle. Despite relatively high levels of ownership bicycles account for less than 2% share for usual work, food shopping and school journeys across the county. This is consistent with the 2001 Census which found that 1.8% of journeys to work were by bike in Hertfordshire, and 2.3% in Watford.
Although the travel diary provides useful information on cycling behaviour it is difficult to accurately ascertain overall levels of cycling from the information because of the reliance on a sample of residents recording their behaviour on one day of travel.
Hertfordshire County Council has a target of 11% increase by 2010/11, from the base 2004/05 year cycle level for number of cycle trips per day across the county.
Although Watford does not have an actual target at local level, there are four sites in Watford continuously monitored with automatic counters, with a one day manual count to validate the equipment (see Table 29).
Table 29: Watford’s cycle route usage – no. of trips per year and annual % change Site Year Site 1 % Site 2 % Site 3 % Site 4 % Town change Radlett change Dalton change Ebury change Hall annually Rd annually Way annually Way annually 03-04 135,180 - 29,288 - 5,768 - 20,968 - 04-05 143,059 5.8% 39,395 34.5% 9,169 59.0% 30,087 43.5% 05-06 117,116 -18.1% 32,727 -16.9% 11,268 22.9% 37,954 26.1% 06-07 147,838 26.2% 38,158 16.6% 12,850 14.0% 42,705 12.5% 07-08 141,116 -4.5% 46,147 20.9% 17,217 34.0% 45,517 6.6% % change from 03-04 to 07-08 4.4% 57.6% 198.5% 117.1% Data source: Watford Borough Council, Transport and Projects Section NB. Percentages rounded to nearest one decimal place
As can be seen from the table, usage has increased at all sites over the last five years, with usage almost trebling at Dalton Way and more than doubling at Ebury
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Way sites over the same period. Usage dropped off at the Town Hall site last year, where the redevelopment of the Central Leisure Centre may have had some impact.
In the Council’s Medium Term Plan 2006-2011, a key corporate priority is to tackle traffic congestion and encourage less reliance on the car. Watford Borough Council is strongly committed to encouraging the use of cycles by developing a safe network of useable routes and improved storage facilities in Watford. One of the ways that Watford Borough Council intends to gauge their success is by having a target of implementing 3.8km of cycle route per annum and over the last five years 12.2 kilometres of new cycle route has been delivered in support of policy T9 and the Cycling Strategy (see Table 30). Unfortunately, recent progress and the anticipated 2 km scheduled for 07-08 has been delayed due to restructuring and a lack of staff resources although further works are currently in progress.
Table 30: Annual output for cycle routes in Watford 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 4.3Km 6.1km 1.3km 0.5km 0km Data source: Watford Borough Council, Transport and Projects Section
However, apart from the cycle route target, there does appear to be a lack of quantifiable targets with regard to transport at local level in order to be able to assess whether policies are working and this may need to be rectified when the Core Strategy is developed.
As part of the same corporate priority initiative, Watford Borough Council has also brought into practice a Green Travel Plan 2007 – 2010 (to be reviewed in 2010) for the Council, which sets out a comprehensive programme of initiatives to encourage and support green travel. Some of the things that we have already implemented include the establishment of www.watfordjourneyshare.com in September 2006, a car and journey sharing partnership with other major employers in the town which are currently West Herts College, Sanyo, West Herts Hospital Trust, Total UK, BT and Leavesden Park. It has been calculated that 1360.40 kilograms (1.36 tonnes) of Carbon Monoxide emissions have been saved through the car sharing scheme, between October 2006 and March 2007.
A range of incentives have been provided for Council staff to encourage the use of sustainable travel modes such as discounted season tickets for bus travel; interest free loans for train and bus season tickets and for bike purchase; an improved bike pool for business use; staff showers and lockers and pool vehicles. Staff car parking charges have been introduced for all staff in central Watford, apart from essential car users, from April 2007 and the money raised is allocated to pay for the Green Travel Plan incentives.
The Council, in partnership with Hertfordshire Highways has been working to deliver the South West Herts Transportation Strategy. The original Strategy has been reviewed, the resulting Review document and Action Plan has recently been endorsed by the HCC Highways and Transport Cabinet Panel and is currently (October 2008) in the process of being finalised and adopted. The overall aims are to reduce congestion, enable infrastructure to support existing and proposed
38 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 development, achieve a shift to more sustainable modes of travel, minimise the environmental impact of transport provision and to make the roads safer.
For information purposes, two projects which have been identified as ‘Major Projects’ within the HCC Local Transport Plan are the Croxley Rail Link and Watford Junction Improvement.
The Croxley Rail Link is a scheme to extend the London Underground Metropolitan line to Watford Junction. The project is currently awaiting a funding approval ‘in principle’ decision from the Secretary of State. Once this is granted, HCC as the lead promoter will embark on a development programme and the current anticipated programme estimates that the Link could be operational by late 2013/early 2014.
The Watford Junction Improvement Scheme combines improved access for all modes to the station and Colonial Way Link Road. The scheme is currently being progressed through the necessary procedural steps by HCC toward a planning application and subject to the satisfactory completion of these processes, it is anticipated that the scheme would be implemented and operational by late 2011. Data sources: Hertfordshire’s Traffic & Transport Data Report 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003; Pedestrian Strategy for Watford, July 2003.
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5.2. Environment
• Air Quality
Traffic levels can have an adverse effect on the air we breathe and our Environmental Services Department carries out regular monitoring on traffic pollutant emissions. The Council completed an assessment in 2004, ultimately ratified by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which suggested that there were likely to be six areas where the annual mean objective for Nitrogen Dioxide, contained in the Government’s National Air Quality Strategy, were unlikely to be met. It was then determined whether any residential premises were situated in these areas and after the public exposure assessment, a period of public consultation was undertaken and on 17 February 2006, the following 6 Air Quality Management Areas were declared:
1. St Albans Road 2. Vicarage Road 3. Aldenham Road 4. Chalk Hill 5. A405/Horseshoe Lane 6. M1/Meriden
In partnership with Hertfordshire County Council, work on Action Plans to improve Air Quality in these areas is being developed. Local Authorities have to reassess air quality in their Districts on a regular basis, and compare the current and predicted concentrations of 7 pollutants against the national objectives every four years. The 2007 review was completed in August 2007 and awaits ratification by DEFRA.
• The amount (in hectares) and percentage of total open space managed to Green Flag Award standards
(This indicator was previously designated COI 4c but has been removed from the core output indicator set. However, we will continue to provide this data as a local indicator, which is in accordance with new guidance from DCLG issued July 2008).
The Green Flag Award is the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales. The award scheme began in 1996 as a means of recognising and rewarding the best green spaces in the country. It was also seen as a way of encouraging others to achieve the same high environmental standards, creating a benchmark of excellence in recreational green areas.
The total open space managed by the Council is currently estimated at 339.94 hectares, and the amount managed to Green Flag Award standards is estimated at 97.06 hectares which is 28.55% of the total. The amount of open space managed to Green Flag Award standards has increased from 95.95 hectares in 2006-07 as Cheslyn Gardens is now managed to the standard although the Council missed out on the actual award for Cheslyn Gardens by one single point this year.
Watford Borough Council was successful in winning a Green Flag Award in respect of Cassiobury Park in August 2007 which is valid for 2007-08. Some planned
40 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 objectives have been implemented and the Council is committed to gaining the award in 2009 for Cheslyn Gardens as well as Cassiobury Park.
The Green Spaces Strategy was adopted by Cabinet on the 9 October 2006, and encompasses the aim of raising the quality of all our parks up to Green Flag Award standard within the following five years. However, we do not intend to make formal applications for all our parks, as it would be too costly and time consuming.
Table 31: Amount (hectares) of eligible open spaces managed to Green Flag Award standard Alban Woods 3.31 Lairage Land 5.26 Harebreaks Woods 5.61 Cassiobury Park 75.77 Garston Park Nature Reserve 6.0 Cheslyn Gardens 1.11 Total 97.06 Data source: Watford Borough Council, Leisure and Community Services N.B. See www.greenflagaward.org.uk for criteria of the Green Flag Award N.B. Figures have been rounded to two decimal points
The mapping of all Watford’s parks into GIS as part of the PPG17 study still continues, which will mean definitive plotting of boundaries and accurate measurement data should be available next year. The study will provide a comprehensive audit of all publicly accessible open spaces within the Borough and identify the deficiencies which should be met by Section 106 planning contributions and the Green Spaces Strategy.
The good management, protection and enhancement of our green areas supports the RSS Policy ENV1: Green Infrastructure and RSS Policy ENV2: Landscape Conservation in order to maximise its biodiversity value and other environmental benefits together with making Watford an attractive place to live and work.
5.3. Housing
House prices in Watford, which have been generally lower than Hertfordshire overall, have continued to rise along with the rest of the country, as shown in the graph of Mean House Prices January 2001 to March 2008, although house prices have experienced more dips over the last two years.
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Figure 4: Mean House Prices January 2001-March 2008
350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0
2 3 4 7 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2001 2 2 2 2005 2006 2 2
England East Hertfordshire Watford
Data source: Compiled by Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy, based on quarterly Land Registry data
The average house price in Watford increased by 8.1% from the final quarter of 2006 to the final quarter of 2007, and prices for all house types have increased during this period although the various types of housing show quite marked differences in growth at varying times over the last three years. Generally, prices for flats and maisonettes have increased the least.
Table 32: Average house prices in Watford 3rd quarter 2004-2007 and % change year on year Watford Detached Semi- Terraced Flat/Maisonette Overall Av. Price Detached Av. Price Av. Price Av. Price £ Av. Price £ £ £ £ Oct-Dec 2004 414,497 251,446 204,592 176,414 211,237
Oct-Dec 2005 508,333 245,157 197,396 169,252 226,960 % change 22.6% -2.5% -3.5% -4.1% 7.4% 04-05 Oct-Dec 2006 449,498 273,266 219,990 169,895 231,333 %change -14.2% 11.2% 11.0% 0.4% 2.1% 05-06 Oct-Dec 2007 538,878 299,762 235,180 201,864 250,138 % change 19.9% 9.7% 6.9% 18.8% 8.1% 06-07 Data Source: Compiled by Watford Borough Council, Planning Policy – original data from Land Registry N.B. Percentages have been rounded to nearest decimal point
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Between the 1st quarter 2007 and 1st quarter 2008 the average price of all house types in Hertfordshire increased, with detached houses experiencing the largest increase of 12.8%. Since the 3rd quarter of 2007 the rate of increase of house prices in some districts of Hertfordshire is starting to slow down with fewer sales and prices have begun to fall, with the largest fall of £20,500 in the average price of a semi- detached house in Watford.
Table 33: Average house prices & volume of sales – all properties in Watford 2007-08
Semi- Flat/Mai- Total Total Detached Sales Detached Sales Terraced Sales sonette Sales Av e r age s Sales Apr – Jun Not 2007 528,536 40 283,909 127 221,891 201 173,500 191 supplied 559 Jul - Sep Not 2007 529,211 60 321,438 131 233,292 230 172,201 205 supplied 626 Oct - Dec 2007 538,878 45 299,762 85 235,180 176 201,864 302 250,138 608 Jan - Mar 2008 610,890 25 300,953 67 234,305 130 184,860 95 263,273 317 Data source: Land Registry
Property purchase remains out of reach of many first-time buyers.
Generally, most first-time buyers struggle to save a deposit and historically, they have been allowed by the major banks and societies to provide a minimum 5% deposit. However, with present day levels of housing prices, funding the mortgage payments remains unaffordable for many and first-time buyers have to produce larger deposits, often with the help of parents.
For example, the median gross weekly pay of a full-time worker resident in Watford is £573.30, (Source: Annual survey of hours and earnings – resident analysis 2007) which equates to an annual gross salary of £29,811.60, far below the minimum required to fund a 90% mortgage of even a flat or maisonette (average price £184,860) at the general rule of thumb of 3.5 times salary.
Sometimes people have been lent up to four and a half or five times income dependent upon whether this borrowing together with other outgoings has been assessed as affordable by the lending institution but even five times the current annual gross salary which would stretch most people, is not enough to buy a flat in Watford or indeed many parts of the country. Also, mortgage lenders are becoming more prudent with their lending and will not offer the higher multiples as a result of the current financial situation, hence the term ‘credit crunch’.
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Figure 5: Annual Income required to fund 90% mortgage at three and a half times salary in respect of average property prices in Watford for period Jan- Mar 2008
180000 157086 160000 140000 120000 100000 77388 80000 60250 60000 47535
£ Annual Income Annual £ 40000 20000 0 Detached Semi-detached Terraced Flat/Maisonette Property Type / Original Data Source: www.landregistry.gov.uk/propertyprice (Mortgage/income calculations by Planning Policy, WBC – assuming 3.5 times salary allowed)
Within Watford, 73 per cent of households live in owner-occupied accommodation, which is the same figure for Hertfordshire, with 13.7% in local authority housing; slightly less than the 14.4% for the county overall (see Table 34).
Table 34: Households and tenure Total Average Owner Local Housing Private Other Hseholds Hsehold Occupied Authority Assoc. Rented Size HERTS 420,650 2.42 72.5% 14.4% 4.4% 6.1% 2.5% WATFORD 32,350 2.43 73.0% 13.7% 2.5% 9.0% 1.8% Source: Office for National Statistics 2001 Census
The housing completion trends by size and broad type have been summarised for 2002-08 as below:
Table 35: Watford Gross Housing Completions 2002-08 by type and no. of bedrooms Dwelling Type Number of Bedrooms 1 2 3 4 5+ Unknown Total by type Total houses - all types inc. bungalows 13 83 182 122 44 4 448 Total flats - all types 636 1064 24 0 0 22 1746 Total by Bedrooms 649 1147 206 122 44 26 2194 % of All Completions 1 April '01-31 Mar '08 29.6% 52.3% 9.4% 5.6% 2.0% 1.2% 100% Data Source: Planning Policy, WBC and HCC
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This shows that more than 50% of the properties that have been built over this period are two bedrooms, 30% are one bedroom and fewer than 20% are three bedrooms or more. An increasing trend is that more flats than houses have been built, and since 2006, the amount of flats built is nearing 90% of total completions (see following chart and table).
Figure 6: Watford Gross Completions 2002-07 (Years ending 31 March) % grouped by size and type
Watford Gross Completions 2002- 2007 % by Grouped Size and Type
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
House 1 or 2 bed 8% 7% 10% 4% 1% 1% House 3+ bed 23% 17% 21% 28% 11% 10% Flat 1 or 2 bed 69% 73% 69% 68% 86% 88% Flat 3+ bed 0% 2% 0% 0% 1% 1%
Data Source: Planning Policy, WBC and HCC
This trend has continued during 2007-08, with less than 12% of total housing completions being houses. We can see that the majority of properties built since 2002 are two bedroom and mostly flats, which does appear to be a popular choice in terms of need and affordability. The 2001 census did not require information on number of bedrooms – the question asked was number of habitable rooms (not including bathrooms). Therefore, it is difficult to make comparisons with the existing housing stock in 2001 as regards number of bedrooms.
However, we can approximately compare how much of Watford’s housing stock has changed between the broad types of flats and houses – we have added the gross number of homes completed in Watford between 2002-08 to the stock figures from the 2001 census (2,194+33,352=35,546), and have calculated that the percentage of flats has increased from 26.70% to 29.96% (1,746+8,905=10,651/35,546).
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Table 36: Household spaces Total Detached Semi- Terraced Flats etc. Non-permanent Hsehold Detached Accommodation Spaces HERTS 430,304 96,518 124,864 126,532 80,350 2,040 22.4% 29.0% 29.4% 18.7% 0.5% WATFORD 33,352 3,875 10,249 10,276 8,905 47 11.6% 30.7% 30.8% 26.7% 0.1% Source: Office for National Statistics 2001 Census
The increase couched in these terms does not appear so disproportionate, but it is as well to remember that Watford did have a significantly higher proportion of flats to start with in 2001 at 26.7%, compared to Hertfordshire at 18.7% (see Table 36), and also England and Wales at 19.2%. It is difficult to substantiate whether there will be a greater need for numbers of larger homes, given the current population and household projections, but it has been shown that there are relatively few three bedroom or more properties that have been built over the last seven years.
Bearing in mind accommodation needs for all, this leads to a concern that there is not enough family-sized homes being built for Watford’s needs, and families will have to increasingly move elsewhere. Although of course building larger housing may not help if it is out of financial reach of those currently overcrowded.
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6. Core Output Indicators In July 2008 the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published guidance (Core Output Indicators – Update 2/2008), amending the original core output indicators (Appendix 4 highlights the key changes).
We have tried to provide data that would comply with both old and new indicators in this report, explaining which have been removed, replaced or just basically renamed, to ensure clarity and consistency.
6.1. Business Development
The following data on business development includes newly built floorspace as well as information concerning changes of land use to and from employment.
Employment type is defined by planning Use Class Orders: B1 – Business, encompassing: • B1 (a) – Offices (other than those permitted in class A2 – Financial and Professional Services) • B1 (b) – Research and development • B1 (c) – Light industry B2 – General Industrial – carrying out an industrial process other than within class B1 B8 – Storage or Distribution B0 - used to indicate where a mix of 'B' Uses granted permission.
The Government replaced the original six Core Output Indicators (‘COI’) on Business Development, numbered 1a – 1f with four Core Output Indicators BD1 – BD4. The DCLG has specified that figures should be quoted for ‘gross internal floorspace which should be measured in square metres (sq.m.)’ and have provided a revised definition as follows: ‘Gross internal floorspace is the entire area inside the external walls of a building and includes areas such as corridors, lifts, plant rooms, mezzanines, services accommodation e.g. toilets but excludes internal walls.’ For reference, the percentage difference between gross external and gross internal floorspace has been defined as 3.75%.
Information is sometimes not provided or was not previously recorded on the sub- types of B1 (Business) use class, so the breakdown of use classes cannot always be accurately supplied. However, where it has been possible to identify sub-types, these are quoted separately in the following tables, and do not form part of the total given for B1.
Please note that before 1st April 2007, sites below 235sqm were not included in monitoring information provided by Hertfordshire County Council. This threshold has been discontinued, but will still apply to historical data. However, there is some doubt about the reliability of monitoring beneath this threshold, given that some changes of use below 235 sq.m. do not need planning permission - we may not be aware of these changes.
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Saved policies E1, E2, E3, E5, E6 and E8 in the Watford District Plan 2000 deal with safeguarding employment provision.
BD1 (i): Total amount (sq.m.) of additional employment floorspace in Watford – by type (This indicator was previously known as COI 1a - Amount of floorspace developed for employment by type – the revised definition is broadly equivalent).
Table 37: Total amount (sq.m.) of additional employment floorspace in Watford – by type (BD1 (i)) Gain Plan Use Loss Completed Net Completed Completed Class In Year in Year In Year B0 4021 123 3898 B1 198 0 198 B1a 428 9613 -9185 B1b 000 B1c 000 B2 2065 10065 -8000 B8 0 3255 -3255 Totals 6712 23056 -16344 Data Source: Information Management Unit, HCC and Planning Policy, WBC N.B. Category B1a is also captured under BD4 (previously the Local Services Indicator 4a) where the same figure is quoted.
Table 37 (BD1) illustrates the total gain and loss of employment floorspace (Gross internal floorspace in square metres – sq.m.) by type (Use Class) within Watford, completed during the year.
There has been a gross gain of 6,712 sq.m. and an overall net loss of employment floorspace in Watford of 16,344 sq.m. as per the above table which gives detailed figures per Use Class.
The gain of 4,021 square metres to Use Class B0 is an actual gain of new units at Imperial Park, Imperial Way for a range of uses, as is a gain of 300 square metres which is business units at a mainly residential development at Loates Lane. The majority of the remaining gains showing were as a result of a replacement building, change of uses or conversions within employment use classes.
However, the bulk of the loss showing to employment uses is scheduled for residential development, which will result in a proposed 460 dwellings, of which one was completed, with 214 in progress and the remainder yet to be started as at 31 March 2008. Most of the loss to B1a office use is made up of two sites, the former British Waterways Head Office at Willow Grange, which is being redeveloped for residential use, and an office building at 31-35 Clarendon Road which is to be redeveloped as a hotel and flats. Most of the B2 loss is the demolition of Sun Chemicals at Cow Lane, which is to be redeveloped for mixed uses including homes and offices.
48 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
BD1 (ii) Total amount of additional employment floorspace in employment areas – by type (This indicator was previously designated COI 1b and is no longer mandatory – local authorities can choose whichever policy areas need to be included under BD1 within the new Core Output Indicators - we are intending to continue to monitor employment areas by this indicator)
There are seven main blocks of land identified as employment areas within the Watford District Plan 2000 where the Council seeks to protect the land for employment use (saved policy E1) and the following table shows the amount of floorspace developed in those areas.
Table 38: Total amount of additional employment floorspace in employment areas - by type (BD1 (ii)) Gain Plan Use Loss Completed Net Completed Completed Class In Year in Year In Year B0 4021 123 3898 B1 76 0 76 B1a 0 4040 -4040 B1b 000 B1c 000 B2 1397 0 1397 B8 0 1397 -1397
Totals 5494 5560 -66 Data Source: Information Management Unit, HCC and Planning Policy, WBC
A comparison of the total floorspace gains for Watford to the floorspace gains in Employment Areas only, shows us that over 80% of the total gains were within identified employment areas and over 75% of the total losses were in other areas. This indicates that policies to protect and encourage employment uses in employment areas are being used successfully. The gain of 76 sq.m. to B1, relates to permission for the conversion of two dwellings into offices in Colne Way, within Employment Area 6b. One dwelling has been converted, and the other is still to be done (and so shows as a further 76sqm under indicator BD3)
The loss of 4,040 sq.m. from B1a was within Employment Area 7a and relates to the demolition of offices at 31-35 Clarendon Road which are to be redeveloped into a hotel and 22 flats. The loss of 123 sq.m. to B0 was the demolition of industrial units at 19 Bridle Path, which are to be replaced by a hotel and the loss of 1,397 sq.m in B8, was a change of use from a warehouse to a car workshop, which resulted in a corresponding gain to B2. A certain amount of hotel use has been seen as a supporting function to office use in this area, particularly given the proximity to Watford Junction Station as well as the town centre, and so was not judged to conflict with the employment designation.
49 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
Amount of floorspace developed for employment by type in regeneration areas (This indicator was previously designated under COI 1b (ii) and is no longer mandatory - local authorities can choose whichever policy areas need to be reported on covered under the new Core Output Indicator requirements)
Watford Borough Council does not currently have any land designated as regeneration areas.
BD2: Total amount (sq.m.) of employment floorspace on Previously Developed Land (‘PDL’) - by type (Use Class) (This indicator was previously described as COI 1c - Amount and percentage of floorspace developed for Employment by Type (Use Class) on PDL – the revised definition is broadly equivalent)
BD2 (i) Total amount of employment floorspace on PDL - by type
The gross and net gains for employment floorspace on previously developed land are detailed in Table 39.
Table 39: Total amount of employment floorspace (sq.m.) on PDL – by type (BD2 (i)) Plan Use Gain Completed Loss Completed Net Completed Class In Year In Year in Year
B0 4021 123 3898 B1 198 0 198 B1a 428 9613 -9185 B1b 000 B1c 000 B2 2065 10065 -8000 B8 0 3255 -3255 Totals 6712 23056 -16344 Data Source: Information Management Unit, HCC and Planning Policy, WBC
BD2 (ii) Percentage of gross floorspace developed for employment on PDL - by type
Given the urban nature of the borough it is to be expected that most development takes place on previously developed land, and we can see (compare the identical amounts quoted in Table 39 with those quoted in Table 37) that 100% of employment development within Watford took place on previously developed land (see Table 40), as in 2006-07.
50 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
Table 40: Percentage of gross floorspace (sq.m.) developed for employment on PDL – by type (BD2 (ii)) Plan Use Total Gain in Gain Completed % Gain in Year Class Year In Year on PDL on PDL by UCO B0 4021 4021 100% B1 198 198 100% B1a 428 428 100% B1b 000% B1c 000% B2 2065 2065 100% B8 000% Totals 6712 6712 100% Data Source: Information Management Unit, HCC and Planning Policy, WBC
BD3 – Employment land available – by type (Previously designated COI 1d – revised definition is broadly equivalent)
BD3 (i) Employment land available by type - sites defined and allocated in the LDF/Local Plan Within the broad scope of the Employment Areas, there is a defined site allocated in the Watford District Plan 2000 for employment, which is Key Development Site number RA6. This site encompasses 14.8 hectares, and more information can be found in the Watford Junction Brief, published by Watford Borough Council, dated April 2004.
BD3 (ii) Employment land available by type - sites for which planning permission has been granted (but not implemented)
The total area of the relevant sites for which planning permission has been granted amounts to 6.243 hectares which is the combined total for all Use Classes as detailed in the Table 41 and 60% of the proposed site area is within the designated employment zones.
Table 41: Employment land available by type - sites for which planning permission has been granted (but not implemented) in hectares (BD3 (ii)) Outstanding Gain Use Class Floorspace Area (Ha) B0 7760 1.660 B1 76 0.031 B1a 16286 3.067 B1b 176 0.003 B1c 00.000 B2 690 0.243 B8 4652 1.240 Totals 29640 6.243 Data Source: Information Management Unit, HCC and Planning Policy, WBC
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13% of the total site area is made up of permissions which are in progress, 75% has detailed permissions not started and the remaining 12% has outline permissions. Many of these permissions are for change of use or redevelopment of existing business premises with just 6% of the total site area quoted relating to extensions or new build business units. The high proportion of redevelopment rather than new build reflects the urban nature of the town with little new land for development. Much of the B1a floorspace relates to the redevelopment of Gresham House on Clarendon Road, which will be replaced with new offices, almost doubling in size, and resulting in an additional 5,243 sq.m. floorspace.
Losses of employment land in COI 1e - (i) employment/regeneration areas (ii) local authority area (completed sites only) (This indicator previously designated COI 1e, has been removed under the new Core Output Indicator requirements)
(i) employment/regeneration areas - no land has been lost to non-employment uses within the employment areas, in accordance with saved policy E1 within the Watford District Plan 2000, which seeks to protect employment land in employment areas. There are no regenerations areas currently designated. Losses referred to in BD1 (i) are not shown here because the redevelopment has not yet been completed. ii) in Local Authority area - 0.10 hectares has been lost to non-employment uses within the whole of Watford - 78% was in respect of residential development and the remaining 12% was in respect of one planning permission which was a change of use from offices B1a to A2 Financial and Professional Services.
COI 1f - Amount of employment land lost to residential development (completed sites only) (This indicator previously designated COI 1f, has been removed under the new Core Output Indicator requirements)
i) Within employment areas – 0.00 hectares. Losses referred to in BD1 (i) are not shown here because the redevelopment has not yet been completed. ii) Within the local authority area – 0.10 hectares
The amount of employment land which has been lost to completed residential development specifically is 0.08 hectares and this has resulted in 14 new dwellings. This represents a density of 175 dwellings per hectare.
Most of the redevelopments were conversions to flats with 45% of the corresponding losses from offices (B1a), 25% were from light industry (B1c) with the remainder of the losses pertaining to one workshop and one light industrial premises but none were in designated employment areas, which would be protected against such change.
BD4 – Total amount of floorspace for ‘town centre uses’ (This indicator was previously designated COI 4a and COI 4b, Local Services – the definition is broadly equivalent, and basically encompasses the completed amount of
52 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 floorspace in respect of retail (A1), financial and professional services (A2), office (B1a), and leisure (D2) development, within the town centre and within the local authority area)
BD4 (i) Amount of completed retail, office and leisure development: within town centres
The retail (A1) gain and loss in Table 42 relates to one planning application at 125 The Parade, a change of use from retail to mixed use of retail, bar and restaurant. This shows that there is currently not much development activity within Watford Town Centre.
Table 42: Amount in sq.m. of completed retail, office and leisure development: within town centres (BD4 (i)) Gain as % of Net total gain in Completed Use Gain in Year same UCO in Loss in Ye a r in Year Class (sq.m.) Watford (sq.m.) (sq.m.) A1 445 100% 768 -323 A2 00% 0 0 B1a 00% 0 0 D2 00% 0 0 Data Source: Information Management Unit, HCC and Planning Policy, WBC NB: Floorspace is specified as square metres, not confirmed as gross internal floorspace Use Class A1, not expressed as net tradeable floorspace, data not available for historic applications Category B1a includes permissions for B1 office The figures in the above table re. town centres form part of the figures in the table below re. Watford
BD4 (ii) Amount of completed retail, office and leisure development: within local authority area - Watford
The majority of the losses to offices (B1a) will result in future gains to residential and also a hotel. Most of the B1a losses relate to 2 sites – Willow Grange and 31-35 Clarendon Road.
Table 43: Amount in sq.m. of completed retail, office and leisure development: within local authority area – Watford (BD4 (ii))
Use Gain in Year Loss in Year Net Completed Class (sq.m.) (sq.m.) in Year
A1 445 565 -120
A2 465 0 465
B1a 428 9613 -9185
D2 330 120 210 NB: Figure of 255 has been deducted from total A1 loss of 820 to reflect contra entry to A1 loss recorded by 06-07 fieldwork – proposed change to A3 not completed 07-08 - reverted to A1 use Data Source: Information Management Unit, HCC and Planning Policy, WBC NB: Floorspace is specified as square metres, not confirmed as gross internal floorspace Use Class A1, not expressed as net tradeable floorspace, data not available for historic applications B1a includes permissions for B1 office
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6.2. Housing
The revised core output indicators for housing include two new indicators H5: Net additional pitches (Gypsy and Traveller) and H6: Housing Quality – Building for Life Assessments, the removal of COI 2c: Percentage of new dwellings completed at various housing densities, together with some clarified or revised definitions.
The original indicator COI 2a – Housing Trajectory, showing completions of dwellings, projected future supply, housing requirements and the revised annual rate required to be on target is largely replaced by H1, and H2(a) (b) (c) and (d)
H1: Plan Period and Housing Targets
We have considered the target quoted in the Structure Plan, the saved policies of which were valid during this monitoring period, together with the target contained in the East of England Plan, which forms the Regional Spatial Strategy and supersedes the Structure Plan but was not formally adopted until the 12 May 2008.
• Structure Plan Target
The Hertfordshire County Structure Plan covers the period 1991-2011, and the housing requirement for Watford over the 20 years is 4700 dwellings.
• East of England Plan Target
There is an increased target contained in the East of England Plan for Watford covering the period 2001 and 2021. The requirement is 5,200 dwellings over 20 years, which taking into account the 1406 dwellings built up to 2005-06, equates to an annual average requirement of 253. (The East of England Plan has used rounded up totals of 1410 to 2005-06 and an annual average requirement of 250)
H2(a): Net additional dwellings – in previous years
The housing trajectory illustrates graphically the actual numbers of net annual completions and projected numbers of completions, and compares these to the targets for new housing.
• Structure Plan Target
Table 44 and Figure 7 show the number of dwellings completed (5,087) between 1991–2008 and the projected completions (1,813) for 2009-2011 against the Structure Plan requirement.
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Table 44: Net Housing Completions and Projected Completions @ 31 Mar ’08 against Structure Plan Target
Revised Net Annual Projected SP Annual Cumulative Year Completions Completions Requirement Rate Total Actual 91/92 503 235 221 503 92/93 140 235 225 643 93/94 416 235 214 1,059 94/95 307 235 208 1,366 95/96 684 235 177 2,050 96/97 595 235 147 2,645 97/98 67 235 153 2,712 98/99 114 235 156 2,826 99/00 136 235 158 2,962 00/01 182 235 156 3,144 01/02 62 235 166 3,206 02/03 165 235 166 3,371 03/04 238 235 156 3,609 04/05 356 235 123 3,965 05/06 585 235 30 4,550 06/07 246 235 -24 4,796 07/08 291 235 -129 5,087 08/09 479 235 -433 5,566 09/10 734 235 -1,600 6,300 10/11 600 235 -2,200 6,900 Totals 5,087 1,813 4,700 -2,200 6,900 Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC and Information Management Unit, HCC
Figure 7: 2008 Housing trajectory based on Structure Plan Target
1,000
734 800 684 595 585 600 600 503 479 416 356 400 307 291 238 246 182 165 200 140 114 136 67 62 0 91/92 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 -200
-400
-600 Actual and Projected Completions
-800
-1,000 Year
Net Annual Completions Projected Completions SP Requirement Revised Annual Rate
Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC and Information Management Unit, HCC
55 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
• East of England Plan Target
Figure 8 and Table 45 show the number of dwellings completed (1,943) between 2001-2008 and the projected completions (4,614) for 2009-2021, against the East of England Plan target.
Table 45: Net Housing Completions and Projected Completions @ 31 Mar ’08 against East of England Plan Target
East of Revised Net Annual Projected England Annual Cumulative Year Completions Completions Plan Target Rate Total Actual 01/02 62 281 270 62 02/03 165 281 276 227 03/04 238 281 279 465 04/05 356 281 274 821 05/06 585 281 253 1,406 06/07 246 253 253 1,652 07/08 291 253 251 1,943 08/09 479 253 232 2,422 09/10 734 253 186 3,156 10/11 600 253 144 3,756 11/12 380 253 118 4,136 12/13 85 253 122 4,221 13/14 90 253 127 4,311 14/15 160 253 122 4,471 15/16 172 253 111 4,643 16/17 400 253 39 5,043 17/18 400 253 -81 5,443 18/19 404 253 -324 5,847 19/20 355 253 -1,002 6,202 20/21 355 253 -1,357 6,557 Totals 1,943 4,614 5,200 -1,357 6,557 Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC and Information Management Unit, HCC
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Figure 8: 2008 Housing trajectory based on East of England Plan Target
1,000 734 585 600 479 404 500 356 380 400 400 355 355 291 238 246 165 160 172 62 85 90 0 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21
-500
-1,000 Actual and Projected Completions Projected and Actual
-1,500 Year
Net Annual Completions Projected Completions East of England Plan Target Revised Annual Rate
Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC and Information Management Unit, HCC
H2 (b): Net additional dwellings – for the reporting year
This indicator is the same as the new National Indicator 154: Net additional homes provided.
• Net additional dwellings against Structure Plan target
Watford reached and exceeded the overall 2011 target in 2006-07 and including the 291 net completions for 2007-08, has now exceeded the 2011 target by 387 extra housing units.
• Net additional dwellings against East of England Plan target
The net figure of 291 completions for 2007-08 exceeds the 253 required to remain on target. Overall, if development continues in line with the projections calculated, we estimate that there will be 1357 dwellings surplus to the target by 2021.
H2(c): Net additional dwellings – in future years
(Part of this information is needed to calculate National Indicator 159 relating to the five year supply of ready to develop housing sites.)
• Structure Plan target
Table 44 and Figure 7 show the number of dwellings completed (5,087) between 1991–2008 and the projected completions (1,813) for 2009-2011 against the Structure Plan requirement.
• East of England Plan target
Figure 8 and Table 45 show the number of dwellings completed (1,943) between 2001-2008 and the projected completions (4,614) for 2009-2021, against the East of England Plan target.
57 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
A summary of the current housing commitments and projected annual completions for the whole trajectory period to 2021 is contained in Appendix 9. A site specific list has been provided in Appendix 12 with regards to the five year assessment between 2009-14 although a site specific list of all commitments has not been included in order to reduce the volume of paperwork but is available upon request, from the Planning Policy team ([email protected]). Also provided in Appendix 10 is a list of the outstanding allocated sites without planning permission as at 31 March 2008, which shows the estimated likelihood of whether development will proceed and when figures for these sites are included in the projections. Additionally, a summary of all the Housing Sites allocated in the WDP 2000 and their current status is provided in Appendix 11.
There are a number of factors which could mean that development will not follow the projections outlined; for example, not every permission granted is implemented; once a permission is granted Watford Borough Council do not have any control over when development commences (therefore development may not happen in the year predicted) apart from that construction may not start once the planning consents have expired; building works may take longer than currently scheduled and more or possibly less windfall sites than expected may come forward for development.
For example, in the AMR 2007, the estimated figure for net completions in 2007-08 was 350, whereas the actual net completions figure was 291 net. Compiling the trajectory and phasing when dwellings are likely to be completed is never going to be an exact science. We have compared our estimate and the actual result and the bulk of the difference is due to the large development of 94 units at 1-3 Derby Road, now known as Queensgate, not completed in 2007 as anticipated by the developer, although all units will be completed during the current monitoring year of 2008-09. Also, various small sites completed earlier or later than expected and 9% of completions related to new planning applications which were agreed after 31 March 2007 – therefore not included in the 2007 trajectory figures – and completed within the same monitoring year 2007-08.
With regard to windfalls, Planning Policy Statement 3 (‘PPS3’) states that ‘Allowances for windfalls should not be included in the first 10 years of land supply unless Local Planning Authorities can provide robust evidence of genuine local circumstances that prevent specific sites being identified.’
Windfall describes those planning permissions that will come forward on unidentified sites in the future. Watford has a historic record of substantial windfall delivery.
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Table 46: Total Net Housing Completions by Allocated Site or Windfall Type 2001- 2008
No. of Housing No. of Large No. of Small Allocated Site Units as Large Windfall Site Small Windfall Site Housing % of Total Windfall Units as % Windfall Units as % Total Net Site Net Site of Total Net Site of Total Net Housing Year Units Completions Units Completions Units Completions Completions 2001/02 12 19% 19 31% 31 50% 62 2002/03 93 56% 30 18% 42 25% 165 2003/04 195 82% 12 5% 31 13% 238 2004/05 89 25% 216 61% 51 14% 356 2005/06 189 32% 300 51% 96 16% 585 2006/07 72 29% 123 50% 51 21% 246 2007/08 88 30% 118 41% 85 29% 291 Totals 738 38% 818 42% 387 20% 1943 Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC
Locally, Watford has a consistent trend of single units and small developments (those under 10 units) coming forward which over the past seven years has averaged out at a proportion of 20% of the overall net completions (see Table 46). However, as suggested in PPS3, no windfall allowance has been made for the first 10 years of housing supply, but from 2019-20 a windfall allowance in respect of 55 units per annum has been included. This allowance has been calculated as the average annual rate taking into account the preceding seven years results for ‘small’ sites only. No windfall allowance has been made for ‘large’ sites because the lower the number of sites involved, together with the larger number of completions gives a less dependable average, which may not be repeated and could distort the figures.
Assessment of a Five Year Housing supply
Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3): Housing requires Local Planning Authorities to assess and demonstrate the extent to which existing plans fulfil the requirement to identify and maintain a rolling 5-year supply of deliverable land for housing as this influences how planning applications are determined (see PPS3 paragraphs 68-73).
The criteria for assessing deliverability are laid down in PPS3. Paragraph 54 says that to be deliverable, sites should:
• Be available – the site is available now • Be suitable – the site offers a suitable location for development now and would contribute to the creation of sustainable, mixed communities • Be achievable – there is a reasonable prospect that housing will be delivered on the site within five years
59 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
The specific sites in the Five Year Assessment are listed in Appendix 12.
The first year of the trajectory period, looking forward is 2008-09, which is the current year during which this AMR is compiled, and the expected number of dwellings likely to be completed has been identified as 479, the majority of which are developments already under construction.
However, recent advice in DCLG ‘Core Output Indicators – Update 2/2008’ states that the current year must not be included as part of the five year assessment, which should cover the following five years, between 2009-10 to 2013-14. Sites included in the five year assessment are a combination of sites under construction; sites with unimplemented planning permissions; allocated housing sites (only those likely to proceed); and other sites identified for housing since adoption of the WDP 2000. All those sites included have been assessed for deliverability against the criteria listed above.
The method used for phasing – estimating which year each site will be completed – is based on such factors as whether the development has started, when planning permissions will expire, discussions with developers and whether or not a site allocated in the Plan but without planning permission as yet, is likely to proceed.
The East of England Plan requirement is 5,200 dwellings over 20 years and taking into account the total completions of 1,943 units between 2001-08, (5200- 1943=3257/13=251) this equates to a residual annual requirement of 251 dwellings, which corresponds to 1255 dwellings over a five year period.
As can be seen from the site specific listing for the five year assessment, Watford can demonstrate that it has a five year supply of deliverable sites, as the number of projected completions between 2009-2014 has been identified as 1889 (x), which exceeds the East of England Plan planned housing provision target of 1255 (y) dwellings by 634 units. The five year land supply (in line with National Indicator 159 formula) is calculated as (x/y) *100 and therefore Watford’s 5 year land supply is (1889/1255)*100=150%.
Therefore, there is no need to consider options for increasing the supply of deliverable sites in the short term, but the undeveloped sites allocated in the WDP 2000 together with additional sites that come forward will be reviewed, published for consultation in the future and then further sites will be allocated as part of the Site Specific Allocations DPD process.
Planning applications will be considered and determined having regard to PPS3 (in particular paragraph 69) Development Plan policies and other material considerations.
H3: New and converted dwellings – on previously developed land (This indicator was previously known as COI 2b and the revised definition is broadly equivalent)
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Saved policies H5 (Development on Previously Developed Land) and SE1 (Making Development Sustainable) of the Watford District Plan 2000 prioritise and encourage development on brownfield sites, policy H5 seeks to ensure that at least 80% of all residential development is on previously developed land. There were 336 completed dwellings (gross) in total during the year, of which 100% were on previously developed land against our target of 95% (see Table 47). The national target is that 60% of gross completions should be on previously developed land by 2008.
Table 47: Percentage of new and converted homes (gross) on previously developed land (H3) 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 100% 100% 97.89% 100% 99.66% 100% Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC, based on Watford Borough Council BVPI results
H4: Net additional pitches (Gypsy and Traveller) - there have been no additional pitches delivered.
(Information on Gypsy and Traveller provision has always been required and has previously been provided as Section 7 of Watford’s AMR; the definition of the data required has been updated under the new guidance and is now to be included as a specific numbered indicator)
Watford Borough Council currently accommodates a 10-pitch public gypsy/traveller site at Tolpits Lane in the south of the town, managed by Hertfordshire County Council. It also contains two privately-owned travelling show people’s sites in the north. There are no transit sites in Watford. The number of unauthorised encampments in the Borough has fallen from 22 in 1998 to no unauthorised encampments since 2004. In January 2008 there was a drop to 13 socially rented caravans with planning permission within Watford from 15 in January 2006. While the reduction in encampments could in part be attributed to a loss of land accessible to travellers, particularly due to the redevelopment of premises in the Lower High Street area in the late 1990’s, there remain sites that could physically be occupied by travellers, and the lack of unauthorised encampments can therefore be taken as evidence of a lack of demand.
Although the East of England Plan contains policy (H3) addressing provision for Gypsies and Travellers, it does not identify the level of pitch requirement and instead refers to a Single Issue Review. At present the Regional Spatial Strategy Single Issue Review: Examination in Public is considering the amount of pitches that Watford is required to provide.
In accordance with Circular 1/2006 it is required that achievable, fair and reasonable criteria are used when allocating Gypsy and Traveller sites. Watford’s Core Strategy Preferred Options draft states that Gypsy and Traveller sites will generally be assessed using the same criteria as proposals for other types of residential properties. However, due to their nature they can not be subject to the same locational constraints. At present the Core Strategy has not been submitted for examination and comments on the Preferred Options stage are still being reviewed.
61 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
Once the identified level of need is determined through the RSS, necessary sites for Gypsy and Traveller provision will be identified through the Site Allocations DPD. In the meantime, should an immediate need arise, existing national, regional and local policies will be applied.
H5: Gross affordable housing completions (This indicator was previously designated COI 2d – affordable housing completions. The previous planning definition measured affordable housing dwellings newly built only but the revised definition includes the number of dwellings completed through new build together with acquisitions and conversions. This indicator is the same as the new National Indicator 155: Number of affordable homes delivered.)
Saved policy H17 (Provision of Affordable Housing) of the Watford District Plan 2000 states that generally, all new housing developments consisting of 25 or more dwellings or on sites over 1 hectare are expected to provide a proportion (at a minimum of 30%) of affordable housing.
The total number of affordable housing units completed this year is 72 units which are in proportion to Watford Borough Council’s existing policy guidelines – 49 were social rented housing and 23 were on a shared ownership basis (classed as ‘intermediate’ housing). The total originates from the only two developments completed this year where the policy H17 would apply; 46 affordable units, (53%) from a development totalling 86 dwellings at the former EDF site, Vicarage Road and 26 affordable units (30%) from a development totalling 88 units at the Russells site, Beechen Grove/Loates Lane.
Table 48: Affordable Housing Units completed 2007-08 (H5) Planning Address No. of Application No. Affordable Housing Units 06/00134/FULM Former EDF Site, Vicarage Road 46 05/00146/FULM Russells Site, Beechen Grove/Loates Lane 26 Total 72 Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC
There have been additional planning applications agreed as at 31 March 2008 that include an element of affordable housing but construction was either in progress or had not yet commenced, and these are detailed below in Table 49. This indicates that a substantial amount of affordable housing, currently totalling 533 dwellings, is due to be built over the next few years.
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Table 49: Affordable Housing agreed as at 31 March 2008 Number of Planning affordable Status as at 31 Application No. Address housing units March 2008 Development in 02/00770/FUL 1-3 Derby Road 28 progress Demolition only taken place – not yet 07/00498/FULM 12-14 St Albans Road 37 under construction Development in 06/00195/FULM 26 Exchange Road 40 progress Development in 06/01648/FULM Willow Grange, Church Road 51 progress Fire & Ambulance Station, Outline planning 03/00602/OUTM 562-572 Whippendell Road 30 application only Former Meriden School, Development in 07/00440/REM Harvest End 17 progress Alban Wood Junior School, Newhouse Crescent Outline planning 06/00310/OUTM 6application only 07/00022/FULM Watford Football Club, Development in Vicarage Road 164 progress 06/01335/FULM Detailed permission 52a-56 High Street 17 not started 07/01602/REM Former Sun Chemicals, Detailed permission Cow Lane 69 not started 07/00512/FULM East Section of Tinsley Detailed permission Estate, Queen Mary’s Avenue 37 not started 07/01467/FULM Outlook Place, Detailed permission 103 Langley Road 37 not started
Total 533 Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC
The East of England Plan sets an expectation that 35% of housing that is delivered will be affordable. In these terms, the 72 affordable units delivered this year represent 25% of the total 291 net housing completions. However locally, Watford has a consistent trend of single units and small developments (those under 10 units) and as previously stated, only two developments completed this year where our policy H17 would apply. Targets for Watford will be set through the Core Strategy and will be informed by the findings of the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) that has been commissioned in partnership with neighbouring local authorities. The final report was due from the consultants in May 2008 but has been delayed and is not now expected until early in 2009.
H6: Housing Quality – Building for Life Assessments
This is a new indicator for the purpose of showing the level of quality in new housing development. The definition is the number and proportion of total new build completions on housing sites of 10 or more dwellings, reaching very good, good, average and poor ratings against the Building for Life criteria. The CABE Building for
63 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
Life criteria is a government –endorsed assessment benchmark developed by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
We do not have any existing data with regards to 2007-08 and further attention is required to address the practicalities of and resources for this new indicator. CABE will apparently be arranging training with regard to these assessments. Details of the Building for Life assessment criteria can be viewed at the following link: http://www.buildingforlife.org/
Percentage of new dwellings (not including conversions) completed, by net density (This indicator was previously known as COI 2c – this has been removed under the new Core Output Indicator requirements)
Government guidance in PPS3 (November 2006) requires local planning authorities to develop density policies for their plan area having regard to the guidance in Annex C of PPS3, while taking local factors into account. The presumption remains that the minimum density for new housing development should be no less than 30 dwellings per hectare (dpha); however Annex C advocates higher densities in suitable areas.
Saved policy H12 (Housing Density Standards) of the Watford District Plan 2000 sets a minimum density of 30 dpha for sites greater than 0.05 hectares, it also encourages higher densities in sustainable locations such as the town centre and close to passenger transport links.
The SHLAA and SHMA reports will factor heavily in shaping new policy in the LDF on minimum density. As can be seen from Table 50, the average density equates to 90 dwellings per hectare, as compared to an average density of 80 dwellings per hectare in 2006-07.
Table 50: Percentage of new dwellings (gross) completed by net density (previously designated COI 2c) New No. of % of No. of % of Dwellings Watford No. of % of dwellings dwellings dwellings dwellings (Gross Average dwellings dwellings between between greater greater excluding Net Dev Density le ss tha n le ss tha n 30 and 50 30 and 50 than 50 than 50 District conversions) Area (DpHa) 30 dpha 30 dpha dpha dpha dpha dpha 2005-06 550 7.14 77 38 7% 20 4% 492 89% 2006-07 226 2.83 80 6 3% 13 6% 207 92% 2007-08 235 2.61 90 11 5% 8 3% 216 92% Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC and Information Management Unit, HCC N.B. Please note these figures relate to new dwellings completed and exclude conversions for the purposes of density calculations Percentages may not sum 100% due to rounding Dpha = dwellings per hectare
6.3. Environmental Quality
E1: Number of planning permissions granted contrary to the advice of the Environment Agency on flooding and water quality grounds (This indicator was previously known as COI7 and the revised definition is broadly equivalent).
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Within the adopted Watford District Plan 2000, there are saved policies (namely SE 26 to SE 30) that include requirements for flood prevention and defence and the safeguarding of water quality.
The Environment Agency produce yearly reports of their objections lodged with Local Authorities on the grounds of Flood Risk and Water Quality – the reports for 2007/08 can be found on their website http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Our research has found that no objections have been received in the monitoring period on the grounds of water quality from the Environment Agency.
Between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008, four objections are listed by the Environment Agency under Watford Borough Council on flood risk grounds but we have established with the Environment Agency that one objection was listed under our Council in error. The remaining three relate to the following planning applications:
• 07/01398/FULM for the reason ‘Adverse Impact on Surface Water Run-Off’ – this application for Watford Springs has since been approved and it is noted within the Committee Report dated 15 May 2008, that the Environment Agency subsequently withdrew their objection once the current satisfactory Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) had been submitted. This is subject to a condition requiring the implementation of the sustainable drainage measures proposed.
• 07/01452/FUL for the reasons ‘Insufficient Information – Flood Risk’ and ‘Loss/Restricted Access to Watercourse’ – this application for the expansion of the Cardiff Road car park at Watford General Hospital has since been approved on the 7 March 2008. It is noted within the Committee Report that a Flood Risk Assessment has been submitted to and approved by the Environment Agency. Conditions imposed within the decision notice are that the surface water source control measures shall be based on the criteria in the approved FRA dated February 2008 and shall have been submitted to and approved by the local planning authority before the development commences; the surface water drainage shall be constructed in accordance with the approved details; and the construction of the surface water drainage system shall be carried out in accordance with the details submitted and approved in writing by the local planning authority before development commences.
• 07/01410/FUL for the reason ‘Unsatisfactory FRA/FCA Submitted’ – this application has been withdrawn so it is not proceeding
As the reports are mainly to assist Local Authorities with the compilation of this data, they are not updated to take account of further developments after the initial objection. Please note that the Council is always guided by the advice of the Environment Agency in such matters and these planning permissions have been granted in accordance with the advice of the Environment Agency.
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With regard to development and flood risk in general, and following requirements set out in Planning Policy Statement 25 (‘PPS 25’) and associated directives, Watford Borough Council together with three neighbouring local planning authorities, Dacorum Borough Council, St Albans City and District Council and Three Rivers District Council commissioned a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment study to be carried out by Halcrow consultants in February 2007. The purpose of the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment is to assess and map all forms of flood risk from ground water, surface water, sewer and river sources together with giving policy advice for the LDF.
The study was successfully completed for all four Councils in October 2007 and it is a requirement by the Environment Agency that the study is updated every three years. The study is available on our website www.watford.gov.uk under the planning/local development framework article.
The Council is working on new river restoration and flood defence policies as improvements to river corridors, floodplains and other open water areas have the potential for both improving flood defence and water run off and improving water quality.
E2 – Change in areas of biodiversity importance – no change (This indicator is broadly equivalent to COI 8 (ii) change in areas designated for their intrinsic environmental value including sites of international, national, regional, sub- regional or local significance)
The saved policies SE32, SE33, SE36, SE37 and SE 39 support the safeguarding of natural habitats important for priority species or rare species and the enhancement of biodiversity.
The total number of County Wildlife sites has remained unchanged during the last monitoring year. The total size of the sites is subject to verification as the mapping for the PPG 17 Study still continues and it is hoped that accurate measurement data should be available in 2009.
At present, we can provide the numbers and areas of Wildlife Sites as per Table 51.
Table 51: Number and area of wildlife sites in Watford (E2) December December December December December Watford 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Number of Wildlife Sites 32 32 33 33 33 Area in hectares 280 280 282 282 282 Source: Compiled by Planning Policy, WBC - figures supplied by Leisure and Community Section N.B. The areas of wildlife sites were refined in 2002 and ‘species wildlife sites’ were given an area of 0.00 ha, whereas previously they may have had an area in the region of 3.25ha each.
Watford has four Local Nature Reserves (LNRs): Albans Wood, Cassiobury Park, Harebreaks Wood and Lairage Land and we aim to declare Garston Park a 5th LNR within the next year.
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Although there are no Sites of Special Scientific Interest within Watford, there is a site with this designation that is managed by Watford Council, which is Whippendell Woods – it is adjacent to the Borough boundary in Three Rivers District.
Change in priority habitats and species (by type) (This indicator, previously designated COI 8 (i) has been removed from the new set of Core Output Indicators although it has been recommended that it be used as a contextual indicator to be reported less frequently)
The saved policies SE32, SE33, SE36, SE37 and SE 39 support the safeguarding of natural habitats important for priority species or rare species and the enhancement of biodiversity.
Hertfordshire Biological Records Centre (‘HBRC’) have endeavoured to provide those statistics presently available, including changes in bird populations and changes in butterfly numbers and species, although data is not available in all cases down to district level, and some data needs improving to increase coverage if possible – we have supplied here some data relevant to Watford’s locality. It is also worth remembering that administrative boundaries are not ecologically based and have no real relevance to natural processes, other than influencing land use planning, development and, where relevant, management within their areas.
It should be noted that the surveys to obtain the data on birds and butterflies are carried out by volunteers and enthusiasts in their own time. It would seem impractical for districts to attempt to calculate the precise loss of particular species to development, due to a lack of resources including time, money and expertise although the possible site-specific impact of development, both directly (loss of habitat) or indirectly (disturbance, pollution – light, noise, air particles) should always be considered.
However, knowledge of the different species which are on the increase or decline by whichever data that is available on a county or regional basis can only be beneficial in raising awareness of the potential impact of development or other impact e.g. agricultural intensification, lack of woodland management.
Birds
The Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) was launched in 1994 with the aim to improve the geographical scope of UK bird monitoring. The BBS survey reports are published annually and show population changes down to regional level i.e. the East of England, which includes Hertfordshire, for three groups of birds:
• Farmland (19 species) • Woodland (32 species) • Urban (2 species)
Each group of species is divided into two sub-sets; Generalist species, which do not have particular habitat and food requirements and Specialist species, which do have particular habitat and food requirements, which puts them more at risk.
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Regional population trends for the period 1994 – 2005 are as follows:
Farmland birds Generalist species: 5 increasing – woodpigeon, jackdaw, rook, greenfinch and reed bunting and 2 declining – yellow wagtail and kestrel. Specialist species: 2 increasing – lapwing and whitethroat; 9 declining – grey partridge, stock dove, turtle dove, skylark, starling, goldfinch, linnet, yellowhammer and corn bunting and 1 species where there was insufficient data to draw a conclusion, the tree sparrow.
Woodland birds Generalist species: 7 increasing – dunnock, robin, blackbird, long-tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, and chaffinch; 2 declining – song thrush and lesser whitethroat and 1 stable, the wren. Specialist species: 6 increasing – green woodpecker, blackcap, chiffchaff, goldcrest, coal tit and jay; 4 declining – sparrowhawk, garden warbler, willow warbler and bullfinch.
Urban birds This group is made up of two species; one specialist, the swift and one generalist, the house sparrow, both declining.
Recent population changes for priority breeding birds in Hertfordshire 2003- 2004
Recent monitoring data is available for UK priority species of breeding birds in Hertfordshire via the annual Hertfordshire Bird Reports. HBRC cannot provide statistically valid district figures from the 70 Breeding Bird Survey squares recorded annually in Hertfordshire as these are provided for assessing national changes, but data is provided where possible at county level. Unfortunately, not many species are recorded in all the squares surveyed, which means that population changes cannot be calculated for all the breeding bird species in the county.
Farmland birds: skylark – increasing Woodland, Urban birds: dunnock, song thrush – both declining Farmland (grass), Urban birds: starling - declining
NB: Too few records were collected for other priority species that regularly breed in the county for reliable population indices to be calculated, which in itself indicates very low populations of these species
Recent population changes in Farmland and Woodland birds breeding birds in Hertfordshire 2003-2004 are as follows:
Farmland birds Generalist species: 3 increasing – collared dove, jackdaw and carrion crow; 4 decreasing – woodpigeon, chaffinch, magpie and greenfinch. Specialist species: 1 increasing – whitethroat; 1 declining – swallow.
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Woodland birds Generalist species: 1 increasing –, blackbird, 5 decreasing – wren, robin, long-tailed tit, blue tit and great tit; Specialist species: 3 increasing – great spotted woodpecker, chiffchaff and blackcap; 0 declining
Butterflies
The butterfly data on numbers and species is best provided for each district by the ‘Summary transect data’, the average figures being the best guide to change over time as recorded on the transects within that district. Watford does not currently have any transects recorded within them, and thus no data can be provided whilst others have very few or are recorded very intermittently. HSBC hope to encourage increased recording in these areas if at all possible, although as such recording is very onerous and usually dependent upon the availability of local butterfly enthusiasts, this may not be achievable.
As background information, where figures are provided for certain districts, please note that the figures are based on imperfect data and have not been subject to any statistical analysis. Transects are not chosen at random nor on any formal sampling methodology. However they should reflect broad trends in butterflies within the transects themselves, and more broadly within districts and ultimately across the county. For example, migratory species are often recorded within numerous transects as and when they fly through, whilst major declines or increases should be reflected by changes in species presence or numbers as recorded on transects. However no comparison should be made between districts as the nature of districts may vary considerably in terms of presence of habitats or management as preferred by butterflies, reflecting wide variation in the nature of the transect sites themselves.
Wider contextual information is given by the county data, which amalgamates the district totals to provide average figures. Very broadly it can be seen that within most districts and the county as a whole, numbers of species have remained relatively stable over the past 6 years, while there may have been a slight increase in the numbers of butterflies themselves. Certainly improved recording techniques will contribute to higher numbers, but longer term figures would be required to demonstrate any real change in populations, as well as any reasons for this.
Priority species are those identified within the county Biodiversity Action Plan, and there are three - Chalkhill Blue, Grizzled Skipper and Purple Emperor. Two of these are difficult to survey accurately and all of these species have a limited distribution and are consequently only found in certain locations – it is simply good fortune that some of these coincide with transect sites. Grizzled Skipper and Purple Emperor are not accurately reflected by the transect methodology, requiring more focused monitoring which has yet to be implemented in any meaningful way across the county. This is also time-consuming for most volunteers. Where it is currently available, Grizzled Skipper seems to be being maintained on existing sites, whilst large numbers of Chalkhill Blue continue to be present on their county stronghold at Therfield Heath. Purple Emperor are probably maintaining numbers as far as the weather allows, although they remain a difficult butterfly to monitor.
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Although data is very limited, it does at least reflect changes from year to year as recorded, and serves to show the extent of the transect recording effort across the county. We include the summary data for reference in Appendix 8.
Local biodiversity information
With regards to biodiversity developments specific to Watford, information has been provided locally by our Leisure and Community Department.
Two major surveys of flora and invertebrates took place at Cassiobury Park during this monitoring period. The full botanical survey has not revealed any nationally rare species although some bryophytes (tiny plants including mosses, liverworts and hornworts) recorded are nationally uncommon.
It has been previously ascertained that Watford has two populations of Great Crested Newt, a species which has legal protection and has declined over recent years within the U.K. The ponds inhabited (both approximately 25 square metres) are at Paddock Road allotment and Cassiobury Park. Great Crested Newt surveys were subsequently carried out at Paddock Road Allotment in May and June 2006 and the population there is significant with at least 100 individuals. A survey was carried out at Cassiobury Park in May 2006, where the population is less than 5.
Figure 9: Great Crested Newt
Two new sites were identified between April to June 2006 as having Stag Beetles, which is a globally threatened species and listed as a priority for the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. These sites are Harebreaks Adventure Playground and Callowland Recreation Ground. Population sizes are unknown but the area where they have been found in the Adventure Playground and the adjacent Local Nature Reserve, are under biodiversity management, which will benefit the Stag Beetle population. Further surveys are scheduled for 2009.
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Figure 10: Stag Beetle
Male Larva Female
E3: To show the amount of renewable energy generation by installed capacity and type (This indicator was previously known as COI9 – Renewable energy capacity installed by type) The revised definition has been expanded on and states that: Installed capacity should be reported for a) renewable energy developments / installations granted planning permission and b) completed renewable energy developments/installations
Within the adopted Watford District Plan 2000, there are saved policies (namely SE4, U1 and U2) which support and encourage the use of renewable energy sources and the new RSS Policy ENG2 quotes that renewable energy should be supported with the aim that by 2010 10% of the region’s energy and by 2020 17% of the nation’s energy should come from renewable sources.
Not all renewable energy installations require planning permission and we have made enquiries with the Energy Savings Trust and sought out various other sources, but collated information has not been found available at district level other than from our own local knowledge, but we expect this will improve in the future.
Data at local authority level is not currently available from the new database operated by BERR (Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) which aims to track the progress towards achieving the European Union targets for electricity generation from renewable energy sources. However, supplied below is a table providing national and regional figures for ‘Installed Capacity of Sites generating electricity from renewable sources’ to give an idea of the wider picture.
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Table 52: Installed capacity of sites generating electricity from renewable sources (MW), 20071 Hydro Wind Landfill Other biofuels Total gas England 27.4 757.9 767.1 679.2 2,231.5 East Midlands 5.4 70.1 60.8 39.5 175.8 East 0.3 184.5 182.2 110.7 477.7 North East 6.3 38.3 31.4 78.7 154.8 North West 5.4 276.4 159.4 36.6 477.7 London - 3.7 - 113.2 116.9 South East 0.1 93.4 149.9 90.4 333.8 South West 8.4 51.2 73.8 16.0 149.4 West Midlands 0.6 - 49.5 132.2 182.4 Yorkshire and the Humber 0.8 40.2 60.1 61.9 163.1 Wales 146.6 363.2 41.3 7.7 558.8 Scotland 1,339.5 1,149.7 92.2 92.2 2,673.6 Northern Ireland 11.4 203.1 - 3.0 217.5 Total 1,524.9 2,473.9 900.6 782.0 5,681.4 Solar photovoltaics3 18.0 Micro wind generation 3.8 3.8 UK Total 2,477.7 5,703.3 Co-firing4 247.6
Notes: Solar photovoltaics (PV) have not been included in the table because they are estimated on a UK-wide basis that cannot readily be broken down into regional components. In total, solar PV amounts to only 14.3 MWe (megawatt electrical) capacity and 11.0 GWh (gigawatt hour) of generation.
- Nil or less than half the final digit shown. 1 At the end of December 2007. 3 These figures were not available when DUKES 2008 was published at the end of July 2008 and estimates of 14.3 MW and 11.0 GWh were used. Consequently the UK totals in this table are higher than the figures published in DUKES. 4 This is the proportion of non-fossil fuelled capacity used for co-firing of renewables based on the proportion of generation accounted for by the renewable source. This estimate has not been disaggregated into region values because to do so could disclose data that relate to individual companies.
At the local level, we cannot currently provide specific ‘capacity installed’ data but we have noted from our planning applications for the monitoring year, that three applications have been approved/granted planning permission which contain some elements of renewable energy as follows:
07/00543/FUL approved 3/7/07 - Watford Central Baths, 15 Hempstead Road – Erection of 80 solar thermal panels to roof (other renewable measures included) 07/00546/FUL approved 3/7/07 - Watford Woodside Sports & Leisure Centre, Horseshoe Lane – Installation of 60 solar thermal panels, supporting metal gantry and external cladding to Leisure Centre (other renewable measures included) 07/00669/FUL approved 13/7/07 – residential property in Sheepcot Lane – Installation of hot water solar panels on front elevation of roof
Both Watford Central and Watford Woodside have been completed, in June and August 2008, so those completions will be included in the next monitoring year 08/09. Both designs demonstrate low and renewable energy technologies. The sustainable elements of Watford Central, for example, will increase its long term viability, both in terms of a reduction in carbon emissions and running costs. Other examples than the solar panels include high insulation levels, rainwater recycling and ground-linked
72 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 heat recovery systems to reclaim heat from air and water. The extended ground source heat pump system, using boreholes of approximately 100 metres deep, enables use of the natural heat of the earth. The system also reuses excess heat generated by cooling. Also, heat loss and emission of carbon dioxide by air leakage were reduced significantly.
The use of renewable energy sources on the Council’s own buildings fits in with the Council aim to manage carbon emissions in the Council’s own premises, and across the town. A Carbon Management Strategy has been developed with the aim of helping Watford achieve the carbon reduction target of 9.6% savings on a 2004 baseline by 2010, and this was approved by Watford Borough Council at a Cabinet meeting on the 3 September 2007.
Watford Borough Council will be seeking to raise the profile of renewable energy in the LDF, and are likely to require a proportion of energy to come from renewable sources as part of an overall package to reduce the carbon emissions from developments. The detail of this is subject to further work and consultation.
However, we are already encouraging this – the Watford Springs Planning Brief states that the Council is seeking a scheme that demonstrates best practice in environmentally responsible development which should aim to achieve as near a zero carbon value as possible. The Planning Statement pre-assessing the ability of the site to achieve an Ecohomes ‘Excellent’ Rating (for more information see www.breeam.org ) submitted as part of the Planning Application 07/01398/FULM for Watford Springs, which was approved on the 15 May 2008, certifies that the proposals fulfil Watford Springs Planning Brief section 4.5 ‘Environmentally Responsible Design‘and Buildings for Life section 17.
A condition has been attached to the planning permission that ‘no dwelling…shall be occupied until a certificate demonstrating that that phase of the scheme has achieved Ecohomes Excellent rating has been submitted to and acknowledged in writing by the Local Planning Authority’.
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7. Appendix 1. Glossary of Terms
The Act – The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 came into force in September 2004 and has set in place a series of changes to the planning system.
AMR – Annual Monitoring Report The Council will publish a monitoring report every year to assess the progress that has been made in achieving the timetable set out in the Local Development Scheme. It looks at how successful the policies in the Local Development Documents have been at achieving their aims and if the preparation of the Local Development Framework is running to schedule.
COI – Core Output Indicators A mandatory standardised set of indicators originally introduced in 2005 by the government in order to monitor the effectiveness of policies and enable national comparison. In July 2008 the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published guidance (Core Output Indicators – Update 2/2008), amending the original core output indicators (Appendix 4 highlights the key changes).
Core Strategy This Development Plan Document is a required development plan document, which sets out the long-term spatial vision for the Borough, along with the core policies and proposals that will be required to deliver that vision. All other Development Plan Documents must conform to the Core Strategy.
DCLG – Department for Communities and Local Government The DCLG was created on 5 May 2006, with a powerful remit to promote community cohesion and equality, as well as responsibility for housing, urban regeneration, planning and local government.
DPD – Development Plan document Any Local Development Document that forms part of the Development Plan. They are subject to independent examination by a Government appointed Inspector. Development Plan Documents include the Core Strategy and Area Action Plans.
EERA – East of England Regional Assembly EERA is the Regional Planning Body for the East of England. A key area of regional planning work for EERA is the preparation of regional planning guidance for the East of England in the form of a ‘Regional Spatial Strategy’, to provide broad guidance on the future development of the region, including housing and transportation issues.
G.I.S – Geographic Information System Computerised mapping system.
GO-East – Government Office for the East of England The regional government office that is responsible for implementing national policy in the Eastern region, and ensuring our policies and plans accord with national guidance.
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HBRC - Hertfordshire Biological Records Centre Conducts biological recording and manages an extensive database with information on habitats, species and sites across the county. Also provides an ecological advisory service.
IMD – Index of Multiple Deprivation The Government publishes an Index of Multiple Deprivation combining individual indices for the following domains: income deprivation; employment deprivation; health deprivation and disability; education, skills and training deprivation; barriers to housing and services; crime; and living environment deprivation into an overall measure of deprivation, the most recent being the 2007 IMD.
LDF – Local Development Framework The replacement for Local Plans. A portfolio of policy documents which will provide the framework for delivering the spatial planning strategy for Watford.
LDS – Local Development Scheme A document setting out a 3 year programme for the preparation of the different documents that make up the Local Development Framework. The LDS must be regularly reviewed and is part of the Local Development Framework, but not a Development Plan Document.
LSOAs – Lower Super Output Areas Administrative areas designated in the 2001 Census, having relatively uniform numbers of residents (around 1,500). There are 32,482 LSOAs in England as opposed to 8,414 local authority wards.
LSP – Local Strategic Partnership The ‘One Watford’ partnership, Watford’s LSP, brings together different parts of the public, private, community and voluntary sectors so that they can work together as one body and be more effective in making an impact on improving life in Watford. The partners are Watford Borough Council, Hertfordshire County Council, Hertfordshire Police Authority, John Lewis Watford, Safer Watford Partnership, Watford and West Herts Chamber of Commerce, Watford Community Housing Trust, Watford Council for Voluntary Services, Watford District Children’s Trust Partnership, Watford Football Club, Watford Observer, Wenta Business Services, West Hertfordshire NHS Primary Care Trust and West Herts College.
ODPM – Office of the Deputy Prime Minister The Government department with responsibility for planning and local government prior to 5 May 2006. Responsibility then passed to the DCLG.
PDL – Previously Developed Land Previously developed land is that which is or was occupied by a permanent structure (excluding agricultural or forestry buildings) – see Annex B of PPS3 for a full definition.
PPG17 – Planning Policy Guidance 17: Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation (ODPM: 2002) see www.communities.gov.uk
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PPS3 – Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (DCLG: Nov 2006) see www.communities.gov.uk This replaces Planning Policy Guidance 3: Housing (PPG3) published in March 2000
PPS12 – Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Spatial Planning (DCLG: June 2008) see www.communities.gov.uk This replaces Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Development Framework (PPS12), published on 7 September 2004, and Creating Local Development Frameworks: A Companion guide to PPS12, published on 2 November 2004.This also replaces Planning Policy Guidance 12: Development plans (PPG12) published on 14 December 1999.
PPS25 – Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk (DCLG: Dec 2006) see www.communities.gov.uk This replaces Planning Policy Guidance 25: Development and Flood Risk (PPG25) published in July 2001
PV – Photovoltaic Photovoltaic means electricity from light. Photovoltaic systems use daylight to power ordinary electrical equipment e.g. household appliances, computers and lighting. The PV process converts solar energy directly into electricity. A PV cell consists of two or more thin layers of semi-conducting material, most commonly silicon. When the silicon is exposed to light, electrical charges are generated and this can be conducted away by metal contacts as direct current (DC).
RPG 9 – Regional Planning Guidance 9 Regional Planning Guidance for the South East, covering the period up to 2016 and forming the Regional Spatial Strategy for the region (which previously included Watford, now under the East of England) until superseded by the East of England Plan, published in May 2008. The purpose of RPG 9 was to provide a regional framework for the preparation of local authority development plans and to provide the spatial framework for other strategies and programmes.
RSS – Regional Spatial Strategy The RSS covering Watford is the ‘East of England Plan’ (E of E Plan) which was formally published on the 12 May 2008, and was prepared by EERA, the East of England Regional Assembly. The E of E Plan sets out the strategy to guide the planning and development of the East of England to 2021. It sets out the policies which the LDF must conform to, and will form part of Watford’s development plan.
SA – Sustainability Appraisal An assessment of the social, economic and environmental impacts of the policies and proposals contained within the Local Development Framework.
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SCI – Statement of Community Involvement A document (part of the Local Development Framework but not part of the Development Plan) that sets out how the Council will engage with the community in preparing and reviewing the Local Development Framework, and also in major development control decisions. In effect it is the Council’s planning policy on consultation. A statement demonstrating how the local planning authority has complied with the Statement of Community Involvement will be required for all local development documents that the Council produces.
SEA – Strategic Environmental Assessment The European ‘SEA Directive’ (2001/42/EC) requires a formal ‘environmental assessment’ of certain plans and programmes, including those involving planning and land use. The assessment will examine the potential impacts of policies and proposals on the environment, and includes proposals for the mitigation of these impacts.
Section 106 Planning Agreement Section 106 Planning Agreements are legal agreements between the planning authority and the applicant/developer. They tend to apply to major development schemes and are often made in order to secure contributions towards community infrastructure to meet the needs of residents in new developments and/or to mitigate the impact of new developments upon existing community facilities.
SP – Structure Plan Hertfordshire Structure Plan – adopted Structure Plan produced by the County Council, due to be replaced by the draft Regional Spatial Strategy, produced by the East of England Regional Assembly.
Spatial Planning Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they function. This will include policies which can impact on land use by influencing the demands on, or needs for, development, but which are not capable of being delivered solely or mainly through the granting or refusal of planning permission and which may be implemented by other means.
SPD – Supplementary Planning Document These are the replacements for Supplementary Planning Guidance. They will be part of the Local Development Framework and subject to specified regulations for preparation, but still not part of the Development Plan.
Sui Generis A Latin phrase meaning “of its own kind”, which in planning refers to any use that does not fall within a specified Use Class, and therefore always requires permission for a change of use; it includes nightclubs, motor car showrooms, retail warehouse clubs, taxi or vehicle hire businesses, laundrettes, amusement centres, petrol stations, hostels and theatres.
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Watford Community Safety Partnership – partners are Hertfordshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire County Council, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Hertfordshire Police Authority, Watford Borough Council and Watford & Three Rivers Primary Care Trust.
WDP 2000 – Watford District Plan 2000 The adopted Local Plan for Watford, which sets out policies on land use development and conservation. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 deemed that adopted local plan policies are only ‘saved’ until 27th September 2007 or until they are replaced by new policies under the LDF prior to that date. If the LDF had not progressed far enough, application had to be made to the Secretary of State to extend the validity of any policies required. The Secretary of State agreed Watford’s list of ‘saved’ policies on 14 September 2007 (attached as Appendix 7), which should be read in context with the supporting text, tables and appendices of the WDP 2000 and the relevant Supplementary Planning Guidance.
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8. Appendix 2. List of Studies which act as the LDF Evidence Base
The following documents have been or are being prepared to inform the policies of the Local Development Framework:
Housing
Urban Capacity Study* January 2005, Llewelyn Davies with ATIS Real Weatheralls Assesses the potential for housing development up to 2021 Superseded by the ‘Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment’ in 2008, but retained as a reference document.
Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment* November 2008. In partnership with Dacorum Borough Council (DBC) and Three Rivers District Council (TRDC), with consultants Llewelyn Davies Yeang Updates and replaces the 2005 Urban Capacity Study, and identifies and assesses potential residential development sites.
Housing Needs Survey* 2004 (update of 2001 study), David Couttie Associates Assesses the need for affordable housing. Due to be updated by the ‘Strategic Housing Market Assessment’ in 2008.
Strategic Housing Market Assessment* In partnership with Planning and Housing departments in HCC, DBC, TRDC, Hertsmere Borough Council (HBC), St Albans City and District Council (SACDC) and Welwyn Hatfield Council (WHC), with consultants Opinion Research Services (ORS). Will update the 2004 Housing Needs Study, and identify what types of housing need to be provided, including how to provide affordable housing. Expected early 2009.
Development Economics Study* In partnership with other authorities. Will follow and support the outcome of the Strategic Housing Market Assessment by providing information on how to ensure provision of affordable housing is financially viable.
Employment
South West Herts Employment Space Study* January 2005, Roger Tym & Partners with King Sturge Assesses the quality and quantity of employment premises and the need for new floorspace. This will be updated by the London Arc Employment study and, if needed a South West Herts update.
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London Arc Employment Study Roger Tym and Partners. This is a wider study which goes some way towards updating the 2005 South West Herts Employment Space Study following the targets for employment provision set out in the East of England Plan published in May 2008. This is being undertaken with other authorities in the Hertfordshire London Arc sub-region – a more detailed South West Herts Study may follow depending on the output of the wider study, which is now expected by the end of 2008.
Retail and local centres
Sustainable Neighbourhoods Mapping Exercise/Neighbourhood Centres Study October 2005, GVA Grimley (currently unpublished) Identifies potential locations for neighbourhood centres. This is to be updated and published, to include work on the retail hierarchy.
Town Centre Study December 2005, Building Design Partnership with CBRE and MVA Wide-ranging vision for the development of Watford Town Centre.
St. Albans Road Study November 2005, GVA Grimley Vision for the future enhancement of the St Albans Road area.
Watford Retail Study 2005 (Main Report) November 2005, CBRE Assesses the need for new retail development up to 2016.
Watford Retail Study 2005 (Supplementary Report) March 2007, CBRE The purpose of this report is to roll forward the retail capacity forecasts of the 2005 Study to 2021.
Infrastructure
Joint Infrastructure and Investment Strategy* Being undertaken jointly with the other Hertfordshire authorities Delayed and now expected in March 2009
Transport
Integrating Transport in South West Herts Study* In partnership with HCC, TRDC and HBC. Expected early 2009. This will look at improving transport, including public transport.
80 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
South West Herts Transportation Strategy October 2008, Hertfordshire County Council. Replaces the previous South West Herts Transportation Strategy.
Open Spaces
Open Spaces (PPG17) Study Undertaken jointly with the Council's Leisure department The study will identify surpluses and/or shortfalls in provision of open space of all types across the Borough. Although a report was expected early in 2008 this has not been a priority compared to other studies as it is not required for the Core Strategy.
Gypsies and Travellers
Accommodation Needs of Gypsies and Travellers* April 2005, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (University of Birmingham) Estimates the need for gypsy and traveller sites.
Accommodation Needs of Gypsies and Travellers in South and West Hertfordshire* Stage 2 – Identification of potential Gypsy and traveller Sites in the study area September 2006, Scott Wilson Identifies potential sites to meet the need for gypsy and traveller accommodation.
Flooding
Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) Volumes 1 and 2* August 2007, Halcrow Group Limited Assesses and maps all forms of flood risk.
General
A Portrait of Watford November 2008. One Watford. The evidence base for the review of Watford’s Sustainable Community Strategy – contains a wide range of data about the borough.
* These studies were/will be undertaken in partnership with other neighbouring local authorities.
81 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
9. Appendix 3. 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation Rank (where 1 is most deprived) Local Super East of Output Area Watford England England (LSOA) Code Ward IMD Score rank Herts rank rank rank E01023860 Central 33.14 1 9 253 6936 E01023876 Meriden 32.13 2 11 281 7327 E01023865 Holywell 31.04 3 15 322 7769 E01023861 Central 29.95 4 19 370 8217 E01023891 Stanborough 29.92 5 20 372 8230 E01023883 Oxhey 28.17 6 27 429 9017 E01023866 Holywell 27.90 7 28 434 9132 E01023857 Callowland 24.12 8 54 611 11120 E01023873 Meriden 23.76 9 58 640 11334 E01023906 Woodside 23.64 10 60 646 11407 E01023859 Central 23.26 11 63 667 11662 E01023870 Leggatts 22.95 12 68 685 11849 E01023877 Meriden 21.76 13 82 782 12626 E01023862 Central 20.86 14 96 843 13232 E01023899 Vicarage 20.64 15 99 855 13382 E01023864 Holywell 20.60 16 101 860 13416 E01023868 Leggatts 20.29 17 106 888 13685 E01023905 Woodside 19.59 18 123 950 14235 E01023869 Leggatts 18.77 19 137 1033 14886 E01023903 Vicarage 17.35 20 164 1182 16024 E01023904 Woodside 16.77 21 175 1240 16528 E01023888 Park 16.37 22 189 1295 16924 E01023901 Vicarage 15.96 23 197 1334 17288 E01023867 Holywell 15.75 24 200 1359 17478 E01023855 Callowland 14.77 25 223 1471 18414 E01023874 Meriden 14.47 26 233 1508 18699 E01023892 Stanborough 14.23 27 239 1547 18971 E01023900 Vicarage 13.74 28 249 1609 19488 E01023858 Callowland 13.24 29 258 1667 20015 E01023871 Leggatts 13.22 30 259 1671 20039 E01023880 Nascot 13.10 31 262 1686 20168 E01023863 Holywell 13.07 32 263 1690 20202 E01023886 Park 12.73 33 272 1735 20569 E01023902 Vicarage 12.65 34 274 1741 20635 E01023884 Oxhey 11.24 35 304 1941 22229 E01023872 Leggatts 10.86 36 318 2018 22716 E01023879 Nascot 10.68 37 325 2054 22949 E01023875 Meriden 10.28 38 339 2134 23464 E01023856 Callowland 9.93 39 348 2201 23913 E01023907 Woodside 9.67 40 354 2253 24260 E01023890 Stanborough 9.64 41 357 2260 24293
82 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
Rank (where 1 is most deprived) Local Super East of Output Area Watford England England (LSOA) Code Ward IMD Score rank Herts rank rank rank E01023882 Oxhey 9.58 42 358 2269 24377 E01023897 Tudor 9.42 43 364 2306 24616 E01023893 Stanborough 9.13 44 374 2364 24964 E01023881 Nascot 7.55 45 431 2649 26936 E01023895 Tudor 6.79 46 461 2793 27891 E01023896 Tudor 6.62 47 470 2830 28103 E01023894 Stanborough 6.14 48 497 2927 28642 E01023885 Oxhey 6.08 49 498 2936 28721 E01023898 Tudor 5.73 50 510 2995 29126 E01023878 Nascot 4.19 51 576 3255 30745 E01023887 Park 3.83 52 596 3307 31065 E01023889 Park 2.68 53 648 3462 31936 Source: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Indices of Deprivation 2007
N.B. The LSOAs within Watford number 53, there are 683 within Hertfordshire, there are 3,550 within the East of England and there are 32,482 within England (1 being the most deprived) The shaded areas show the LSOAs that come within the worst 20% in the county, region and country respectively.
Some extracts are provided from ‘Using the English Indices of Deprivation 2007: Guidance’ as background information: please refer to the full document for further guidance. • The IMD 2007 is the most detailed (part of the ID 2007) and should be used to pinpoint pockets of deprivation or to highlight variations within a wider geographical area. The district and county council summaries are useful when only a broad overview is required. • The ID 2007 is a relative measure of deprivation and therefore it cannot be used to determine ‘how much’ more deprived one LSOA is than another. For example, it is not possible to say that LSOA X, ranked 20 is twice as deprived as LSOA Y, which is ranked 40. However, it is possible to say that X is more deprived than Y. • The ID 2007 identifies concentrations of deprivation and it is important to note that not all deprived people live in deprived areas and conversely, not everyone living in a deprived area is deprived. • The ID 2007 is not a measure of affluence. The indicators which have been used have been chosen because they represent different aspects of deprivation. A lack of deprivation does not necessarily equate to affluence. Therefore the LSOAs with the highest ranks (i.e. close to 32,482 within England) are not necessarily affluent, just less deprived. • The Index scores from 2004 cannot be compared with those from 2007. Though the two indices are very similar, it is not valid to compare the scores between the two time points. An area’s score is affected by the scores of every other area; so it is impossible to tell whether a change in score is a real change in the level of deprivation in an area or whether it is due to the scores of other areas going up or down.
83 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
10. Appendix 4. Comparison of New Core Output Indicators with Original Core Output Indicators
NB. The following table highlights key changes to the Core Output Indicator Set - we have endeavoured to show where indicators are broadly equivalent, and which are being removed. Please see Communities and Local Government ‘Core Output Indicators – Update 2/2008’ published July 2008 for full definitions and explanations (owing to the timing of this publication, it was understood that not all changes could necessarily be made in time for the 2008 AMR) Please note that minerals and waste core output indicators are not shown as they are the reporting responsibility of Hertfordshire County Council.
New Core Output Indicator Original Core Output Indicator Reference No. and Description Reference No. and Description BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND TOWN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND CENTRES TOWN CENTRES BD1 (i) Total amount of additional employment 1a Amount of floorspace developed for floorspace - by type - in local authority area employment by type – in local authority area BD1 (ii) Total amount of additional employment 1b Amount of floorspace developed for floorspace - by type – in employment areas employment by type, in employment (or regeneration) areas N.B. Watford does not have any designated N.B. Local authorities can apply information re. BD1 for regeneration areas so that part of this indicator whichever policy areas need to be reported on will no longer be included in our AMR BD2 Total amount of employment floorspace 1c Amount of floorspace by employment on previously developed land – by type type, which is on previously developed land Definition updated to be consistent with PPS3 PDL definition BD3 Employment land available by type 1d Employment land available by type
See LOCAL SERVICES BD4 (i)Total amount of floorspace for ‘town 4b Amount of completed retail, office and centre uses’ within town centres leisure development in town centres BD4 (ii) Total amount of floorspace for ‘town 4a Amount of completed retail, office and centre uses’ within local authority area leisure development
Indicator to be removed 1e Losses of employment land in (i) employment / regeneration areas and (ii) local authority area Indicator to be removed 1f Amount of employment land lost to residential development HOUSING HOUSING
H1 Plan period and housing targets 2a Housing trajectory showing: H2(a) Net additional dwellings – in previous (i) net additional dwellings over the years previous five year period or since the H2(b) Net additional dwellings – for the start of the relevant development plan reporting year (which is 07-08, previously document period, whichever is the
84 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 New Core Output Indicator Original Core Output Indicator Reference No. and Description Reference No. and Description known as the current year) longer H2(c) Net additional dwellings – in future years (ii) net additional dwellings for the H2(d) Managed delivery target current year – (which is 07/08, now defined as the ‘reporting year’) Main changes (iii) projected net additional dwellings up Dwelling and Net addition definition changes to the end of the relevant development The addition of five year housing supply plan document period or over a ten year information as part of the housing trajectory period from its adoption, whichever is the (where the expected number of completions for longer the ‘current year’ 08/09 is not be included in the (iv) the annual net additional dwelling supply figures) requirement; and (v) annual average number of net additional dwellings needed to meet overall housing requirements, having regard to previous year’s performance H3 New and converted dwellings – on 2b Percentage of new and converted previously developed land dwellings on previously developed land Indicator to be removed 2c Percentage of new dwellings completed at: (i) less than 30 dwellings per hectare; (ii) between 30 and 50 dwellings per hectare; and (iii) above 50 dwellings per hectare. H4 Net additional pitches (Gypsy and Traveller) Gypsy and Traveller Provision Section
H5 Gross affordable housing completions 2d Affordable housing completions
New indicator H6 Housing Quality – Building for Life Assessments * This has not previously been monitored and no data is available for 07-08. This may be a difficult matter to organise if sites applicable are to be physically evaluated at the end of the development process, requiring both staff training and resources. TRANSPORT
Indicator to be removed 3a Amount of completed non-residential development within UCOs A, B and D complying with car-parking standards set out in the local development framework This will continue to be included in Watford’s AMR within a bundle of Local Output Indicators on Transport Indicator to be removed 3b Amount of new residential development within 30 minutes public 85 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 New Core Output Indicator Original Core Output Indicator Reference No. and Description Reference No. and Description transport time of: a GP; a hospital; a primary school; a secondary school; areas of employment; and a major retail centre(s) This will continue to be included in Watford’s AMR within a bundle of Local Output Indicators on Transport LOCAL SERVICES
See BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 4a Amount of completed retail, office and BD4 (ii) Total amount of floorspace for ‘town leisure development centre uses’ within local authority area BD4 (i) Total amount of floorspace for ‘town 4b Amount of completed retail, office and centre uses’ within town centre leisure development in town centres Indicator to be removed 4c Amount of eligible open spaces managed to Green Flag award standard This will be included within a bundle of Local Output Indicators on the Environment ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY FLOOD PROTECTION AND WATER QUALITY E1 Number of planning permissions granted 7. Number of planning permissions contrary to Environment Agency advice on granted contrary to the advice of the flooding and water quality grounds Environment Agency on either flood defence grounds or water quality BIODIVERSITY
Indicator to be removed 8. Change in areas and populations of biodiversity importance, including: (i) change in priority habitats and species (by type) This will be included within a bundle of Local Output Indicators on the Environment E2 Change in areas of biodiversity importance ii) Change in areas designated for their – to show losses or additions to biodiversity intrinsic environmental value including habitat sites of international, national, regional, sub-regional or local significance. RENEWABLE ENERGY
E3 Renewable Energy Generation - by 9. Renewable energy capacity installed installed capacity and type by type
86 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 11. Appendix 5a. Local Development Scheme Timetable and Milestones – the original LDS approved by Government Office February 2006
Statement of Core Strategy Site Residential Section 106 Charter Place Community DPD Allocations Design Guide Contributions Planning Involvement DPD SPD SPD Brief SPD
Year (SCI) Month Preparation of Preparation of Preparation of Oct-Nov 04: Reg 17 Earlier evidence base evidence base evidence base consultation on draft Apr Reg 25 consultation May Reg 26 consultation Jun on draft SCI Jul 2005 Aug First stage issues Sep consultation as part Preparation of of Community Plan evidence base Oct consultation Nov Reg 25 issues and Issues consultation Dec Submission & Reg options consultation Reg 17 consultation nd Jan 28 consultation on 2 draft Feb Reg 17 consultation Mar on draft Apr Public Examination Adoption May Jun Adoption
2006 Jul Adoption Aug Reg 26 consultation Reg 25 issues and Sep on preferred options options consultation Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Submission & Reg Reg 26 consultation Mar 28 consultation on preferred options Apr May Jun
2007 Jul Aug Public Examination Sep Issues consultation Oct Nov Dec Reg 17 consultation Jan on draft Feb Adoption Submission & Reg Mar 28 consultation Adoption 2008 Aug 08: Public Later Examination Mar 09: Adoption
87 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 12. Appendix 5b. Local Development Scheme Timetable and Milestones – the revised LDS approved by Government Office July 2007 Residential Year Date Core Strategy Site Allocations DC DPD Design Guide SPD Additional Issues and Issues and Options Consultation on Options work, including stage draft (began in 2007 Apr further work on evidence March) 2007 May base 2007 Jun 2007 Jul Preparation of Preferred 2007 Aug Options, and initial 2007 Sep SA/SEA Report 2007 Oct 2007 Nov Adoption and 2007 Dec Publication 2008 Jan Consultation on Preferred Options and 2008 Feb SA/SEA Report 2008 Mar Preparation of 2008 Apr submission DPD and 2008 May SA/SEA Report Preparation of 2008 Jun Preferred Options Submission of DPD and and initial SA/SEA 2008 Jul SA/SEA Report Report 2008 Aug 2008 Sep 2008 Oct Pre-examination Issues and Options 2008 Nov meeting stage 2008 Dec 2009 Jan Consultation on Examination hearings Preferred Options 2009 Feb begin and SA/SEA Report 2009 Mar Preparation of 2009 Apr Submission DPD and Preparation of 2009 May SA/SEA Report Preferred Options 2009 Jun and initial SA/SEA 2009 Jul Report Submission of DPD 2009 Aug and SA/SEA Report 2009 Sep Adoption 2009 Oct Publication Consultation on Preferred Options and initial SA/SEA 2009 Nov Report Pre-examination Preparation of 2009 Dec meeting Submission DPD and 2010 Jan SA/SEA Report 2010 Feb Examination hearings 2010 Mar begin Later Submission of DPD and SA/SEA Report June 2010 Pre-examination meeting Oct 2010 Examination begins January 2011 Adoption Sep 2010 Adoption Aug 2011 88 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
13. Appendix 6. Watford Context Map
89 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
14. Appendix 7. List of WDP 2000 Saved Policies agreed by Secretary of State’s Direction dated 14 September 2007
DIRECTION UNDER PARAGRAPH 1(3) OF SCHEDULE 8 TO THE PLANNING AND
COMPULSORY PURCHASE ACT 2004
POLICIES CONTAINED IN WATFORD DISTRICT PLAN 2000
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in the exercise of the power conferred by paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 8 to the Planning and Compulsory Act
2004 directs that for the purposes of the policies specified in Schedule 1 to this direction, paragraph 1(2)(a) of Schedule 8 to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 does not apply.
Signed by the authority of the Secretary of State
Alex Plant Deputy Regional Director of Development & Infrastructure Government Office for the East of England 14th September 2007
90 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 SCHEDULE 1
POLICIES CONTAINED IN WATFORD DISTRICT PLAN 2000
SE1 Making Development Sustainable SE4 Energy Efficient Design SE7 Waste Storage, Recovery and Recycling in New Devt SE9 Green Belt: New Development SE12 Visual Amenity of the Green Belt SE13 Major Developed Sites in the Green Belt SE14 Leavesden Studios Site SE18 Colne Valley Linear Park SE19 Grand Union Canal Corridor SE20 Air Quality SE21 Air Quality Management Areas SE22 Noise SE23 Light Pollution SE24 Unstable and Contaminated Land SE25 Potentially Hazardous or Polluting Devt SE26 Watercourses SE27 Flood Prevention SE28 Groundwater Quality SE29 Utilities Infrastructure SE30 Surface Water Run-Off, Water Conservation and Sustainable Drainage Systems SE32 Sites of Nature Conservation Importance SE33 Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Enhancement SE34 Watling Chase Community Forest SE36 Replacement Trees and Hedgerows SE37 Protection of Trees, Woodlands and Hedgerows SE39 Tree and Hedgerow Protection in New Development SE40 Landscape Character Assessment SE41 Green Zones SE42 Home Zones T1 South West Hertfordshire Transportation Strategy T2 Area Based Strategies T4 Transport and New Development
91 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 T5 New Development and Green Travel Plans T6 Pedestrian Facilities T7 Pedestrian Facilities in Development T8 Bridleways T9 Cycling T10 Cycle Parking Standards T11 Passenger Transport and New Development T15 Taxi Provision T16 Rail Use T20 Transport Proposals T21 Access and Servicing T22 Car Parking Standards T23 Non-Residential Development T24 Residential Development T26 Car Free Residential Development T27 Car Park Location and Design T29 Powered Two-Wheelers H1 No Loss of Housing H2 Housing Need Structure Plan Requirements H5 Development on Previously-Developed Land H6 Town Centre Mixed-Use Development H7 Primarily Residential Areas H8 Residential Standards H9 Back Garden Development H10 Planning Agreements for Educational and Community Facilities H11 Housing Mix H12 Housing Density Standards H13 Conversions H14 Conversions: Provision of Family Sized Units H15 Non-Residential Proposals in Residential Areas H16 Retention of Affordable Housing H17 Provision of Affordable Housing H22 Housing for Older People (Sheltered) H23 Special Needs Housing E1 Employment Areas E2 Employment Use Outside Identified Employment Areas 92 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 E3 Small Units E5 Environmental Considerations E6 Change of Use from Use Class B Outside Employment Areas E8 Facilities for Employees S1 New Retail Development S4 Shop Design, Access and Facilities S5 Non-Retail Uses in Prime Retail Frontage S6 Non-Retail Uses within the Harlequin Shopping Centre S7 Secondary Retail Frontage S9 Non-Retail Uses in North Watford Shopping Centre/Local Shopping Frontages S10 Shopping Policy Areas S11 Use Class A3 Food and Drink S12 Planning Conditions for Use Class A3 Food and Drink S13 Litter Management S14 Provision of Litter Bins S15 Litter Management Strategy TC1 Town Centre Strategy TC2 Developer Contribution in the Town Centre LHS1 Types of Devt LHS3 Public Paths LHS4 Residential Frontage L1 Leisure/Cultural Strategy L2 Dual Use L4 Open Space Protection L5 Playing Fields L6 Provision of Additional Open Space L8 Open Space Provision in Housing Devt L9 Children’s Play Space L11 Maintenance of Open Spaces, Play Areas and Pocket Parks L12 Allotments L13 Arts, Culture and Entertainment L14 Tourism and Hotels CS1 Location of Facilities CS3 Loss of Community Facilities CS6 Childcare Facilities CS8 Change of Use/Redevelopment (Education) 93 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 CS9 Health Provision CS10 Residential Social Care U1 Quality of Design U2 Design and Layout of Devt U3 Integration of Character U4 Community Safety U5 Access (In developments for the disabled) U6 Landscape Design U10 Setting of Listed Buildings U11 Change of Use of Listed Buildings U12 Alterations and Extensions to Listed Buildings U13 Demolition of Listed Buildings U14 Repair and Maintenance of Listed Buildings U15 Buildings of Local Interest U16 Conservation Areas U17 Setting of Conservation Areas U18 Design in Conservation Areas U19 Small Scale Developments in Conservation Areas U20 Demolition in Conservation Areas U21 Historic Parks and Gardens U24 Shopfronts U25 Advertisements and Signs U26 Telecommunications – Submission of Applications U27 Telecommunications – Siting Considerations U28 Temporary Buildings IMR1 Identification of Sites for the Preparation of Planning Briefs IMR2 Planning Obligations
94 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 15. Appendix 8. Summary Butterfly Conservation Transect Data (Total Butterflies and Total Species) By District 2000 – 2006
YEAR DISTRICT 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot Tot butts spp butts spp butts spp butts spp butts spp butts spp butts spp DISTRICT Broxbourne ND ND ND ND 369 14 506 16 ND ND ND ND ND ND Dacorum 10694 143 8036 113 9479 146 12851 172 10993 160 14124 175 13655 159 East Herts 7909 144 5426 95 5562 101 7003 98 8388 125 9574 118 4409 82 Hertsmere 2836 39 1923 17 ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND North Herts 6421 74 10216 187 6680 76 9470 130 15231 195 11747 156 8685 166 St. Albans DC 6114 161 3791 124 4341 151 6776 152 7915 157 5354 109 4798 97 Stevenage 888 20 912 17 1051 18 1566 19 2515 19 1851 20 2125 24 Three Rivers ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND Watford ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND Welwyn Hatfield 4368 103 3218 63 1508 46 2441 70 2144 76 2751 78 2839 102
COUNTY Transect totals 39230 684 33522 616 28990 552 40613 657 47186 732 45401 656 36511 630 No. transects 36 36 35 35 29 29 34 34 37 37 34 34 32 32 Ave 1089.7 19 957.8 17.6 999.7 19 1194.5 19.3 1275.3 19.8 1335.3 19.3 1141 19.7
95 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 16. Appendix 9. Summary of Housing Commitments @ 31/3/08 and Projected Annual Completions
Total by Status 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 status
1. Development in progress 471300740000000000 845
2. Detailed permission not started 8362269120000000000 759 3. Outline permission (known details) 0222090000000000 132 5. Allocated housing sites - estimated figures 0 0 38 50 85 90 60 72 0 0 0 0 0 395 6. Other identified sites - estimated figures (e.g. Planning Brief) 0 50 199 120 0 0 100 100 400 400 404 300 300 2373
7. Windfalls re. small sites 000000000005555 110
Projected Annual Completions - Total by year 479 734 600 380 85 90 160 172 400 400 404 355 355 4614
96 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 17. Appendix 10. Outstanding Allocated Sites without Planning Permission @ 31/3/08 Net gain where known or Estimated Likelihood of Site ID.No Address proposed proceeding / Current Use 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Totals No - no developer interest Hse 3 1-22 Bromet Close 30 & lapsed P/P No - lapsed p/p & currently Hse 12 Ladys Close 3 car park Residue of Yes, possibly - if Croxley Hse Site 14 Metropolitan Stn Approach 85 rail link is agreed 40 45 85
Hse 16 Rounton, Nascot Wood Road 47 Possibly, in the long-term 20 27 47 R/O Red Lion Garage, Vicarage Hse 21 Road 4 No - in use as office Yes - pre-application discussions - figures Hse 24 Cassio College, Langley Road 225 revised 50 85 90 225 No, retained as depot (P/P 01/00427/DC withdrawn Hse 25 Council Depot Site 90 26/10/04) Yes, pre-application Hse 26 Adj 28-34 The Larches 38 discussions ongoing 38 38 Uncertain - pre-application Hse 28 Adj Leveret Close 8 discussions were in 06-07 Opposite Reeds Orphanage, Hse 29 Orphanage Road 78 No - BT site No - 25yr lease by TJ RA4 Clements Store, 23-33 The Parade 163 Hughes 07/01398/FULM application pending 31/3/08 (approved RA5 Watford Springs, Lower High Street 130 15/5/08) - yes 50 79 129 Community consultation by developers Feb '08 - figures RA6 Site around Watford Junction 1500 revised - yes 300 300 300 300 300 1500 Unlikely that residential RA8 Charter Place, High Street 20 element will proceed
Totals 0 50 117 50 85 90 60 72 300 300 300 300 300 2024 N.B. 'Hse' sites are the outstanding Housing Proposal Sites without p/p (see Appendix 9 for updated list of the original contained in Watford District Plan 2000. Page 69) N.B. RA4, RA5, RA6 and RA8 are Key Development Sites (see Watford District Plan 2000. Page 146) and included here where a potential housing element has been identified 97 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 18. Appendix 11. Housing Sites listed in Watford District Plan 2000 – Status @ 31/3/08 Site Status No. Actual WDP Housing Proposal Site Minimum Units 2003/ 2004/ 2005/ 2006/ 2007/ Comment as at 31/03/08 (changes from 2007 in 2000 Address capacity (where 04 05 06 07 08 bold) known) 2 Watford Fields Pumping 51 59 - - - - - Completed 2002-03 Station 3 1-22 Bromet Close 30 LP LP LP LP LP Lapsed planning permission & no developer interest (appears unlikely to proceed) 5 103-111 Queens Avenue 16 24 C - - - - Completed 2003-04
7 111 Langley Road 14 24 - - C - - Completed 2005-06
8 R/O 285-289 Sheepcot 9 7 C - - - - Completed 2003-04 Lane (previously R/O 277- 289 Sheepcote Lane) 9 201 & adjacent High Street 10 17 - - - - - Completed 2001-02
12 Lady’s Close 3 LP LP LP LP LP Lapsed planning permission (unlikely to proceed – in current use as car park ) 14 Metropolitan Station 210 305 UC UC UC C - 271 completed 05/06 and 34 completed 06/07. Approach (Planning application 01/00320/FUL granted 28.3.03 & 05/00072/FUL granted 5.4.05) Resi - Strip of land (by railway) at 85 No applications received – (could possibly proceed, if due of Met. Station App. Croxley Rail Link happens – in the long-term - after 14 2013) 15 (part of) Abattoir Site, 26 86 - - - UC C Completed 2007-08 Vicarage Road, now known as EDF site, Vicarage Road 16 Rounton, 28 Nascot Wood 48 No applications received (possibly – in the long-term) Road 17 59-63 Langley Road & 1 13 22 - P UC C - Planning application 04/00670/OUTM granted Langwood Gardens 27.9.04 – completed 06-07
98 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 Site Status No. Actual WDP Housing Proposal Site Minimum Units 2003/ 2004/ 2005/ 2006/ 2007/ Comment as at 31/03/08 (changes from 2007 in 2000 Address capacity (where 04 05 06 07 08 bold) known) 18 North Orbital Road 76 UC C - - - Completed 2004-05
19 Watford College Annex, 26 50 C - - - - Completed 2003-04 Gammons Lane 20 790-794 St. Albans Road 7 16 - P UC C - Planning application 04/00549/FULM granted 26.8.04 - completed 06-07 21 R/O Red Lion Garage, 4 LP LP LP LP LP Lapsed planning permission (unlikely to proceed – Vicarage Rd currently an office) 24 Cassio College, West 135 225 PB PB PB PB PB Planning Brief approved – pre-app discussions so Herts Site (revised estimated figures revised (likely to proceed – 2012 est.) onwards) 25 Council Depot Site, 90 S106 WDN - - - Planning application 01/00427/DC withdrawn Wiggenhall Road 26/10/04 (as of 2007, this will remain the Council Depot, so will not proceed as a Housing Site) 26 Site bordering Hertsmere 38 No applications received (pre-application discussions and Railway (adjacent ongoing so estimated 2011) 28 -34 the Larches) 27 139-143 Rickmansworth 21 14 - P P UC UC Planning application 04/01189/FULM granted Road 21/03/05 and 06/00170/VAR granted 10.8.06 – development in progress (2 completed 2007-08 and 12 remaining) 28 Adj. Leveret Close 8 No applications received (pre-app. discussions 06-07 but none recently) 29 Site opposite Reeds 78 No applications received (unlikely to proceed) Orphanage 30 112-114 Langley Road 5 - - - - Completed 2001-02 Key: LP Lapsed permission UC Under construction P With planning permission or resolution to grant subject to S106 C Completed WDN Planning application withdrawn PB Planning Brief
99 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 19. Appendix 12. Summary of 5 Year Assessment of Housing Supply (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Barratts estimates first Development in completions to start between progress 9164806 Willow Grange Church Road 174 64 110 0000 Sep 08 - Apr 09 Health Campus Manager Development in Watford advises still on schedule to progress 9002207 Football Club Vicarage Road 164 80 84 0000 complete early 2009 Developer (Barratts) estimates earliest Development in 26 Exchange completions to start Summer progress 9019506 Road 134 0 60 74 000 2009 Barratts advise occupation Development in began April 2008 - progress 9077002 1-3 Derby Road 94 94 0 0000 completion expected 08-09 George Wimpey advises Development in should all be complete by progress 9044007 Meriden School Harvest End 55 55 0000 end 2008 Developer (McCarthy Stone) 63-67 estimates earliest Development in Hempstead completions to be Spring progress 9057606 Road 48 10 38 0000 2009 Development in 25 Woodford progress 9039005 Road 24 24 0 0000 428 Development in Whippendell Building Control records progress 9137206 Road 18 18 0 0000 show completion 4/08 Watford Grammar Metropolitan Development in School For Station progress 9012207 Boys(site A) Approach 17 17 0 0000 170-170a Development in Whippendell progress 9049105 Road 16 16 0000 Agent (WJ MacLeod) Development in 22-24 Sheepcot advises should be completed progress 9095107 Lane 14 14 0 0000 by Mar 09 100 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments (2 units out of 14 completed 07-08, 4 under construction, 25-31 King R/O 139-143 developer uncertain about Development in Georges Rickmansworth when remaining units will be progress 9118904 Avenue Road 12 4 8 0000 started until some sold) Cairnpark Properties advise Development in Kenilworth Hempstead will be completed end Aug progress 9133406 Court Road 10 10 0 0000 08 Paul Alex Development in School Of progress 9061107 Dancing 14 Nascot Road 6 6 0 0000 Development in 188-196 St progress 9095805 Albans Road 5 5 0 0000 Development in progress 9033305 1a Bruce Grove 4 4 0 0000 Development in 108 Sheepcot progress 9160507 Lane 4 4 0 0000 Watford Grammar Shepherds Road Development in School For / Cassiobury progress 9012107 Boys Park Avenue 3 3 0 0000 Development in 66 Gammons progress 9139207 Lane 3 3 0 0000 Development in 102 Leggatts progress 9035207 Wood Avenue 3 3 0 0000 Development in 126 Kings progress 9122004 Avenue 2 2 0 0000 Development in progress 9090606 26 Green Lane 2 2 0 0000 R/O 23-25 Development in Denewood progress 9091807 Close 2 2 0 0000 Development in 27 Gladstone progress 9139106 Road 2 2 0 0000
101 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Development in 224 St Albans progress 9161606 Road 2 2 0 0000 Development in R/O 88 Queens Building Control records progress 9155206 Road 2 2 0 0000 show commencement 6/08 Development in 17 The progress 9001007 Harebreaks 2 2 0 0000 Development in R/O 80 Lower Building Control records progress 9125206 Paddock Road 2 2 0 0000 show commencement 5/08 Development in 28 Market progress 9053200 Street 2 2 0 0000 Adj. 14 Development in Langwood progress 9035703 Gardens 1 1 0 0000 Development in 98 Newhouse progress 9115404 Crescent 1 1 0 0000 Development in Adj. 1 Purbrock progress 9070705 Avenue 1 1 0 0000 Development in R/O 38-40 progress 9098507 Langley Way 1 1 0 0000 Development in R/O 33 Langley progress 9164506 Way 1 1 0 0000 Development in 31 Kensington progress 9068106 Avenue 1 1 0 0000 Development in Adj. 146a progress 9044906 Chester Road 1 1 0 0000 Development in 40 Leavesden progress 9036207 Road 1 1 0 0000 Development in 86 The progress 9087707 Ridgeway 1 1 0 0000 Development in 175 Leavesden progress 9030407 Road 1 1 0 0000 Development in 61 The progress 9063307 Harebreaks 1 1 0 0000 102 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Development in Adj. 28 Fern progress 9020307 Way 1 1 0 0000 Development in 13 Hemming progress 9076907 Way 1 1 0 0000 44b & 44c Development in Wiggenhall progress 9098307 Road 1 1 0 0000 Development in progress 9147607 1 Bridge Place 1 1 0 0000 Development in 190 St Albans progress 9115707 Flat 1 Road 1 1 0 0000 Development in 222 Hagden progress 9152307 Lane 1 1 0 0000 Development in 90 Vicarage progress 9131207 Road 1 1 0 0000 Development in 29 Cassiobury progress 9117207 Pk Ave 1 1 0 0000 Development in Adj. 66 progress 9037007 Balmoral Road 1 1 0 0000 Development in 1 & 2 Simmons progress 9105306 Cottages Colne Way -1 -1 0 0000 Totals for developments in progress 845 471 300 74 0 0 0 374 Detailed permission not 69, 71 & 73 started 9024707 High Road 6 0 6 0000 Detailed permission not Adj. 17 started 9072402 Redheath Close 1 1 0 0000 Detailed permission not 16 Roughwood started 9027203 Close 5 0 5 0000
103 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Detailed R/O 201 permission not Horseshoe started 9110307 Lane 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 117c St Albans started 9019304 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not started 9056304 61 The Avenue 0 0 0000 Detailed permission not 374a St Albans started 9078204 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 436 St Albans started 9056705 Road 1 0 0 1 000 08/00380/FULM Revised Detailed scheme approved at permission not Watford School Nascot Wood committee 5/6/08 subject to started 9051306 Of Music Road 23 0 0 23 000 S106 - for 23 units Detailed permission not 2 Woodhurst started 9009004 Avenue 0 0 0 0000 Detailed (Site of new fire station, permission not 223-229 Lower ambulance unit etc) HCC's started 9037606 High Street 14 0 14 0000 estimate Nov 09 Detailed permission not started 9057806 18 Capel Road 2 0 2 0000 Detailed permission not 201 St Albans started 9115904 Road 2 0 0 2 000 Detailed permission not 63 Beechwood started 9117004 Rise 1 0 1 0000 Detailed R/O 241 permission not Hempstead started 9082005 Road 1 1 0 0000 104 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Detailed Adj. 480 permission not Whippendell started 9022605 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed R/O 44-46 permission not Rickmansworth started 9069407 Road 1 0 1 0000 Site has been sold on but Detailed Uniform records show permission not 5 & 6 Bramble construction vehicles on site started 9066507 Close 10 0 10 0000 7/08 Detailed permission not 269 St Albans started 9008705 Road 2 0 0 2 000 Detailed permission not started 9035905 2 Cardiff Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 162-164 High started 9061205 Street 4 0 0 4 000 Developer (Crest Nicholson) Detailed not expecting any permission not 12-14 St Albans completions before Spring started 9049807 Road 123 0 50 73 000 2009 Detailed permission not 173 St Albans started 9073407 Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not started 9108605 7 Langley Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 188 Queens started 9111605 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not Adj. 30 started 9009506 Chestnut Walk 1 0 1 0000 Detailed Caretakers Watford School permission not 9059606 Bungalow Of Music 0 0 0 0000 105 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments started
Detailed permission not 41 Middle Ope started 9080806 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 30 Langley started 9018008 Road 4 0 0 4 000 Detailed permission not 167 St Albans started 9097407 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed 25-27 Sold on to Matthew Homes- permission not Rickmansworth advise due to start autumn started 9099206 Road 20 0 20 0000 08 and complete autumn 09 Detailed permission not R/O 51-53 started 9159907 Malden Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 48 Liverpool started 9082006 Road 1 1 0 0000 Detailed permission not 18 Stanmore started 9013206 Road 1 1 0 0000 Detailed permission not 11 Chester started 9128506 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 119 St Albans started 9133606 Road 3 0 3 0000 Detailed Between 38-40 permission not Upper Paddock started 9153406 Road 1 1 0 0000 Detailed permission not Adj. 83 started 9143206 Harebreaks 1 0 1 0000
106 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Detailed permission not Adj. 141 Ridge started 9152106 Lane 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not started 9002307 7 Tolpits Lane 6 0 6 0000 Detailed R/O 123 permission not Cassiobury Access Cottage started 9102106 Drive Close 2 0 2 0000 Detailed 1b permission not Shakespeare Shakespeare started 9158806 Industrial Estate Street 2 0 2 0000 Detailed permission not R/O 40 The started 9062306 Gardens 1 1 0000 Detailed permission not The Flag Public started 9066706 House Station Road -3 0 -3 0000 Detailed permission not 121b St Albans started 9006607 Road 3 0 3 0000 Agent advises site in process Detailed of being sold to Barratts- permission not 52a-56 High almost finalised&tight 1 year started 9133506 Street 56 0 56 0000 timescale for development Sold on to Barratts - only Detailed info. due to start permission not Former Sun development autumn/winter started 9160207 Chemicals Cow Lane 223 0 53 70 100 00 2008 Detailed permission not East Section Of Queen Marys Agent advises anticipated started 9051207 Tinsley Estate Avenue 60 0 60 0000 completion date is Nov 09 Detailed permission not King George V started 9047807 The Lodge Playing Fields -1 0 -1 0000 Detailed 445 permission not 9017807 Whippendell 1 0 1 0000 107 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments started Road
Detailed permission not 31 Euston started 9076307 Avenue 0 0 0 0000 Detailed permission not 65 Euston started 9040407 Avenue 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed 247 permission not Whippendell started 9086607 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 55 & 57 started 9037607 Langley Road 7 0 0 7 000 Detailed permission not 62b Harwoods started 9055607 Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not started 9035807 48 Casio Road 1 0 0 0 1 00 Detailed permission not started 9009307 72 Casio Road -1 0 -1 0000 Detailed Developer has no plans to permission not 58-68 The start in immediate future - started 9039507 Parade High Street 13 0 0 13 000 credit crunch mentioned Detailed permission not started 9066807 43 Fuller Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not Adj. 57 Louvain started 9127106 Way 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 22 St Johns started 9127306 Road 1 0 0 1 000
108 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Detailed permission not 89a Eastbury started 9148607 Road 3 0 0 3 000 Detailed permission not 225 St Albans started 9059607 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 2 & 2a Briar started 9084207 Road 0 0 0 0000 Detailed permission not 48 Tucker started 9028607 Street 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 209 Queens started 9116507 Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 563 St Albans started 9019907 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 88 Queens started 9109507 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not St Martins 31-35 Clarendon started 9067207 House Road 22 0 22 000 Detailed permission not 14 Chestnut started 9107407 Walk 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 89 Queens started 9106607 Road 0 0 0 0000 Detailed permission not Adj. 20 Langley started 9056907 Way 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 38 Holywell started 9087207 Road 1 0 0 1 000
109 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Detailed permission not 1 Brightwell started 9131907 Road 2 0 0 2 000 Detailed permission not started 9138407 2 Longspring 1 0 1 0000 Detailed 110a permission not Leavesden started 9148907 Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 135 St Albans started 9088607 Road 2 0 2 0000 Detailed permission not started 9129707 100 Cecil Street 2 0 0 2 000 Detailed 103 North permission not Western started 9132207 Avenue 0 0 0 0000 Circle Anglia advise contractors on site-due for Detailed completion Aug '09 - all permission not 103 Langley aff.hsing - 25 social rented & started 9146707 Outlook Place Road 37 0 37 0000 12 shared ownership Detailed 36 permission not Sandringham started 9140407 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 7 Gladstone started 9137507 Road 2 0 2 0000 Detailed permission not 49 Kensington started 9111307 Avenue 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 143a The started 9073107 Parade High Street 2 2 0 0000 Detailed 33a Church permission not 9142707 Road 1 0 0 1 000 110 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments started
Detailed permission not 83a Market started 9164807 Street -1 0 -1 0000 Detailed permission not 51 Gladstone started 9170907 Road 2 0 0 2 000 Detailed permission not 2 Southwold started 9172107 Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 51a Market started 9000208 Street 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed 132-136a High permission not St, 3-9 King St, started 9167107 13 Smith St 19 0 0 0 19 00 Detailed 32 permission not Hemmingford started 9133907 Road 0 0 0 0000 Detailed permission not 2 Victoria Building Control records started 9170407 Passage 2 2 0 0000 show commencement 5/08 Detailed permission not Prince Michael started 9012708 Of Kent Court Stratford Road -6 0 0 -6 000 Detailed permission not 19 Westland started 9007108 Road 4 0 0 4 000 Detailed permission not Adj. 107 The started 9000808 Phillipers 1 0 1 0000 Detailed Watford Boys permission not Grammar Rickmansworth started 9004608 School Road 1 0 0 1 000
111 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Detailed permission not Adj. 130 Fourth started 9007808 Avenue 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 215 St Albans started 9001708 Road 3 0 0 3 000 Detailed R/O permission not R/O 154 Ridge 271,273,275 started 9056807 Lane + Gammons Lane 11 0 0 11 000 Detailed permission not R/O 33 Tunnel started 9098704 Wood Road 1 0 0 1 000 Detailed permission not 110 Leavesden started 9053403 Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 165 North started 9136206 Land West Of Western Avenue 4 0 4 0000 Detailed permission not 19a Watford started 9005907 Contract House Heath 3 0 0 3 000 Detailed permission not started 9065007 33 Cardiff Road 1 0 1 0000 Detailed permission not 137-139 started 9098106 Queens Road -2 0 -2 0000 Detailed permission not 80 Sotheron started 9028606 Road 6 0 6 0000 Detailed permission not 68 Bushey Mill started 9001403 Lane -1 -1 0 0000 Detailed R/O 4-12 permission not Purbrock started 9019602 Avenue 5 0 5 000 112 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Totals for detailed permissions 759 8 362 269 120 0 0 751 08/00440/REM received 31/3/08 - APPROVED AT Outline Fire & 562-572 COMMITTEE 26/6/08. permission Ambulance Whippendell HCC's completion estimate (known details) 9060203 Station Road 90 0 90 00 Nov'11 Outline (Pre-application enquiries for permission R/O 722-724 St 15 units -figures likely to (known details) 9057205 Albans Road 3 0 3 0000 increase) Outline Loates permission Lane/Lord (known details) 9080103 Street 6 0 6 0000 Various applications received 29/4/08 pending Outline consideration pursuant to permission Alban Wood Newhouse 06/00310/OUTM (outline (known details) 9031006 Junior School Crescent 20 0 0 20 000 permission) Outline 08/00690/FUL received permission 37c St Johns 7/5/08 pending consideration (known details) 9001407 Road 4 0 4 0000 - 5 dwellings Outline permission Queenswood (known details) 9021205 Adj. 51 & 71 Crescent 9 0 9 0000 Totals for outline permissions 132 0 22 20 90 0 0 132 Allocated housing site - estimated Adj. 28-34 The Pre-application discussions figures 9 Larches 38 0 0 38 000 ongoing Allocated housing site - Allocated Plan figures estimated revised due to pre- figures 9 Cassio College Langley Road 225 0 0 0 50 85 90 application discussions
113 Annual Monitoring Report 2008 (Not 5 year inc. in totals Planning Net Out- 5 year 09/10 Status at 31 App. Ref standing figures) to March 2008 No Address 31/3/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 13/14 Comments Totals for allocated housing sites 263 0 0 38 50 85 90 263 Other identified sites - allocated for mixed use in 07/01398/FULM received Plan - 15/10/07 PENDING (Permission CONSIDERATION as at granted Lower High 31/3/08-approved at 15/5/08) 9 Watford Springs Street 129 0 50 79 000 committee 15/5/08 Site sold to developer. 07/01268/FULM for 248 Other identified dwellings submitted but sites - Planning North Western withdrawn 12/07. Also Brief adopted Leggatts Avenue/Leggatts Planning Brief adopted 10/12/07 9 Campus Way 240 0 0 120 120 00 10/12/07. Totals for other identified sites 369 0 50 199 120 0 0 369
5 year total 09/10 - 13/14 479 734 600 380 85 90 1889
Assessment of a Five Year Housing supply
Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3): Housing requires Local Planning Authorities to assess and demonstrate the extent to which existing plans fulfil the requirement to identify and maintain a rolling 5-year supply of deliverable land for housing as this influences how planning applications are determined (see PPS3 paragraphs 68-73).
The criteria for assessing deliverability are laid down in PPS3. Paragraph 54 says that to be deliverable, sites should:
• Be available – the site is available now • Be suitable – the site offers a suitable location for development now and would contribute to the creation of sustainable, mixed communities • Be achievable – there is a reasonable prospect that housing will be delivered on the site within five years
114 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
The first year of the trajectory period, looking forward is 2008-09, which is the current year during which the AMR 2008 is compiled, and the expected number of dwellings likely to be completed has been identified as 479, the majority of which are developments already under construction.
However, recent advice in DCLG ‘Core Output Indicators – Update 2/2008’ states that the current year must not be included as part of the five year assessment, which should cover the following five years, between 2009/10 to 2013/14. Sites included in the five year assessment are a combination of sites under construction; sites with unimplemented planning permissions; allocated housing sites (only those likely to proceed); and other sites identified for housing since adoption of the WDP 2000. All those sites included have been assessed for deliverability against the criteria listed above. The method used for phasing – estimating which year each site will be completed – is based on such factors as whether the development has started, when planning permissions will expire, discussions with developers and whether or not a site allocated in the Plan but without planning permission as yet, is likely to proceed.
The East of England Plan requirement is 5,200 dwellings over 20 years and taking into account the total completions of 1,943 units between 2001/02 and 2007/08, (5200-1943=3257/13=251) this equates to a residual annual requirement of 251 dwellings, which corresponds to 1255 dwellings over a five year period.
As can be seen from the site specific listing for the five year assessment, Watford can demonstrate that it has a five year supply of deliverable sites, as the number of projected completions between 2009-2014 has been identified as 1889, which exceeds the East of England Plan target of 1255 dwellings by 634 units. (1889-1255=634)
Therefore, there is no need to consider options for increasing the supply of deliverable sites in the short term, but the allocated sites in the existing WDP 2000 were proposed to control development only up to April 2006 and the undeveloped sites allocated in the District Plan together with additional sites that come forward will be reviewed, published for consultation in the future and then further sites will be allocated as part of the Site Specific Allocations DPD process. Planning applications will be considered and determined having regard to PPS3 (in particular paragraph 69) Development Plan policies and other material considerations.
115 Annual Monitoring Report 2008
116
Large print versions of this document can be produced on request: Tel 01923-278970
Planning Policy, Watford Borough Council, Town Hall, Watford, WD17 3EX [email protected] www.watford.gov.uk/planning