Informal Consultation Draft City Plan 2019-2040
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INFORMAL CONSULTATION DRAFT, NOVEMBER 2018 CONTENTS CITY PLAN 2019 – 2040 FOREWORD CONTENTS FOREWORD City Plan 2019–2040, first and foremost, is a plan for Soft landscaping and streets lined with trees, bring natural people. It sets out to deliver an ambitious strategy to beauty and mitigate against the harmful effects of CO2. make Westminster one of the best places to live, work A stunning city encourages walking and cycling, bringing and play. Not just in London or the UK, but globally. further environmental benefits. Although this plan projects us forward to 2040, the With higher rents and changing patterns of how people transformation starts now. Being a city where people want shop, bold action will ensure London’s West End remains to live is at the forefront of our agenda. Whilst a quarter of all the jewel in our commercial crown. This strategy sets out homes in Westminster are social rented – a statistic of which a game-changing Central Activities Zone (CAZ) to deliver a we are very proud – we have a pressing need for new, world-class leisure experience. We’re investing £50 million affordable homes. Regeneration of key areas such as Victoria each year for the next three years in the Oxford Street and Paddington, and the north west of the borough, will District, with more than 90 different projects proposed invigorate both our residential and business capabilities. across 85 separate locations. A major new public piazza on Oxford Street will be a place where pedestrians come It’s absolutely vital that development must never be first, as Westminster becomes a truly walkable city. at the expense of our heritage. Our new neighbourly development policy will make sure planning for Westminster As we set out to create our city of the future, there is one is about conservation not preservation, and building question that should be at the forefront of our minds in every tomorrow's heritage today. Our iconic landmarks and areas development we undertake: Will this be an asset to people’s of Outstanding Universal Significance form a stunning lives? If we can answer this positively every time, the backdrop where people build lives, forge careers, and Westminster of 2040 is one we will all want to be a part of. make memories. We have identified ‘specialist clusters’ to be protected; places whose character adds significantly to London’s global appeal, such as Soho, Mayfair, Harley Street and Savile Row. Councillor Richard Beddoe Sustainability must drive everything we do. This strategy Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and Planning defines what we need to achieve and how innovative Westminster City Council planning and design will achieve it. Greener living must inform the choices we make – sometimes literally. 3 CITY PLAN 2019 – 2040 HOW TO USE THIS PLAN CONTENTS CONTENTS HOW TO USE THIS PLAN City Plan 2019 – 2040 is a statutory development Step 4: Some policies in the plan deal with plan. It sets out Westminster City Council's strategy different types of use. This helps to determine for the city’s development, and the policies which whether that use is appropriate or not. will be used in determining planning applications1. Westminster City Council also produces You should use this plan if you are submitting, Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs). assessing, or commenting on applications, These are published on our website and provide or if you simply want to find out more about more detailed guidance which should be taken the policies for your area. into account when designing developments and determining planning applications. Step 1: Starting with the Vision and Context sections will give you an overview of our Appendix 1 provides further guidance on the ambition for Westminster 2040. types and scale of use that we’d expect to see on these sites. Step 2: The Spatial Strategy section shows the main areas for growth and change in the city. Appendix 3 identifies our strategic policies and will be particularly helpful to anyone involved in Step 3: By referring to the ‘Policies Map’, which creating, or commenting on, neighbourhood plans. accompanies this plan, you’ll find the policies that relate to your area of interest and ‘key development sites’. 1 Under section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 planning decisions should be taken in accordance with the statutory development plan unless material planning considerations indicate otherwise. 4 CONTENTS CITY PLAN 2019 – 2040 CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTEXT 8 Housing Policies 44 8. Stepping up housing delivery 46 OUR APPROACH FOR WESTMINSTER 18 9. Affordable housing 49 OBJECTIVES 20 10. Meeting housing needs 52 Spatial Strategy Policies 24 11. Innovative housing delivery 54 1. Westminster’s spatial strategy 26 12. Student accommodation 56 2. Spatial Development Priorities: West End Retail and Leisure Special Policy Area and Tottenham Court Road 13. Housing quality 57 Opportunity Area 29 3. Spatial Development Priorities: Economy and Employment Policies 58 Paddington Opportunity Area 32 14. Supporting economic growth 60 4. Spatial Development Priorities: 15. Town centres, high streets and the CAZ 62 Victoria Opportunity Area 34 16. Markets and commerce in the public realm 67 5. Spatial Development Priorities: North West Economic Development Area 37 17. Visitor economy 69 6. Spatial Development Priorities: Church Street / Edgware 18. Food, drink and entertainment uses 72 Road and Ebury Bridge Estate Housing Renewal Areas 39 19. Soho Special Policy Area 74 7. Neighbourly Development 42 20. Mayfair and St. James’s Special Policy Area 76 21. Harley Street Special Policy Area 78 6 CITY PLAN 2019 – 2040 CONTENTS CONTENTS 22. Portland Place Special Policy Area 80 35. Green infrastructure 119 23 Savile Row Special Policy Area 82 36. Energy 127 Connections Policies 84 Design Policies 130 24. Enhancing mobility 86 37. Design principles 132 25. Highway access and management 91 38. Westminster’s heritage 134 26. Freight, servicing and deliveries 93 39. Townscape and architecture 139 27. Technological innovation in transport 94 40. Density and building height 141 28. Parking 96 41. Public realm 144 29. Waterways and waterbodies 98 42. Basement development 146 30. Community infrastructure, education and skills 101 43. Security measures in high-risk development and the public realm 148 31. Digital infrastructure and information and communications technology 103 IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING 150 APPENDIX 1: KEY DEVELOPMENT SITES 155 Environment Policies 106 32. Managing air quality 108 APPENDIX 2: PARKING STANDARDS 162 33. Managing flood risk 111 APPENDIX 3: SCHEDULE OF STRATEGIC POLICIES 163 34. Managing local environmental effects 115 GLOSSARY 166 7 CITY PLAN 2019 – 2040 CONTEXT CONTENTS CONTENTS 50AD 43AD 460 Founding of London (Londinium) First London road network The Roman army CONTEXT The Roman Governor of Britain Roads built in the first phase of Roman occupation leaves Britain (Ostorius Scapula) gives orders (43–68 AD) connected London with the ports and London to build a permanent base on used in the invasion, and with the earlier legionary is abandoned Westminster Timeline the North Bank of the Thames. bases at Colchester, Lincoln, Wroxeter, Gloucester and Exeter. As Roman influence expanded, so did the network, until around 180 AD when the known network was complete. 1839 1746 1703 1666 1090 1016 600 Trafalgar Square construction First detailed map of London Buckingham Great Fire Westminster Houses of The Saxons Trafalgar Square’s name John Rocque created the Palace is The Great Fire of 1666 Abbey Parliament create a commemorates the Battle of first detailed map of London. completed destroyed four-fifths opens are built new town Trafalgar, a British naval victory His 1746 map includes every of the City of London at Covent in the Napoleonic Wars with named court and alleyway. and more than 13,000 Garden France and Spain that took It shows a much smaller city, medieval, Tudor and place on 21 October 1805 off the with areas like Bloomsbury early-17th century coast of Cape Trafalgar, Spain. and Marylebone largely buildings were lost. undeveloped. 1851 1860 1863 1865 1928 Royal Parks Victoria London Underground opens Bazalgette’s sewer works 1928 Thames flood become public station opens The opening of the London The system was opened The 1928 Thames flood was a Royal Parks become Victoria station Underground in 1863 cut by Edward, Prince of Wales disastrous flood of the River Thames public parks with the opened by, distances and enabled in 1865, although the whole that affected much of riverside introduction of the Victoria Station residents to leave the crowded project was not actually London on 7 January 1928. As a Crown Lands Act 1851. and Pimlico Railway. city centre for more spacious completed for another result 14 people died and thousands suburban developments. ten years. were made homeless. 8 CITY PLAN 2019 – 2040 CONTEXT CONTENTS 1947 1940 1930 Town and Country Planning Act 1947 Blitz Retail development of Oxford Street The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 During the Blitz two million houses A plan in John Tallis’s London Street Views, published in the late came into effect on 1 July 1948, and along with (60 per cent of these in London) 1830s, remarks that almost all Oxford Street was primarily retail. the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act were destroyed resulting in John Lewis started in 1864 a small shop at No. 132, while Selfridges 1947 was the foundation of modern town and redevelopment and the emergence opened on 15 March 1909 at No. 400. By the 1930s, the street country planning in the UK. of council estates being built. was almost entirely retail, a position that remains today. 1965 1969 1970 2002 2012 Westminster’s current boundary Beatles immortalise Abbey Road Westway dual Golden Jubilee London The borough as we know it today was created As a result of its association with The carriageway opens Footbridge joining Olympic with the 1965 establishment of Greater London.