The Planning forum met last Thursday to discuss the revision of the Local Plan and the current consultations. However, most of the topics are still a work in progress and no important announcement was made.
The revision of the Local Plan, with a focus on the affordable accommodation requirement for new applications, is still progressing, said Adam Hutching, the Principal Planner for Policy.
This is not a “new” Local Plan as the current one has just been agreed and implemented after about five years of work.
However, as the former plan was drafted under the Conservative administration, the new Labour majority in the Council is aiming for some changes, especially regarding housing (Policy LP23), in order to promote social provision. Tony Belton emphasised that Labour’s priority is Council housing for rent.
Three major changes are proposed:
- Make mandatory for new housing developments in the borough to include a minimum of 50% affordable homes on-site.
- Get a higher percentage of new affordable homes to be genuinely affordable, with a preference for a 70/30 split in favor of social rent.
- Mandate affordable housing on smaller development sites that currently fall below the threshold of 10 or more homes (gross) in the form of a financial contribution.
Adam Hutching explained that the Council is planning adoption by 2026, as there are still many steps to complete. The Regulation 19 consultation (the last one before the Inspector’s review) is expected to start in November and finish in January, with a review by the Planning Inspectorate in April 2025 and final adoption the following year. It should be noted that if Wandsworth Council and the Greater London Authority differ on the borough’s urban plan, the inspector will resolve the matter.
The Council is currently consulting on their plan to amend the Community Involvement guidelines. It was noted that in 2018/19, a similar consultation was organized but led to no visible change, and several community groups strongly believed that their contributions were at best dismissed or simply ignored by the Council. Adam strongly emphasised that it will be different this time, as they have a much stronger team with more officers than before to deal with the responses.
- Read our article: Consultation on community involvement: great principles but in practice no improvement
Councillor Belton previously highlighted that they are currently advertising for further viability roles to ensure we are effectively resourced to fulfil their ambitions. He said:
“The Council is committed to resourcing in-house viability expertise to ensure full scrutiny of financial viability appraisal assumptions and ensure delivery of the genuinely affordable housing residents need through the planning system. In-house Development Viability Officers work closely with Development Management, Housing & Enabling and Planning Policy colleagues to ensure the provision of affordable housing is maximised on individual schemes. “
The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) is a statutory document that provides a framework for future consultation and community engagement in planning. The current consultation will end on November 4th. You can consult the proposal and comment directly on the Council’s portal or by email.
The new Labour government has proposed several significant changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the main guidelines that sit atop the regional and local urban plans. The press has mainly focused on changes introduced to boost housing construction, a response to the so-called housing shortage. A new method for calculating local authority housing targets is being introduced, aiming to match Labour’s goal of building 1.5 million new homes. In Labour’s proposal, housing targets are no longer ‘advisory’ but mandatory, and the overall yearly target is being raised from 300,000 to around 370,000 homes. Many of the amendments aim to reverse the changes made by former Housing Secretary Michael Gove, which had allowed local authorities to potentially deliver fewer houses than the number calculated via the standard method.
For Wandsworth, officers have stated that the housing need could rise from 2,000 to 3,800 per annum. However, it remains uncertain whether this will impact the London Plan, and no official response is expected before next year. It is also important to note that in the past, some boroughs have argued successfully that such targets were unachievable due to their specific circumstances. Furthermore, as infrastructure considerations play a role in new developments, there are significant concerns about the feasibility of meeting these increased figures.
Currently, the London Plan sets a target for Wandsworth to deliver 19,500 additional homes over a ten-year period (2019/20 to 2028/29). However, the borough has exceeded this target since the start of the period, according to its own records. This success is partly due to large-scale developments in Nine Elms and the York Road/Clapham Junction wider area. Future projections suggest that meeting the target should not pose a challenge. The 2023 Authority Monitoring Report indicates that Wandsworth has consistently surpassed its housing construction targets since the beginning of the period and is expected to continue doing so.
Projections from the Housing Policy Performance Report 2023 even suggest that total housing completions will surpass 23,000 by 2029 with 3,500 more than required.
Little progress on Clapham Junction Master Plan and Falcon Bridge refurbishment
The Clapham Junction Masterplan project was announced as an 18-month process, but little progress has been made since March. At the time, it was stated that two phases were being considered: an interchange link for the station and potential development in the surrounding area. An update is expected towards the end of the year or early 2025, with adoption anticipated by 2026.
- Read our article: Clapham Junction Masterplan: initial presentation focusing on vague options for overpass bridges
Over the summer, a design competition was organised to transform and enhance the Falcon Bridge underpass in Clapham Junction. Architects, designers, and artists were invited to submit proposals for this project. The project is organised in partnership with the London Festival of Architecture. Following selection and consultation, the winning team will see their project implemented by September 2025.
- Read our article: Design competition launched to transform Falcon Bridge underpass in Clapham Junction
The winning team will be confirmed in December 2024 and, subject to procurement and governance procedures, will be awarded a design fee to consult on and develop a fully costed, feasible design, to be installed by the end of September 2025. The project budget is estimated at £2,000,000 + VAT. The design team will receive 12.5% of the money.
What is the Planning Forum and how does it work
Once every six months, representatives of community groups, forums, or societies from various areas of the Wandsworth Borough focused on urban planning meet at the Council to discuss planning issues with planning officers. The meeting is chaired by the Councillor who chairs the Planning Application Committee (PAC), currently Tony Belton, and not other councillor is invited on a regular basis.
The forum serves as a platform for officers to update attendees on planning matters specific to the Wandsworth borough without discussing individual cases (as they often remind the audience!). It is also (and this was implemented in January 2018 under Conservative Councillor Will Sweet after a strong request in July 2017) a forum for discussion allowing a large space for representatives of the community to bring forward specific topics. In other words, there is a shared agenda, with – it may vary depending on the agenda – one hour dedicated to officer updates and one hour for topics from the organisations.
While it is filmed and remote attendance is possible, unlike the Council’s committee meetings, the video is not available and the minutes are only distributed by email amongst the participants. So far, CJI has been the only media to report constantly about the meeting since 2009. All previous reports are available in our dossier on the Planning Forum meetings.
Disclaimer: Cyril Richert was representing the Clapham Junction Action Group at the Council’s meeting
