Issue - meetings

Mrs Sarah Lee, the Principal Planning Officer (Strategic Planning), presented the Draft London Plan (2017) to the Committee.

It was noted that:

·  The Greater London Authority (GLA) had published its Draft London Plan for consultation.

·  The Plan covered the period 2019-2041, although certain detailed aspects of the Plan such as the housing targets only related to the first 10 years of the period (2019-2029).

·  The Plan identified a requirement for around 66,000 dwellings to be provided in London each year over the 10 year period. This figure originated from the population projections prepared by the GLA. This was different from what occurred in the rest of the country whereby the Office for National Statistics prepared the figures used by Local Planning Authorities. This indicated a significant disconnect between London and the rest of the country.

·  The Plan stated that the aim would be for London to meet its own needs within its own boundaries and this was welcomed by the Council. However, actual housing delivery in 2015/16 was only 34,800 and to achieve the new requirement within London’s confines would require very substantive planning measures. If they were unable to meet their need then the Council could experience approaches under the duty to cooperate to meet some of their London boroughs’ unmet needs.

·  The Plan was more restrictive about the release of industrial/employment land for alternative uses than previous versions of the London Plan.

·  The Plan highlighted strategic transport links into London that could be improved. None of those strategic links were specific to Maidstone and this was referred to in the consultation response.

The Committee requested that the following amendments be included in the response:

·  Stronger emphasis should be placed on how restrictive the Council believes the 10 year time frame to be, in terms of planning and delivery.

·  The Plan is too restrictive on the reuse of employment land and this should be emphasised further within the Council’s response.

RESOLVED: That the response to the Draft London Plan (December 2017) set out in Appendix 1 be approved with the inclusion of the amendments suggested.

Voting: Unanimous