Westminster council could be on a collision course with property owners over proposed changes in planning policies, writes Jane Roberts and Adam Coffer.
It is widely expected to strengthen measures that favour residential over commercial development in the draft unitary development plan.
Westminster is set to unveil its policy plans at a press conference next Monday and discuss it at a specialist committee on Tuesday. The move will hit the Central Zone, which includes hotspots such as Covent Garden, Soho and Mayfair.
Westminsters existing policy already requires office applications to include matching extra space for residential. It now plans to apply this policy to all development, including leisure and retail.
Derek Taylor, a consultant at planning expert Montagu Evans, said: “The City Corporation doesnt do it and other London authorities are flexible. The importance of expanding business in the Central Zone needs to be properly reflected, but this is very much for the protection of residential space.”
Taylor was also critical of Westminsters plans to extend the principle of safeguarding areas for designated types of business.
In particular, the draft UDP will recommend that Soho and Covent Garden are dedicated to the media sectors, and that the fashion industry is protected in East Marylebone and Noho.
Taylor said: “It is restrictive in terms of seeking to protect them from other sorts of commerce. If those areas of commerce are changing you cant protect them.”
Hugh Bullock, partner at Gerald Eve, added: “The size of the Central Zone is the key to how the West End is to be managed as the centre of a world city. To find a good balance needs a combined effort from local and central government, police, operators, landlords and planners. It must be acceptable to every party.”
The draft UDP is also expected to say Paddington is the only area suitable for towers. This follows a report by consultant EDAW which said that, with 80% of Westminster a conservation area, no other area has the “substantial characteristics required” for tall buildings.
Several of Westminsters planning staff who deal with the design of complex planning applications have left in the past few weeks. They include Mike Lowndes, who was heavily involved with Paddington, and Richard Summers.
EGi News 22/09/00
