LREF: Five London hotspots have been identified as candidates for denser housing development.
New research by planning and design consultant Barton Willmore highlighted Harrow, Hounslow, Wood Green, Bromley and Sutton as offering significant opportunities to increase density of development.
Presented at LREF, the research looked at current density of development in second tier “town centres” across Greater London vs PTAL scores (public transport accessibility level) with the five centres scoring high on existing and potential infrastructure but low on density of existing development.
Increasing density of development is one of a number of options being offered as a means of meeting the annual target of 49,000 new homes in London and Barton Willmore believes that with the nature of town centres changing it could be part of the solution.
Iain Painting, London planning partner at Barton Willmore, said: “Based on the experience of our 80-strong London-based team of planning and design team, which is working across the capital and on some of the largest regeneration and expansion projects. We believe that London will get close to meeting its 49,000 new homes per year target only through a wider range of initiatives.
“Therefore we undertook this study to support our belief that the role of existing suburban centres, which were originally conceived as a focus of activity and density, should be re-examined – especially in light of the changing face of retail.
“Retail centres typically have fewer landowners and therefore offer a greater opportunity for land assembly. And there may well be opportunities to consolidate and strengthen the retail function of the centre while also releasing land for housing – specifically where this coincides with high accessibility and existing low household density.”
