Comment
Wandsworth is undertaking consultation on the latest version of its draft Local Plan
Public consultation on the Publication version (regulation 19) of LB Wandsworth’s Local Plan is now open until the 28 February 2022. This follows the previous round of consultation on the Pre-Publication version back in January – March 2021. At 484 pages long, it certainly does not make for a light read - even by Local Plan standards.
See our comment on the Pre-Publication version here.
As the last version was dated November 2020, several evident changes have been made to reflect matters such as the Secretary of State’s directives to the draft London Plan, before it was finally adopted in March 2021 and the Government’s new First Homes policy.
Policy SDS1 within the draft Local Plan sets the scene for LB Wandsworth’s spatial development and growth strategy, with a target to provide 20,311 new homes within the Local Plan period (2023-2038). This will include the provision of a minimum 1,950 new homes per year for the first five years (as per the annual target set within the London Plan 2021). This growth is primarily to be focused across nine ‘Area Strategy’ areas:
- Wandsworth Town (including the Wandle Delta sub-area)
- Putney
- Tooting
- Balham
- Clapham Junction and the York Road / Winstanley Estate Regeneration Area
- The Roehampton and Alton Estate Regeneration Area
- Nine Elms
- Wandsworth’s Riverside
- The Wandle Valley
Both within and outside the above areas are c.73 development site allocations, which is a significant increase to what featured in the previous draft of the Local Plan.
Having historically released a large amount of industrial land, particularly around the Nine Elms and Battersea area, the draft Local Plan looks to protect and optimise what remains. This is particularly the case across its designated Strategic Industrial Land (SIL), Locally Significant Industrial Sites (LSIS), ‘Economic Use Protection Areas’ and ‘Focal Points of Activity’. These primarily feature around Queenstown Road, Lombard Road / York Road, along the River Thames to the Wandle Delta sub-area, and in the heart of the Borough in between Earlsfield, Southfields and Wandsworth Town.
In the context of adopted policy D9 (tall buildings) of the London Plan (2021), we are advising clients to take heed of the emerging prescriptive building heights strategy approach being taken by LB Wandsworth. Under Policy LP4, anything at 7 storeys will be treated as a ‘tall building’ and anything at 5-6 storeys will be treated as a ‘mid-rise building’. The current wording is explicit that proposals for tall buildings will only be appropriate in tall building zones identified in the Local Plan and specified in site allocations. If you want to push for greater heights in an area or on a site allocation, now is the time to push through the policy making process rather than at planning application stage.
In terms of affordable housing, we are seeing the removal of the long established minimum 15% target for the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) opportunity area, and instead LB Wandsworth is seeking to align its policy position with the London Plan (2021). A key point of difference, however, is that LB Wandsworth is following the Government’s position in requiring a proportion of all affordable housing on development sites to include ‘First Homes’ (25% provision at a minimum 30% market discount).
The consultation on the latest draft Local Plan closes on 28 February 2022, with LB Wandsworth targeting submission to the Secretary of State (potentially ambitiously) in spring 2022 to target adoption in spring / summer 2023. One eye needs to be kept on the upcoming local elections, with LB Wandsworth flagged as a potential Borough to change party after 5 May 2022. If this came to pass, we can expect a delay in the document’s progress as the new administration would likely want to make its own mark in planning policy.
For further information or to discuss specific aspects of the article please contact Freya Turtle.
4 February 2022