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Planning our future together
Local residents and businesses are being invited to help plan future developments and change in the Royal Borough during the next 20 years.
The current consultation addresses key planning and development issues and options, such as:
- How can Kingston protect its environment and tackle climate change
- What new housing is needed most and where will it be built?
- What new facilities are needed for our growing population?
- How can we protect our open spaces?
- How can the local economy develop and prosper?
Kingston Council is currently preparing a Local Development Framework (Core Strategy) for the Royal Borough – a document that will replace the current Unitary Development Plan (UDP) – and is inviting residents and businesses to have their say.
Commenting, Councillor Simon James, Executive Member for Planning & regeneration, says: A Local Development Framework differs from the old Unitary Development Plan (UDP) because it tries to take a much wider view of whether the borough can actually support a particular type of development (with schools, doctors’ surgeries, parking and leisure amenities) rather than just looking at whether we have physical space to put a new building. Although it still doesn’t free the borough entirely to take its own decisions as we will still be required to comply with the Mayor of London and the Government’s policies.”
“The Local Development Framework will provide a 20 year overview for planning across the borough, including Kingston town centre, which is covered by the K+20 Plan.
“This is not a set of decisions the Council has already taken. This is the stage, where the Council is asking for views on the main planning issues in the Borough and the ways we can work together to resolve them. It is a chance for our residents to let us know how they think we should set out our planning policies and have a dialogue with us about them.”
Roy Thompson, Service Director for Planning and Transportation, said:
“This consultation is an important opportunity for everybody to have their say on future priorities for change in Kingston. I want local people to take some time to give their views before the Council agrees its new planning strategy.”
The consultation period continues until 11 May, during which there will be a series of neighbourhood workshops, presentations to the Neighbourhood Committees and exhibitions in the Borough’s libraries. All the information will be available on this website and the Council will also be carrying out a representative survey of 5% of residents.
Following this consultation, work will start on incorporating local views into a ‘Preferred Strategy’ which local residents and businesses will have a further opportunity to comment on in the autumn.
Kingston’s Local Development Framework will need to be based on objective evidence, be broadly in accordance with national planning policies and conform to the Mayor’s London Plan. Final approval of the Plan is due in May 2012, although it will start to have an effect on planning decisions taken by the Council from early next year.