Minutes:
5.1 The chair welcomed Councillor Leo Pollak to the meeting and invited him to address the sub-committee.
5.2 Councillor Leo Pollak the Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design stated that there were 3 areas he had been working on within his role:
· residential design and space standards
· the heritage Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in the new Southwark plan and the issue of the local list
· the design, procurement code and strategy for new council housing.
5.3 Councillor Pollak reported a study last year from the Building Research and Information Journal showed the UK had the smallest homes in Western Europe with the smallest average room sizes. Shelter had found that children who lived in overcrowded accommodation were 3 times more likely to suffer with respiratory health problems than those that did not and they were 10 times more likely to contract meningitis. In Southwark we had a great deal of HMO’s, bedsits, converted flats and different types of accommodation that dip below minimum guidelines that were set out in the London Housing Design Guide.
5.4 Councillor Pollak informed members there were very strong minimum light and space standards as set out in the SPD’s in this borough. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) had launched the HomeWise campaign to promote awareness of the impact of restricted space and light. The licensing and planning function of the local authority have powers in respect of residential design standards but there are a number of areas where they can be strengthened. Contact had been made with RIBA in relation to the HomeWise campaign there was a discussion about whether this could be turned into an accreditation scheme for local authorities. Councillor Pollak was promoting to RIBA that Southwark could act as a beacon local authority for an accreditation scheme - boroughs could earn the status of being HomeWise.
5.5 Councillor Pollak reported that he had been working with a number of officers, heads of amenities societies and the cabinet member for regeneration in relation to the heritage SPD and the fact that this authority did not have a local list of buildings of interest. Lambeth, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets all had such local lists and it was a gap in Southwark considering the architectural breadth, diversity and quality in the borough. Developing a Southwark list would be part of the work around the new Southwark plan - it was likely to be rolled out after the area visions for different parts of the borough were determined and the area action plans which would take precedence. Once it came to developing the local list, public engagement would take place about the variety of buildings and environment.
5.6 A member asked what influence do you think the council can have on private rented sector? Is this the sort of thing the council can or should look at through planning or enforcement?
5.7 The Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design suggested that the council should look at both planning and enforcement. He gave an example of someone who had bought a terraced house and tried to convert it into 6 flats. In fact the 2 of the flats were far below our minimum space standards were occupied, this application was deferred to continue negotiations with case officers to ensure those standards were adhered too, Southwark residential design standards are widely seen to be the strongest in London..
5.8 A member asked would design be a part of what the private rented sector register be looked at?
5.9 The Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design explained that the two meet halfway - the design side of the private rented sector deal with design related issues which would be around anti-social behaviour, security and safety, these are covered by the guidelines which applied to all council housing. The council cannot tell private developers how to design but they have to stick to the council’s residential design standards and there was a private rental sector licensing scheme in place to ensure the worst abuses were avoided.
5.10 A member stated that the Parker Morris Standards were quite big and asked will the new build be bigger than that, and what was the source of information regarding children’s illness due to being bought up in small homes?
5.11 The Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design responded yes, Parker Morris Standards were introduced in 1961, and covered much of the council’s housing at that stage. From the late 1970’s they were not a requirement or considered guidance for local authorities any longer and council house building had dried up. The latest push was the London Design Housing Guide which came into force in 2011 and it was intended that every local authority in London sticks to that guidance. There may be a few small exceptions where constraints of the site may result in minor dipping below the quantity area square figure. The information relating to children’s illness was contained in a report produced by Shelter which was circulated last year. The member offered to circulate the report to members.
5.12 A member asked how will the local list play into the new Southwark Plan?
5.13 The Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design stated the local list would follow area action plans and visions. Peckham has a local population who are interested in local heritage and this was set up clearly in the Peckham and Nunhead area action plan. It was heritage lead regeneration, in terms of engaging residents in the detail it is a fantastic opportunity for this to be done. This would be a good opportunity to get people thinking about the architectural legacy, talking to each other about the nature of the environment and how they experience different aspects of it, and also given the opportunity to nominate particular buildings and given structures.
5.14 On the post occupancy issue, there was the issues of asking people how they experience different housing typologies and formats. There was also another issue in relations to materials used and fittings. The Building Research Establishment is building a national data of defects data covering different housing elements like roofs, windows or even a door knob. When there was a clear schedule of defects and snagging data, this information can then be fed in from the design code to the briefs the architects have on sites and pre-empt a lot of these problems.
5.15 One of the RIBA next research projects would be asking about housing typologies and what works and what does not. When you have a mass of data you can use it to help solve anti-social behaviour issues with regards to housing design.
5.16 A member asked where there was infilling on estates, would the impact on the light and space issues for existing buildings be taken into account?
5.17 The Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design reported that standards in respect of daylight/sunlight, overlooking privacy and amenity issues would be built into the requirements of both the new flats being built and everything that surrounds it. The council has competitive feasibility and design concepts for each site providing a good variety of options in terms of site configurations, height, massing, mix and form as well as servicing options and budgets, so that bad options could be avoided.
5.18 A member asked how the council will continue to plan for mixed community housing and what was his view on access to shared facilities such as gardens and gyms? The Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design reported that the commitment to tenure blindness was absolute and categorical. There will be the same space standards, external appearance and access to facilities.
5.19 The Deputy Cabinet Member for Excellence in Design reported that the report should go to the cabinet in May or June 2015. The chair suggested that the sub-committee invite councillor Pollak to give an update on the report after it had been discussed by cabinet.