Minutes:
Alison Squires (AS) explained that the Aylesbury Action Plan (AAP) was one of the first documents under the new planning system, and that it sat underneath the Core Strategy. Both documents replaced the Southwark Plan.
AS went on to explain that the Core Strategy and the AAP were going to be used by officers to assess the different planning applications which were submitted to the council. The policy areas covered by the Core Strategy were open spaces, employment sites, housing development and community facilities. The AAP was a more detailed document, just for the Aylesbury area, which was needed because the area had been identified as a growth area. Other such growth areas included Borough and Bankside, London Bridge, Canada Waters and the Old Kent Road. The AAP area would mostly see growth in terms of new housing developments.
AS invited residents to give their views and encouraged them to have a look at the options outlined in the copies of the document she had brought along to the meeting. She told the meeting the deadline for submitting their views was July 23 2009, but said that this could be extended, as some of the residents attending may have only just heard about the consultation.
Q10 & Q11 Jerry Flynn, a resident, asked whether the proposal to reduce the ratio of affordable housing at the Elephant and Castle to 10% was still a live option. He also asked how any change in the ratio of affordable housing at the Elephant and Castle would affect the plans to replace the 1212 units on the Heygate Estate.
A10 & A11 AS explained what was meant by affordable housing. Affordable housing included council or housing association rented accommodation, and shared-ownership units (also called intermediate housing). She went on to say that, according to the requirements set out in the Aylesbury Action Plan, 50% of new housing should be affordable – of these 50%, 75% would be ‘affordable rented’, and 25% would be shared ownership. AS explained that the affordable housing target for all new buildings comprising more than 10 units throughout the borough was 35%.
In terms of the Elephant and Castle redevelopment, the consultation was still on-going and the options ranged from 10% to 35% affordable housing. At the moment the Mayor of London was in the process of revising his housing target in the London plan. This would also affect Southwark’s targets, so it was difficult to make any definitive statements before this new target had been set.
AS also confirmed that the need to replace units on the Heygate Estate would be a factor in determining what the ratio should be.
Q12 A resident criticised the recent consultation activity around the Core Strategy as ineffective and said that it had missed out too many residents. He asked for leaflet drops to be done in future.
A12 AS explained that the council engaged in twelve weeks of consultation on every planning policy document. There were six weeks of informal consultation which were followed by six weeks of formal consultation. The six weeks of formal consultation were a statutory duty. Formal consultation measures included: notices on the council’s website, notices in Southwark News, letters being sent to people on the team’s mailing list, officers attending Community Councils and organising consultation events. Copies of the documents were also be available in all Southwark libraries. She invited residents to submit any ideas they may have to improve consultation to her. (See contact details below)
A resident suggested including the information in council tax bills or letters from the housing office.
Another resident criticised the fact that she had not heard about the consultation until she had come to this meeting. She called for the mailing list to be expanded and supported previous calls for a leaflet drop.
AS said that she would be happy to extend the consultation deadline.
ACTION: Alison Squires to extend the deadline for the consultation on the Core Strategy to allow residents who attended the meeting to have their say.
For more information or to give your views, please contact Alison Squires on 020 7525 5471 or at alison.squires@southwark.gov.uk.