Agenda item

Planning briefing: update on Urban Greening Factor and Early Review of the Southwark Plan

This item will take an update on :

 

  Implementing the Urban Greening Factor – with reference to work indicated in the Climate Emergency strategy

  Early Review of the Southwark Plan consideration of our energy and sustainability policies,  to meet the Climate Emergency, as set out in the Environment and Planning scrutiny review cabinet response.

 

An officer report is attached.

 

Juliet Seymour , Planning Policy Manager, will present.

 

Minutes:

Juliet Seymour, Planning policy manager, attended virtually. She gave a summary of the paper, enclosed with the agenda, and then took questions.

 

The connection was poor and questioning could not be completed so a follow up email question and response exchange is included as well.

 

The following points were made in the discussion:

 

·  Members commented that the council can have good policies in place, such as UGF, but there is a performance failure if developers do not deliver against these, and instead give cash to the council for the Green Building Fund, or another pot, particularly when it is as yet unclear what this fund will be delivering.

·  A member asked if developers will be engaged to meet the UGF baseline factor.  The officer responded that a recent review of implementation found most developers are doing it and achieving the required factor, but a couple did not as their sites had a poor existing habitat.  She added there will be a further focus and training on this.

·  Commission members commented that it is concerning that the UGF is not being applied to Brownfield sites as the UGF is aimed at achieving biodiversity net gains, regardless of start point, furthermore this is not just for human enrichment but also for nature as an entity.

·  Members commented that biodiversity net gain is a complex issue and asked how much specialism and training the council is investing in this. The officer agreed and said that the council is employing specialists to assist with this.

·  The officer told the commission that that the UGF will be considered in the Early Review of the Southwark Plan, along with topics including Air Quality and Embodied Carbon.

·  Members asked how the Southwark Plan and planned Early Review will expand the present focus on allotment and also provide for vertical farming, which members indicated there is demand for.  Officers said that there is potential to look at ‘meanwhile uses’ when looking at expanding food growing. Allotments are protected in planning policy.

RESOLVED

  • It was agreed that a letter summarising the discussion on UGF will be sent to cabinet with a recommendation that there is follow up on the UGF factor on all allocated sites.
  • The Energy report will include a deadline for completion of Early Review by February 2023.

 

Additional questions and answers via email:

 

Question: It is good to see the selection of applications in your paper where the UGF has been calculated and is compliant with the London Plan. Meanwhile, could you please advise how often developers have been asked to revise their applications due to an insufficient UGF in the original application? It would be good to have a feel for whether we are only seeing the UGF on compliant applications and ignoring it on others that are non-compliant, or whether all applications are revised to meet the UGF required by the London Plan.

 

Officers will always push applicants to increase the UGF score of a proposed major development; even more so if it does not meet the minimum UGF scores for the proposed land use (residential – 0.4 score /commercial – 0.3 score). The multiple benefits of urban greening are well understood and under-provision is treated as a major issue,  as the policy requirement in London Plan Policy G5 is clear and there is in depth guidance on the how to approach provision. Southwark Plan policy P59 also sets out our clear urban greening objectives.

 

To improve provision, officers meet the applicant’s team and review the public realm and landscaping design, terraces and roof tops, and site and building layout to identify opportunities in provision, alongside an assessment of other policy requirements: e.g. servicing, land use, drainage, cycle parking, and amenity space (private/communal). Officers find that opportunities can arise from the reconfiguration of site layout, changes in massing and through a thorough critique of the public realm.

 

Officers do not ignore non-complaint schemes and will push them as hard as they can through both the pre-application process when schemes are more high-level and again once submitted. The GLA also provides a second ‘push’ for greater UGF provision on Major referable schemes through the Stage 1 referral process and through a ‘backstop opportunity’ at Stage 2. Officers of the GLA and the council regularly discuss ways to try and improve schemes as they proceed through the planning process.

 

The challenge some schemes can have result from issues arising from either attempting to comply with other policy such as replacing all existing commercial floor-space or small site area. For example, some mixed use schemes propose ‘full site coverage’ to deliver workspace and onsite servicing which is always our starting position for servicing. These approaches can result in limited public realm opportunities, with the ground floor/grade level having to work really hard to achieve all policy requirements. Opportunities for greening on roof spaces can be contested with the provision of amenity space (usually a good opportunity for some greening/planting that is always requested by officers), solar panels, lift plant, heat pump plant, etc. As such officers are balancing multiple policy objectives, but will always seek to secure new open space and urban greening. As London Plan Policy G5 is applicable to all major development, UGF scores will be applicable to any type of site where the proposed scheme meets the threshold for major development.

 

We will be monitoring all schemes in the future about whether they are meeting the London Plan UGF.

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents: