Greenwich is drafting a new Local Plan, a 15-year vision for development and land use across the borough that will replace the 2014 Core Strategy and guide future growth, housing, employment, and sustainability across the borough. The plan contains 16 objectives setting out the approach to development and land use in the borough over the next 15 years.

The Transport and Place Scrutiny Panel met on Tuesday to discuss the plan's progress, which is structured into eight chapters:

  • Places (including Site Allocations)
  • Housing
  • Economy
  • Town Centres
  • Design and Heritage
  • Environment
  • Climate Emergency
  • Transport

The draft Local Plan is being finalised for publication this month, with public consultation scheduled for November, subject to approval by the Cabinet and Full Council. The council aims to submit the Local Plan by December 2026, under the existing legislative framework, with an Examination in Public expected in 2027 and adoption by the end of that year.

The plan incorporates feedback from the 2023 Big Themes consultation and the 2024 Call for Sites, which yielded 141 responses. The 2023 consultation received 303 responses and was used to inform the structure and policies in the draft Local Plan. These sites were assessed for their deliverability and developability, in accordance with national Planning Practice Guidance (PPG), including whether the sites were suitable, available, and achievable. This assessment took into account details such as land ownership, site size, planning policy designations and constraints, and the likelihood of development proposals coming forward over the plan period.

The report pack states that the Draft Plan consultation will provide another opportunity for stakeholders to give their views on the Local Plan. Officers are working together to ensure this consultation is far-reaching, with opportunities to engage both online and in-person and through a variety of means, such as topic-based webinars, interactive maps, drop-in sessions, plain English guides, explainer videos, as well as promotion through a variety of channels.

The Climate Emergency chapter focusses on climate resilient design, operational carbon and energy, whole-life carbon and the circular economy, and retrofitting.

The Agenda for the meeting also included declarations of interest from panel members. The panel were scheduled to note the list of councillors' memberships on outside bodies, joint committees and school governing bodies, and to declare any personal or financial interests in items on the agenda. The Councillors Outside Body Membership document includes a list of the outside bodies, joint committees and school governing bodies that each member of Council has been appointed to by the Council or the Leader. This list includes:

  • Councillor Charlie Davis: no listed memberships
  • Councillor Cathy Dowse: Greenwich Service Solutions, Montbelle School
  • Councillor David Gardner: Local Government Information Unit, St Luke's (Charlton) Parochial Charities
  • Councillor Maisie Richards Cottell: Greenwich Theatre Board
  • Councillor Denise Scott-McDonald: Greenwich Peninsula Management Company Ltd
  • Councillor Aidan Smith: Sir John Evelyn Charity

Members must declare the existence and nature of any personal interest at the start of the meeting, or when the interest becomes apparent. The report pack notes that the government published a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which governs the production of Local Plans, and that this meant that there has been a short delay whilst some of the evidence base was revised to take this into account. It is therefore envisaged that the timetable for the forthcoming Publication Plan and Submission stages set out in the LDS may be pushed back slightly to ensure feedback from the Draft Plan consultation can be fully accommodated.