Crossrail

 
 

Crossrail Planning Briefs

What are planning briefs and what is their role in the Crossrail development?

The City Council have prepared six draft Planning Briefs which set out all relevant Council policies and issues relating to the key Crossrail station sites in the City and seek to obtain the Promoters’ agreement to incorporate these matters into their proposals. This will enable the City Council to maximise its control over the planning applications for the oversite developments (“OSD”) above the proposed Crossrail stations. It is important to note that the OSDs will not enjoy deemed planning consent under the Bill and will be dealt with under the normal planning regime.

The first set of draft planning briefs was approved for the purposes of public consultation by the Planning & City Development Committee on 27 January 2005. The draft briefs were subsequently revised to incorporate relevant consultation responses and to update them accordingly on circumstances, including the deposit of the Hybrid Bill on 22 February 2005 for powers to construct and operate Crossrail Line 1.

On 26 May 2005, the Planning and City Development Committee agreed for the revised briefs to remain in draft form as further discussions and negotiations take place with CLRL and DfT on their proposals and to take account of any further comments from affected parties. Further drafts have been prepared since to incorporate consultation responses into the briefs and to review any arising matters around the site, amongst all, the evolution of the proposals for the ticket hall design as well as the OSDs.

The draft Paddington Station and Environs Planning Brief was approved for consultation by the new Planning Sub-Committee (Planning Briefs and Local Development Framework) on 29th April 2008. The remaining five Planning Briefs on Paddington New Yard, Bond Street sites and Tottenham Court Road sites were reported to the same Committee on 16th June 2008 and were approved to consult. The draft briefs will be reported back to Committee for approval to adopt after Royal Assent in July 2008, linking to the Schedule 7 applications and OSD's processes.

The Promoters gave an undertaking at the House of Lords Select Committee stage to the effect that the nominated undertaker will have regard to the provisions of the Planning Briefs. This will cover, where relevant, the preparation of technical submissions to the City Council under the Bill in relation to Crossrail works, including applications and submissions under the heritage deeds and Schedule 7 of the Bill. This is a significant step in maximising the City Council’s control over applications made under Schedule 7 of the Bill, in addition the powers the City Council already has as a ‘Qualifying Authority’.

Further details of each one of the draft planning briefs can be found below: