What is the City Plan and why are we reviewing it?
Our City Plan provides our vision and framework for how long-term housing, commercial and infrastructure growth will be delivered in Westminster. The policies within the plan cover a range of topics including housing, sustainability, heritage, transport, the visitor economy and employment.
These policies are used to determine whether new developments including new housing and commercial floorspace are suitable to go ahead. The current City Plan was adopted in April 2021 and we are now refocussing our ambitions to build more affordable homes and prioritise the retrofitting of existing buildings, and steer growth on identified sites.
To address these priorities, we have now launched a partial review of our adopted City Plan.
The new and revised policies will together contribute to our vision for making Westminster a fairer and more inclusive city, where residents benefit from the opportunities new developments bring, and workers and visitors from all backgrounds feel welcome and safe.
What is happening now?
Following extensive evidence gathering, engagement and policy drafting, the council is now exhibiting the partially revised City Plan as part of a statutory 'Regulation 19' process.
The Regulation 19 process allows the public and key stakeholders to make comments on the proposed changes to the City Plan, with a view of ensuring that the changed and new policies are legally compliant, sound and have been prepared in accordance with the Duty to Cooperate.
The Regulation 19 consultation portal can be accessed on: https://cityplanpartialreview.commonplace.is/
The consultation period commences on 14 March 2024 and will conclude on 9 May 2024.
Affordable Housing
- We want to strengthen our existing affordable housing policy to maximise the provision of genuinely affordable housing for those most in housing need.
- Our consultation proposes to change policies that will require developers to help us meet increasing demand for more genuinely affordable housing.
- Policies to build more genuinely affordable homes will help local businesses recruit staff that have a genuine choice to live close to where they work.
Retrofitting
- Our new retrofit-first policy will prioritise the retrofit and refurbishment of existing buildings to meet future needs over unnecessary demolition and redevelopment, reducing the impact of development on climate change.
- We want to partner with landowners and developers to help them demonstrate their commitment to doing all that we can together to respond to the climate emergency.
- We know there are challenges to constructing and retrofitting more sustainable buildings. Therefore, we want to work more closely with architects and construction experts to find the right solutions.
Site allocations
- Westminster is a wonderful place to live, and we want existing and future residents to feel they can build a future here. Our consultation will help transform underused sites by allocating them in the Plan to potentially provide more affordable homes, job opportunities and support infrastructure.
- Site Allocations in the City Plan will present greater certainty to developers and landowners on what type of proposals are likely to be granted planning permission.
- Site Allocations can identify site-specific matters that will influence new designs – such as important buildings on site to retain or the need to provide new areas of open space.
- We have been gathering evidence to support these allocations including a call for sites which took place in January-May 2022 and as part of the Regulation 18 consultation on the partial City Plan review which took place October – November 2022.
Regulation 19 City Plan and Simple English Explainer
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Regulation 19 City Plan
PDF, 37.06 MB, 246 pages
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Plain English Guide to the City Plan
PDF, 42.37 MB, 13 pages
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Core Supporting Documents
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Revised Policies Map
PDF, 29.08 MB, 1 page
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Schedule of Changes to Policies Map
PDF, 1.74 MB, 10 pages
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Integrated Impact Assessment
PDF, 3.42 MB, 104 pages
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Integrated Impact Assessment AppendixVIII Reasonable Alternative Appraisals
PDF, 2.17 MB, 213 pages
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Integrated Impact Assessment Assessment AppendixIX Policy Appraisals
PDF, 1.37 MB, 90 pages
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Equalities Impact Assessment
PDF, 1.71 MB, 41 pages
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Consultation Statement
PDF, 2.64 MB, 40 pages
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Duty to Co-operate Statement
PDF, 1.11 MB, 26 pages
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Habitat’s Regulation Assessment
PDF, 1.15 MB, 21 pages
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Statement of Representations Procedure
PDF, 233.29 KB, 2 pages
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Evidence base
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Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement 2022-2027
PDF, 495.74 KB, 22 pages
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City Plan Regulation 19 Consultation Cabinet Member Report
PDF, 192.5 KB, 10 pages
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Archaeological Statement
PDF, 1.6 MB, 18 pages
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Embodied Carbon Evidence Base
PDF, 2.74 MB, 73 pages
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Grosvenor Sidings Design Review Panel Report
PDF, 184.11 KB, 6 pages
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Level 2 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment
PDF, 2.71 MB, 30 pages
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Retrofit-first Topic Paper
PDF, 1.54 MB, 73 pages
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Royal Oak Design Review Panel Report
PDF, 191.37 KB, 5 pages
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Site Allocations Heritage Impact Assessments
PDF, 14.09 MB, 64 pages
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Small-scale Residential Developments Topic Paper
PDF, 600.89 KB, 23 pages
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St Mary’s Hospital Design Review Panel Report
PDF, 197.46 KB, 7 pages
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St Mary’s Site Allocation Heritage Impact Assessment
PDF, 16.33 MB, 196 pages
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Strategic Housing Market Assessment
PDF, 1.44 MB, 89 pages
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Viability Report
PDF, 6.23 MB, 114 pages
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Westbourne Park Bus Garage Design Review Panel Report
PDF, 178.78 KB, 5 pages
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What happens next
Following Regulation 19, the council will review and consider all provided comments. The revised City Plan, along with representations made, will be submitted to the Secretary of State for public examination by a Planning Inspector.
Due to the process of having an Independent Examination, representations cannot be treated as confidential and will be published on our website. If the Inspector finds that the proposed changes to the City Plan are legally compliant, sound, and have been prepared in accordance with the Duty to Cooperate, the existing City Plan will be amended and adopted by the council for use in planning decisions.
Regulation 18 consultation
Regulation 18 consultation for the City Plan Partial Review took place from October 2022 to November 2022. During this period the council advised the community that it intended to partially review the existing City Plan, with a focus on affordable housing, new retrofit policies and the introduction of site allocations.
Below are the documents that were provided during Regulation 18 consultation.
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Regulation 18 Statement
PDF, 151.81 KB, 3 pages
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Local Development Scheme 2024-27
PDF, 851.13 KB, 6 pages
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IIA Scoping Paper
PDF, 635.37 KB, 10 pages
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