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Examination of City Plan 2019-2040

The council submitted the City Plan 2019-2040 to the Secretary of State on 19 November 2019. The 'Examination in Public' has now started, which is the last stage of the plan-making process.

Once the City Plan 2019-2040 has been adopted, it will be the Local Plan for Westminster and will replace all current policies in Westminster’s City Plan (November 2016) and saved policies in the Unitary Development Plan (2007). It will therefore become part of Westminster’s Development Plan together with the London Plan and any made Neighbourhood Plans.

1
What is City Plan 2019-2040?
2
The examination process
3
Submission documents
4
Examination documents
5
Previous stages

1. What is City Plan 2019-2040?

Westminster is a vibrant city which offers a wealth of opportunities for its residents, its businesses and more than 28.5 million tourists who visit each year.

The council has prepared a new Local Plan for all these people based on key 3 themes linked to our City for All aims:

homes and communities
a healthier and greener city
opportunities for growth.

City Plan 2019-2040 sets out an ambitious strategy to make Westminster one of the best places to live, work and play. A city that will inspire the world.

It has been informed by several rounds of public consultation and ongoing engagement with the council’s key partners and stakeholders.

To find out more about City Plan 2019-2040 you can watch the video below and explore the following interactive documents:

'Our approach' - summary (PDF, 444KB)
Story map - our plans for Westminster
Interactive policies map - our spatial designations and how they affect parts of Westminster

2. The examination process

After formal consultation (known as the 'Regulation 19' stage), the council published the proposed submission City Plan and all accompanying documents to be considered by Full Council on Wednesday 13 November 2019.

Following Full Council’s approval, the council submitted all documents to the Secretary of State for independent examination on Tuesday 19 November 2019.

Independent examination is the final stage before the council can adopt the City Plan 2019-2040 and it becomes part of Westminster’s Development Plan, together with the London Plan and any made Neighbourhood Plans.

Throughout the examination process, the planning inspectors will examine the City Plan and assess whether it:

has been prepared in accordance with the council’s duty-to-cooperate
is legal
is sound
is well evidence based
can be delivered
is consistent with national and regional policy

Latest examination process update (26 November 2019)

The planning inspectors are now carrying out a preliminary appraisal of the plan and may contact the council to request further information on certain issues; this will include a list of 'issues and matters' (pre-hearing statements).

The public hearing sessions chaired by the planning Inspectors will be one of the key parts of the 'Examination in Public' process. While the council prepares for the hearings, the inspectors and the programme officer will contact the participants and produce a hearings timetable. Participants will include council officers but may also include persons or organisations that submitted representations during the Regulation 19 consultation and whom are invited by the inspectors. More information about the hearings will be published in due course on this page

The planning inspectors

The Planning Inspectorate, a government body, has appointed 2 inspectors that will lead the independent examination of City Plan 2019-2040 on behalf of the Secretary of State - Brian Sims BSc CEng MICE MRTPI and Luke Fleming BSc (Hons) MRTPI.

The programme officer

The council has appointed Charlotte Glancy as the programme officer for the examination process. She is an independent officer working under the direction of the planning inspectors. Throughout the examination process, the programme officer will deal with all procedural and programming matters.

For all matters concerning the examination process including participation or attending hearings, please contact Charlotte in the first instance.

Email: bankssolutionsuk@gmail.com
Post: Banks Solutions, 80 Lavinia Way, East Preston, West Sussex, BN16 1DD
Telephone: 01903 776601
Mobile: 07519 628064

3. Submission documents

All the documents submitted to the Secretary of State on Tuesday 19 November 2019 are listed below. This includes the draft City Plan 2019-2040 and its statutory supporting documents, including all the responses submitted during the Regulation 19 consultation stage and the Integrated Impact Assessment. The council has also submitted the plan’s evidence base and a series of Statements of Common Ground.

The submitted draft City Plan 2019 – 2040 and Regulation 19 policies map are available to view in hard copy at all of Westminster’s libraries. Hard copies of other submission documents may be inspected by prior appointment at Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP. Email planningpolicy@westminster.gov.uk to make an appointment.

Core submission documents

Statements of Common Ground

SCG_001 - Statement of Common Ground - Sport England
SCG_002 - Statement of Common Ground - Historic England
SCG_003 - Statement of Common Ground - Mayor and TfL
SCG_004 - Statement of Common Ground - Mayor and neighbouring boroughs (formal signature from Wandsworth Council is pending, although officer-level agreement has been reached on all matters)
SCG_005 - Statement of Common Ground - Lambeth
SCG_006 - Statement of Common Ground - Thames Water and EA

Evidence

General

EV_GEN_001 - City Plan Viability report (WCC, June 2019)
EV_GEN_002 - Viability Addendum 1 (50% AH) (WCC, Oct 2019)
EV_GEN_003 - Viability Addendum 2 (Commercial mixed use) (WCC, Oct 2019)
EV_GEN_004 - WCC Payments in Lieu Approach (WCC, November 2019)
EV_GEN_005 - Authority Monitoring Report 2013-17 (WCC, 2019)
EV_GEN_006 - Authority Monitoring Report 2017-18 (WCC, 2019)
EV_GEN_007 - Draft Infrastructure Delivery Plan (WCC, November 2019)
EV_GEN_008 - Westminster’s CIL Charging Schedule (WCC, 2016)
EV_GEN_009, 010 and 011 - Oxford Street District Strategy, Harrow Road Place Plan, Strand Aldwych Scheme

Housing

EV_H_001 - Housing topic paper (WCC, November 2019)
EV_H_002 - Housing needs analysis (WCC, June 2019)
EV_H_003 - Housing needs analysis - Technical appendix (WCC, June 2019)
EV_H_004 - Draft 5 year Housing Land Supply Statement (WCC, November 2019)
EV_H_005 - Annual Affordable Housing Statement 2019 (WCC, 2019)
EV_H_006 - Draft Housing Strategy (WCC, 2015)
EV_H_007 - Housing Strategy Direction of Travel Statement (WCC, 2015)
EV_H_008 - Church Street Masterplan (WCC, 2017)
EV_H_009 - The 2017 London Strategic Housing Market Assessment (GLA, 2017)
EV_H_010 - London Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (GLA, 2017)
EV_H_011 - GLA Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Topic Paper (GLA, 2017)
EV_H_012 - Prime Residential Market in Westminster (WCC and Ramidus, 2014)

Economy

4. Examination documents

This website will be updated as the plan progresses through the 'Examination in Public' process with all procedural information and documents produced by the different parties.

General administrative documents

PO-001 - Programme Officer Introductory Letter

INSP1 - Appointed Inspectors Note 1 to Council Westminster Local Plan

Core post-submission documents

CORE_020 - Adopted Westminster City Plan (2016) - Added to the Examination Library as requested by the Planning Inspectors.

CORE_021 - Adopted London Plan (2016) - Added to the Examination Library as requested by the Planning Inspectors.

CORE_022 - Draft New London Plan Consolidated Changes Version (July 2019) - Added to the Examination Library as requested by the Planning Inspectors.

Statements of Common Ground

SCG_004_V2 - Statement of Common Ground - Mayor and neighbouring boroughs

5. Previous stages

Regulation 19 consultation

Prior to submission to the Secretary of State, the council consulted on a Full Regulation 19 publication draft City Plan 2019 - 2040 (PDF, 12MB) between 19 June 2019 and 31 July 2019.

Consultation Statement Submission Version (WCC, November 2019) (submission document CORE_010)
Reg 19 Full Representations document (submission document CORE_011)

During this process, the council also consulted on the plan’s draft Integrated Impact Assessment that has now been submitted.

Integrated Impact Assessment (submission document CORE_006)

Informal and Regulation 18 consultation

Following the completion of a number of separate revisions to Westminster’s City Plan (in respect of basements, mixed use, special policy areas and the policies map) and the change in leadership and key Cabinet Member positions at Westminster, the council decided to undertake a full review of the entire City Plan. This provided an opportunity to renew the council’s planning policy agenda, in line with its City for All vision. It reconsidered the strategic vision, objectives, and the direction that the plan should take on a number of important areas, as well as updating facts and figures, and progressing all remaining and previously consulted upon changes as part of a single comprehensive revision, which incorporates and updates policies currently ‘saved’ in the Unitary Development Plan (2007).

On 16 June 2017 the council issued a Regulation 18 notice to consult on the scope of the City Plan full revision. This consultation ran from 16 June to 28 July 2017.

Following this the council informally consulted on a full draft of a new City Plan between 12 November and 21 December 2018

Further information about the Regulation 18 and informal consultation process has been submitted to the Secretary of State.

Consultation Statement (WCC, June 2019)(submission document CORE_009)

To support the full revision of the City Plan, the council also consulted on a new Habitats Regulation Assessment (consultation took place in June and July 2018) and a revised and updated draft scoping report for its Integrated Impact Assessment (consultation took place between 25 August and 29 September 2017).

Habitats Regulation Assessment in the Submission Documents page (submission document EV_ENV_004)
Draft scoping report for the Integrated Impact Assessment (2017 consultation version)

Last updated: 12 December 2019

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Examination of City Plan 2019-2040

1. What is City Plan 2019-2040?

2. The examination process

Latest examination process update (26 November 2019)

The planning inspectors

The programme officer

3. Submission documents

Core submission documents

Statements of Common Ground

Evidence

General

Housing

Economy

Connections

Environment

Design and heritage

4. Examination documents

General administrative documents

Core post-submission documents

Statements of Common Ground

5. Previous stages

Regulation 19 consultation

Informal and Regulation 18 consultation

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