Following a Government Inspector's demand that Havering's pending Local Plan must effectively replicate the recent London Plan, the changes have now gone out to public consultation.
FORCING A REDUCTION IN THE BOROUGH'S PARKING
Most changes are minimal but the Inspector's demand that parking provision for new developments in Havering must be the same as the rest of London is disturbing. The Government (and the GLA) has decided that the Capital's outer boroughs must in effect be viewed and treated as inner-London urban boroughs.
For example, the Inspector will not allow Havering's to deviate from the London Plan by having a more generous parking provision for family homes in the majority of our areas i.e. that have a PTAL of 2 (low level of public transport) over 800 km from a station (see The Planning Inspectorate letter 13 05 2021 (havering.gov.uk).
Havering is one of London’s largest boroughs, but unlike many London boroughs has fewer stations and bus services and poor connectivity between the north and south of the borough. Unfortunately, the Government and the GLA want Havering to open itself up to mass development and the less parking spaces, the more units can be built!
Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Ray Morgon, commented "The current Conservative Council Administration seems to just rollover to the Government's wishes without a fight. An RA Administration would robustly challenge any changes that are detrimental to our residents' quality of life".
JUDICIAL REVIEW
Havering Residents' Association’s Chairperson, Councillor Gillian Ford, says "We are extremely disappointed with the Government's demand that we must have lower parking spaces than we need. We don't believe our Local Plan has to exactly conform in entirety with the London Plan and we are concerned that our own Council has meekly accepted the Inspector's wishes".
She added, "Havering should not accept this lying down and should be challenging this via Judicial Review."
The H.R.A are advising residents to take part in the consultation by expressing their opposition to lowering parking provision and supporting their calls for a judicial review. They should do so ASAP:
Online: via the response form at https://havering.objective.co.uk/portal/
Post: please complete the consultation response form and send it to:
London Borough of Havering,
Development Planning,
5th Floor Mercury House,
Mercury Gardens,
Romford,
RM1 3SL
Please contact us if you require any further information