Agenda item

Cabinet to consider a report that recommends to Council, the revocation of the Croydon suburban design guide supplementary planning document (SPD2) (Appendix1) in accordance with Regulation 15 (2) and (3) of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Executive Mayor, in Cabinet:

RESOLVED: To

1.1   Recommend to Council the revocation of the Croydon suburban design guide supplementary planning document (SPD2) (Appendix1) in accordance with Regulation 15 (2) and (3) of the The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

1.2   Agree to produce the residential extensions and alterations chapter of the Croydon suburban design guide supplementary planning document (SPD2) as a supplementary planning document. To be reported to Council for adoption after consultation.

Cabinet considered a report, which recommended to Council:

(i)           the revocation of the Croydon Suburban Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD2), as detailed in Appendix1 to the report, in accordance with Regulation 15 (2) and (3) of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012; and

(ii)          to agree to produce the residential extensions and alterations chapter of the Croydon Suburban Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD2) as a supplementary planning document to be reported to Council for adoption after consultation.

It was reported that Executive Mayor Perry had made a clear manifesto pledge in the 2022 pre-election period to revoke the Croydon Suburban Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD2) and had indicated that this pledge was to ensure new development respected character, was led by design over density and improved the quality of future development.

The Cabinet report set out the basis for the revocation for consideration by Council following Cabinet.

It was noted that the Croydon suburban design guide supplementary planning document (SPD2) had been adopted in April 2019, with an approximate 18-month production time up to adoption, in a particular context that had changed notably up to present day.

It was reported that, at a national level, the National Planning Policy Framework 2021 included a chapter dedicated to ‘achieving well-designed places’, which had been supplemented by the publication, in 2021, of the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code, that provided the framework for how to produce design guides and codes.  It was further reported that this guidance stated that this was to provide and create beautiful and distinctive places with a consistent and high-quality standard of design.

It was noted that, in May 2022, the Government published the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which included a number of proposed legislative changes to the plan-making process, which would need to be given regard to as part of the continued work on the Local Plan Review.

It was further noted that, in regard to the London Plan, SPD2 had been produced in the context of the submitted London Plan (July 2018), which included a proposed housing target for Croydon of 2,949 per annum (2019 -2029) with a clear expectation that a large proportion of this development would be accommodated through small site development. Post the London Plan Examination process, including the planning inspectors’ panel report and Secretary of State approval, the adopted London Plan 2021 included a housing target for the Borough of 2,079 per annum (2019 – 2029) inclusive of a 641 per annum small sites target (2019 – 2029).

It was noted that the London Plan 2021 was proposed to be supplemented by a series of design guidance, most notably, the Greater London Authority had published draft guidance regarding Optimising Site Capacity: A Design Led Approach and Small Sites Design Codes which, once adopted, would be material to the production of the Borough’s Local Plan Review.

The Executive Mayor, in Cabinet:

RESOLVED that COUNCIL be RECOMMENDED:

1.            to approve the revocation of the Croydon Suburban Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD2) (Appendix1) in accordance with Regulation 15 (2) and (3) of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, and

2.            to approve the adoption of the residential extensions and alterations chapter of the Croydon suburban design guide supplementary planning document (SPD2) as a supplementary planning document, following consultation.