Chapter 10 IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES AND MONITORING

Introduction

1. This Chapter contains policies for:
• monitoring all policies in the Plan;
• seeking the resources to implement them;
• seeking to maximise community benefit from development;
• consultation; and
• enforcement.

Part I Policies

STR.IRM 1
To monitor and review the UDP regularly so as to ensure it remains up-to-date.

STR.IRM 2
To attract the resources necessary to implement the Plan.

STR.IRM 3
To consult the public about longer term planning issues and day-to-day development control decisions and to facilitate communication between local residents and groups and the Council.

Reasons for Part I Policies

2. In accordance with PPG12 ‘Development Plans’ ‘local planning authorities are required to keep under review the matters which may be expected to affect the development of their area or the planning of that area’. By monitoring relevant trends such as housing completions and car parking provision the Council can reach a judgement about the continued efficacy of the policies leading, ultimately, to a decision about the need for and scope of future Plan reviews.

3. The resources necessary to implement this Plan are those that are available through the investment decisions of the private developer and householder (guided where appropriate by the judicious use of planning obligations), central government in various guises, and a variety of other sources, as well as the Council’s own resources. All of these need to be mobilised through partnerships and co-operative working between the Council and others if the Plan is to be successfully implemented.

4. An important part of the effective operation of the planning system is fulfilled by allowing residents who are immediately affected by development in their locality to have the opportunity to make their views known. It is through developments near to or otherwise affecting their homes, that many people are first introduced to the planning system. It is important, therefore, that the public consultation is thorough, meaningful and extensive.

The Council’s Implementation Strategy

5. The Council aims to monitor, to implement, to consult and to enforce. By doing so it can ensure that the Council’s strategy, as expressed throughout this Plan, for a more vibrant economy, greater equality in viable and balanced communities and a more sustainable pattern of development is given practical effect.

Part II Policies

Reasons
It is by monitoring the policy and objectives of the Plan that the effectiveness of its implementation can be assessed.

In order to assess the effectiveness of the Plan the Council will monitor the policies in two main ways: by preparing a separate monitoring report, and a separate environmental appraisal document. The monitoring report will present an analysis of relevant indicators of trends affecting the effectiveness of the Plan, while the appraisal gives a more detailed indication of the objective of every Policy and the impact each is likely to have on the environment.

The Council is in the process of implementing the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which is an environmental management system specifically adapted for local authorities from a European industrial model. The aims of EMAS are:
• to provide a framework for local authorities to manage their environmental performance;
• to ensure that continuous improvements are made in environmental performance;
• to work towards best practice;
• to verify our performance by an external body;
• to make annual public statements of our performance; and
• to adapt the scheme into existing structures.

The EMAS Environmental Programme, which details objectives, actions, targets, timescales and indicators ties in with the information being monitored through the planning system.

PPG 12: Development Plans (1999) recommends that the use of objectives and targets in development plans can assist in monitoring whether the Plan is achieving what it sets out to achieve. They can help identify where policies need to be strengthened, maintained, changed in some way, or, in the case where the Policy has served no purpose, removed from the Plan. The Government has also included a Best Value Performance Indicator concerning a comprehensive set of indicators and targets to be used for monitoring purposes in UDPs. To assist in this process Table IRM 1 sets out the key targets and indicators which will be used to monitor the effectiveness of the Plan.

Reasons
The 1990 Act requires planning authorities to have regard to the likely availability of resources when preparing their plans. In accordance with STR.OBJ 9, this Policy is intended to attract all available resources to the implementation of the Plan. In addition to private householders’ and businesses’ investment, the large public sector representation in Lewisham is likely to provide a substantial amount of development investment over the Plan period.

It is Council policy to pursue all available Single Regeneration Budget (or its successor regime), Lottery and European funding, for appropriate schemes.

The Council is committed to working in partnership at all levels of implementation of this Plan; with the community and voluntary sector as well as with other public bodies and private businesses.

Where appropriate the Council will use mechanisms such as Compulsory Purchase Orders and Article 4 Directions to effect the policies in this Plan.

Reasons
The use of planning conditions or obligations can make a valuable contribution to the effectiveness of the planning system. Conditions and obligations are closely related but nonetheless different. The use both of conditions and obligations is closely controlled by legislation and Government policy.

A condition is something that may be imposed by the local authority when granting planning permission, it is effectively a part of the local authority’s decision; the permission granted is subject to the conditions imposed. Generally, conditions must be:
• necessary;
• relevant to planning;
• relevant to the development to be permitted;
• enforceable;
• precise; and
• reasonable in all other respects.

The Council has a number of standard conditions which it uses where appropriate to further consistency in decision making and speed of processing applications. However, it should be noted that all conditions, whether standard or ad hoc, are applied carefully to suit the particular circumstances of a case.

An obligation is subtly different. It is the result of negotiations between the local authority and the developer which seeks to secure modifications or improvements to the proposals submitted; the obligation may deal with the use or development of the land concerned or of other land or buildings. Obligations must be:
• necessary;
• relevant to planning
• directly related to the proposed development
• fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed development;
• reasonable in all other respects

The main points of interest relating to planning obligations are set out here.

They can be entered into via a ‘unilateral undertaking’ by a developer as well as through an agreement with the local planning authority. The unilateral undertaking is used principally at appeals by developers, where the developers have been unable to reach agreement with the local authority.

Obligations can restrict the development or use of land; require operations or activities to be carried out on land; require land to be used in a specific way; or to require payments to be made to the local planning authority.

Obligations are created to run with the land, so they may be enforced against the original covenantor or against anyone acquiring an interest in land through them.

If a planning objection cannot be overcome by means of a condition, it may be appropriate to seek a planning obligation. However, the Government advises that it is preferable to use conditions rather than a planning obligation, where possible.

Planning obligations have a positive role in the planning system to remedy genuine planning problems; they are an important means of reconciling the aims and interests of developers with the need to safeguard the local environment and to meet the external costs of development.

Reasons
Government legislation requires all planning authorities to consult their local populations when preparing a land use plan. This consultation is essential to ensure that everyone who may be affected by a Plan’s proposals has an opportunity to put their points of view and have an opportunity to influence the process of change.

With respect to planning applications too and in accordance with the Council’s vision, the process of public consultation is taken very seriously and the Council has published a code of practice in Supplementary Planning Guidance, which sets out the Council’s procedures for consultation on planning applications. The Council’s methods of public consultation are constantly under review and form an intrinsic part of ongoing discussions with amenity groups in Lewisham.

Reasons
The Council has powers granted under the Town and Country Planning Acts to take action when development is started without planning permission, if conditions attached to a permission are not complied with, or when other breaches of planning control have been committed. This includes action against those who commit offences related to Listed Buildings, trees, advertisements, Conservation Areas, Ancient Monuments or hazardous substances.

The Council’s main enforcement powers are:
• to serve an enforcement notice, stating the required steps to remedy an alleged breach within a time limit;
• to serve a stop notice which can prohibit, almost immediately, any activity to which the accompanying enforcement notice relates;
• to serve a breach of condition notice if there is a failure to comply with a condition imposed on a grant of planning permission;
• to enter on privately-owned land for enforcement purposes; and
• following the landowner’s default, to enter land and carry out the remedial work required by an enforcement notice, and to charge the owner for the costs incurred in doing so.

In the interests of the greater good and to aid implementation of this Plan, the Council will not hesitate to take planning enforcement action where appropriate, and in compliance with Government guidance.

TABLE IRM1