Agenda item

[Report of the Strategic Director for Planning, Regeneration and Development. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion & Sustainability.]

Cabinet  will be asked to adopt the Wood Green Strategic Regeneration Framework.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Sustainability introduced the Strategic Regeneration Framework, which set out the overarching vision and objectives for Wood Green and will underpin current and future documents.

The report was for consideration in conjunction with the Wood Green Area Action Plan Report. This was about the people, businesses, homes in the area and what needs to happen in Wood Green to make it a better place to live and work in.

The Cabinet Member continued to outline key underpinning pillars of the framework which were:

• Better range of employment opportunities with educational offers aligned to this, to enable local residents to have the capacity to apply for a range of job opportunities.
• Supporting Wood Green as a business destination.
• Revitalising the town centre to draw people from Haringey and beyond.
• Maintaining the authenticity of London in Wood Green.
• Strong cultural offer with supplementary evening economy as well
• Sustainability in regeneration and drive to becoming a zero carbon borough by 2050.

In response to a question from Cllr Engert, the Cabinet Member outlined that the AAP set out the principle of moving the Civic Centre and Council office accommodation outside the Town Centre to drive regeneration. 

• The potential savings in the annual office budget and the economic gain in moving needed to be considered, instead of just the immediate cost. Agreed these figures be provided to Cllr Engert.

• The Leader reiterated that moves concerning the Civic Centre and Library have been in the Local Plan for some time.

RESOLVED

To agree and adopt the Wood Green Strategic Regeneration Framework included at Appendix1, for publication in March 2018.

Reasons for decision

Wood Green has a number of strategic brownfield and regeneration sites and prime town centre redevelopment sites, offering significant potential for new jobs and homes, a better choice of retail and leisure and better east west connectivity.

Since 2014 officers have been developing an Investment Framework for Wood Green comprising several strategic and delivery documents. The intention is that the Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) sets the direction for the regeneration of Wood Green with a clear vision and objectives, aligning goals and strategies for physical change with those for wider social and economic improvements.

Major landowners are already developing proposals for sites in Wood Green, including Clarendon Square (the former gas works site) which already has planning permission for over 1,000 homes, and Planning Applications have now been received for three sites in Heartlands area totalling 2,000 homes (including a new Planning Application for Clarendon Square for 1,600 homes). Haringey is in Pre Application for a further four sites in the growth area.

By adopting the plan Cabinet are endorsing the overarching ambition for the regeneration of Wood Green. This will ensure a clear set of priorities which can be communicated to stakeholders and partners. The SRF will be used to communicate the vision and priorities with residents, businesses, landowners/ developers and statutory partners. The SRF is also an essential tool for fund raising and lobbying.

Alternative options considered

The Council has previously approved for submission a set of Site Allocations for Wood Green totalling approximately 4,300 net additional homes, now adopted as the Local Plan.

Since this baseline a number of different “options” for the redevelopment of Wood Green have also been considered, and consulted upon, including the “Issues and Options Report” where four options for growth were consulted upon and there was support for a high level of intervention, supporting co-ordinated and significant growth in Wood Green.

The vision and objectives for Wood Green have evolved since 2014 as the programme has progressed. The previous draft of the AAP (January 2017 Regulation 18) contained a vision and objectives relating to spatial regeneration policies, though much of the response to the consultation related to the existing communities who would be directly impacted by the proposals.

In order to ensure that the regeneration programme encompasses social and economic change it is necessary to embed an overarching set of objectives which related to the social and economic change as well as physical. This will ensure that local people benefit and that change is sustainable in its broadest sense.