To provide a presentation to the Panel about the Wood Green Area Action Plan (AAP).
Minutes:
Emma Williamson, Assistant Director for Planning, presented slides to the Panel on the Wood Green Area Action Plan (AAP) which included the following details:
· On the purpose and scope of the AAP, Wood Green is one of 13 Metropolitan Centres in London and is allocated as a Growth Area in the Local Plan and as an Opportunity Area in the London Plan. Once adopted, the AAP will form the principal Local Planning document for the Wood Green Area.
· Wood Green currently serves a wide catchment area in north London and benefits from good transport links, high footfall and a diverse multicultural array of shops and businesses. However, there is also some underused land and opportunities to establish better transport links to other parts of the Borough.
· Metropolitan Centres are identified in the new London Plan as serving a wide catchment area, typically with at least 100,000 sq/m of retail, leisure and service floorspace with a significant proportion of high-order comparison goods relative to convenience goods. To enable Wood Green to maintain its Metropolitan Centre status and attract larger retailers and businesses to the area and revitalise the High Road, the AAP seeks to provide a range of retail premises along with more leisure and office floorspace.
· Wood Green is identified as an Opportunity Area in the London Plan with an indicative 4,500 new homes and 2,500 new jobs in the area. It is also a potential location for a Crossrail 2 station. Key sites for potential development sites include the Clarendon Road gas works, the Cultural Quarter area and some other land around the High Road and The Mall.
· The boundaries of the AAP area stretch from the Civic Centre in the north to Turnpike Lane tube station in the south and to the edge of Alexandra Park in the west to the edge of Noel Park in the east.
· Wood Green is well linked to central London with connections to King Cross/St Pancras in 15 minutes via the Piccadilly line and to Moorgate in 21 minutes via Alexandra Park station. Wood Green is surrounded by other nearby town centres but it, as it is larger than the others, it has a net inflow from Tottenham in terms of jobs and retail spends. It is separated from Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Crouch End by the Great Northern railway line and these centres also carry out a different function to Wood Green so it could be better utilised to attract residents of those areas. Green Lanes to the south shares many of the multicultural characteristics of Wood Green and has also recently undergone some regeneration.
· While Alexandra Park is outside of the AAP area it is nonetheless important that the AAP benefits and complements the ongoing work at Alexandra Palace and to improve accessibility between Wood Green and Alexandra Park through the planned east-west link and improvements to the Penstock foot tunnel.
· An announcement on Crossrail 2 is still being awaited. Although Crossrail 2 is referred to in the London Plan it is not included within TfL’s funding programme. A previous version of the Wood Green AAP was predicated on the introduction of a Crossrail station at Wood Green underground station but the updated version of the Wood Green AAP is predicated without this improvement and instead provides safeguards for the alternative route which is not the Council’s preferred alignment. The Wood Green AAP is therefore complicated by the uncertainty over Crossrail 2 and the different safeguarding that could be required at various sites.
· There have been a number of different versions of the Wood Green AAP. The Council consulted on issues and options in 2016, then consulted again in 2017 and in 2018. A new version is currently being worked on but this has not yet been taken forward as decisions are being awaited on proposals for Council owned sites in the Wood Green areas.
· After the revised Wood Green AAP is published, there is then a 6-week consultation period. The Council can then submit the Local Plan to the Secretary of State via the Planning Inspectorate and then the Council can adopt any changes recommended by the Inspector. This process is expected to take around 18 months.
· Concerns had been raised during previous consultations about residents from the Page High and Sky City estates about the loss of these estates due to the proposed redevelopments of The Mall and the Bury Road Car Park sites. However, the Council made an announcement last year that these estates would now not be demolished. Concerns were expressed about a loss of affordable workspaces in the Cultural Quarter but the Council seeks to retain existing workspaces and this is reflected in the AAP development capacities. Concerns were raised about the lack of swimming pool & leisure centre in Wood Green and the Council is investigating whether such facilities could be provided as part of the Council Accommodation Strategy. Concerns about the poor quality of public realm in the area will be addressed through a public realm design guide document called the Wood Green & Turnpike Lane Placemaking Manual.
· There are a total of 26 Site Allocations in the Wood Green AAP and there are a total of 5,606 additional homes currently planned.
· The vision of the AAP is for Wood Green to become an employment-led place. The employment workspace is concentrated mainly in the Cultural Quarter area but there are also plans for mixed-use developments in other Site Allocations which would include a mix of workspaces and homes. The Clarendon Road scheme in the Cultural Quarter will provide 1,714 homes and 7,500 sq/m of B1 use employment space.
· The AAP is being developed in the context of the decline of high street shopping generally and so it would be necessary to promote a wider range of uses including a bigger role for leisure, restaurants and community spaces. However, a Future of Retail report from the GLA projects that, despite a predicted rise in spending on ‘comparison goods’ via the internet from 18.6% of spend in 2015 to 25.7% by 2041, there will also be a need for a net additional 1.6m sq/m of retail floorspace in London over the same period. The trend in demand towards the stronger and more attractive centres is likely to continue.
· In July 2019 the Council approved a recommendation that the Library site and a dual option of the Library Site and Civic Centre site be progressed as options for a new Civic Hub, potentially with a new leisure centre on site.
· Planning permission has already been approved for:
o the former M&S site on 44-46 High Road
o the Chocolate Factory site in the Cultural Quarter
o the Clarendon Road scheme in the Cultural Quarter
· Applications that have been determined but awaiting a Section 106 agreement to be signed are:
o the Iceland site on Brook Road
o the former BHS site on 22-42 High Road
In response to questions from the Panel, Emma Williamson
said:
· With regards to the potential height of new buildings in Wood Green, it is an area designated for tall buildings but it isn’t possible to have tall buildings in every location because of the views of Alexandra Palace. There are strong planning policies to assess tall buildings.
· On the future retail strategy for the Borough this is typically a role for the Local Plan which sets out a hierarchy of different retail centres. The Council also carries out a town centre health check each year which examines matters such the percentage of vacant shops.
· On the Cultural Quarter it is the Council’s aspiration to retain a large number of the current occupants within Wood Green. Asked about how the amount of B1 business space would compare to the current level, the detail of this could be provided to the Panel in writing. (ACTION)
Asked whether some Council-owned sites will be sold, Dan Hawthorn said there can be complex situations in the case of some redevelopments which mean that it is necessary to be pragmatic about how best to achieve the desired outcome within the required timeframe. However, the starting presumption is based on whether the Council can carry out its own development on its own land.