Go shorter, slighter and greener, Westminster tells developers

Less height, less bulk, more sensitivity and greener is the message to developers coming from Westminster City Council’s cabinet member for business and planning Matthew Green. Green, who has held his cabinet remit for around four months, explained during a webinar: “The tear it down and start again mentality just needs to change. Within the construction process, there are so many new and innovative ideas that I would really encourage developers to take on board. “Construction generates a very large amount of greenhouse gas. Just putting up a new building is frankly harmful to the environment and we see more and more developers looking into how they can extend the life of their current buildings and that is something we need to welcome.” Green stressed the importance of pre-application discussions with planning officers so that developers can “get that steer from them on how a development can be improved… and to listen to the advice and to adapt the development based on that advice”. “Consultation with officers is extremely desirable,” he added. However, he admitted that the outbreak of Covid-19 had been beneficial for his dealings with developers as instead of having to “hot-foot” it to City Hall, having virtual meetings had made it easier for him to interchange between his day job and his role as on the council to take the meetings. Developers also need to listen more and take on the feedback from public consultations, Green said. “So many times I see developers launch an elaborate consultation but then don’t listen to any of the comments that come back. That is a futile exercise, consultation is not just ticking a box. “It is really about using the comments that come back from residents and stakeholders to shape your development to ensure it is long-lasting and can work closely with the community in which it finds itself for years and decades to come.” Green added that the planning department had been able to “maintain more or less business as usual” with the only real exception being site visits, which the council is working on safely reintroducing to ensure it does not have a backlog and process applications at the usual pace. He felt the previous virtual planning committees had been “quite successful” and at the council’s next planning committee on 26 May full public speaking would be reintroduced. He added that the council had needed time to “bed it in”. Green added that the committee would “look favourably” at extending any current planning permissions for a year, considering the impact of Covid-19 on construction. In addition, Green said that the council in principle did not have a change of policy on community infrastructure levy payments following the government’s advice to councils earlier this month. This, he explained, was that if there were any delays in CIL payments it would mean that the council would in turn need to delay vital infrastructure that its residents need. He added that Westminster City Council already allowed CIL payments of more than £1m to be paid in instalments and would use its discretion on enforcing CIL payments given the current situation. To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette