Supplementary Planning Documents consultation

Affordable Housing SPD

The Council is consulting from 27 April to 8 June 2012 on the draft Affordable Housing SPD. This is an update of the 2003 SPG, to reflect changes in the policy context and the funding of affordable housing. The advice is to be addressed in all proposals for new development or changes of use for wholly residential and mixed use sites incorporating residential use. Applicants, agents and developers are expected to use the SPD now it is published.

The draft SPD:

• Draft Affordable Housing SPD (including annexes)(pdf, 370KB)
• Affordable Housing Commuted Sum Calculation Pro-forma – example (part of Annex A) (MS Excel, 39KB)
• Marketing Pro-forma for Employment Land) Annex C (MS Word, 62KB)

Please let us have your views, by 8 June 2012, either by email to Ldfconsultation@richmond.gov.uk or by post to Policy and Design, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Civic Centre, 44 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3BZ. We encourage residents to respond by email if possible. Please note that your response will not be treated as confidential and any anonymous responses will be discarded.

Further information and guidance to assist with the draft SPD

Further information and guidance will be added to help you understand and apply the Affordable Housing SPD.

Levels of rents per week for affordable rented units

For the levels of rents per week, for affordable rented units that can be included in the commuted sum calculation, see Annex A – paragraph 2.12 and cells F22-28 of the draft SPD.

Generally the following assumptions can be used:

For 1 and 2 bed units, this may vary by location, and if 80% of the open market rent is lower then the lower figure should be used.

Summary:This table shows the size of unit and maximum cost per week and can be read left to right and top to bottom.

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)

The NPPF is not mentioned in the draft SPD as it was prepared before the NPPF was published. It states local planning authorities should address the need for all types of housing, including affordable housing, and the glossary provides a definition of affordable housing. It also recognises that to ensure viability, the costs of any requirements likely to be applied to development, including requirements for affordable housing, should, when taking account of the normal cost of development and mitigation, provide competitive returns to a willing land owner and willing developer to enable the development to be deliverable. It is considered that the draft SPD is consistent with the overall NPPF guidance, and references will be updated before the final SPD is adopted.

Buildings of Townscape Merit SPD

The Council consulted from Monday 14 February to Monday 28 March 2011 on an update to the Buildings of Townscape Merit planning information. The document sets out designation criteria along with the Council’s approach when considering proposals for alteration, extension or replacement of Buildings of Townscape Merit. The guidance, which originated in the early 1980s, has been updated to take into account subsequent changes to national and local policy context.

Buildings of Townscape Merit Consultation Draft SPD(pdf, 29KB)

View the existing Buildings of Townscape Merit planning information

Residential Design Standards SPD

The Residential Design Standards SPD updates the council’s design guidance on household extensions and alterations. It also sets out general guidelines and standards on residential amenity and residential space that the council will use to assess all types of residential developments. The document gives advice on the impact on neighbours, privacy and overlooking, minimum room sizes, good building layout, provision of gardens, and outdoor play space requirements.

Residential Design Standards Consultation Draft SPD(pdf, 2227KB)

The Residential Design Standards SPD and Shopfront Design Guide SPD documents have been adopted by the Council by a Cabinet Member decision which approved amendments as a result of the consultation process. The final Shopfronts SPD is available from the Supplementary Planning Guidance & Documents webpage. It was agreed that the Residential Design Standards Supplementary Planning Document should be split into two separate documents covering new residential development and extensions / alterations. The final Residential Development Standards(pdf, 1311KB) SPD is available from the SPG web pages. The final published version of the Household Extensions SPD, combined with the House Extensions and External Alterations SPG, is expected to be made available in 2012.