All links validated on 9th February 2010.
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There are many planning documents relevant to the Campion development. The more people who read them the better. If you feel that any of them cover an area in which you have a particular interest or expertise then it would be really helpful to have your reactions. N.B. Many of the links are to documents held on other sites.
At its meeting of 14th July 2005 the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee (Planning) received the Draft Planning Position Statement regarding the Campion House site. If you are not used to reading planning documents this will not be an easy read. Several attempts may be needed to grasp its full implications. It's worth the effort and it is important that as many people as possible do this. The document and its associated maps can be downloaded from the Council website:
(1) Draft Statement, (2) Appendix to statement, (3) Map 1, (4) Map 2.
The main planning documents can be found here. The most important of these documents is the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) which contains all of the Hounslow Planning Guidelines.
Hounslow Planning Documents
The Hounslow UDP. As ammended September 2007.
Hounslow Local Development Scheme. This is the first step in the transition
away from UDPs to the new planning documents which will eventually replace the UDP.
Sustainable Construction Guide for the Development Industry
Supplementary Planning Guidance
Hounslow's Housing Investment Programme. This document gives the Council's
views of the appropriate proportions of homes of different sizes for the affordable sector. A new document should have been produced
by now but it has not appeared yet. This is the latest information available. Here is an
extract with details about demand for affordable housing.
National Building Control Statistics for 2006/7. (2.5 Mb). This is a national rather than a local document. We give it here because
it contains useful information about the Hounslow Planning Authority. The detailed data include a break-down by local authority
of such things as the number of determinations made within the required determination period (e.g. thirteen weeks for major applications such as that for
the Campion site).
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The key regional planning document is the London Plan. The Plan was developed by by the previous Mayor (Ken Livingstone) but the new Mayor has made clear that he agrees with its broad approach. He has produced a document making clear where he feels modifications are required: A New Plan for London. The architectural advisor to the former Mayor (Ken Livingstone) was Richard Rogers who set up the Architecture and Urbanism Unit (AUU) which produced many research and background documents helpful for understanding London's housing issues. You can obtain many of these documents here. It may be that the policies advocated by the AUU, and even the unit itself, may be changed or dumped by Boris Johnson (elected May 2008). He seems to be committed to reducing the degree of regional control exercised by the London Mayor over the London boroughs. We will have to wait to see how many of the policies in the documents linked below will survive the change and what new ones will emerge.
The following documents are also of interest for the Campion development.
Guide to Preparing Open Space Strategies.
Connecting with London's Nature - The Mayor's Biodiversity Strategy.
The West London Sub-Regional Development Framework.
Supplementary Planning Guidance - Sustainable
Design and Construction .
Supplementary Planning Guidance - Housing.
Renewable Energy - A Toolkit for Planners
Developers and Consultants.
Housing Space Standards.
Unintended Outcomes -
Housing Corporation grant and affordable housing in London.
Size Matters - The need for more family housing in London.
London Plan Density Matrix Review.
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(Formerly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister [ODPM])
The highest level of Planning guidance is from the Department of Community and Local Government.
The planning guidance documents can be found here. The documents are either
the old-style PPGs (Planning Policy Guidlines) or the newer PPSs (Planning Policy Statements). The PPGs are gradually being replaced by PPSs.
The documents are
PPS1 (Delivering Sustainable Development),
PPG2 (Green Belts),
PPS3 (Housing),
PPG4 (Industrial & commercial development),
PPG5 (Planning zones),
PPS6 (Town Centres),
PPS7 (Rural areas),
PPG8 (Telecommunications),
PPS9 (Biodiversity & geological conservation),
PPS10 (Waste management),
PPS11 (Regional strategies),
PPS12 (Local development frameworks),
PPG13 (Transport),
PPG14 (Unstable land),
PPG15 (Historic environment),
PPG16 (Archeology and planning),
PPG17 (Open space, sport and recreation),
PPG18 (Enforcement),
PPG19 (Advertisment control),
PPG20 (Coastal planning),
PPG21 (Tourism - now withdrawn and replaced by a good practice guide),
PPS22 (Renewable energy),
PPS23 (Pollution),
PPS24 (Noise) and
PPS25 (Flood risk).
Guidance documents of particular relevance to the Campion development:
PPS 1. The Government's view of sustainable development.
PPS 3. Housing and sustainable development, objectives, density definition ...
PPS 9. Biodiversity and Geological Conservation.
Planning for Biodiversity and Geological Conservation: A Guide to Best Practice.
PPG 15 (The Historic Environment).
Conservation areas, auditing historical character ...
PPG 17 (Open Space, Sport & Recreation). Assessing needs, planning new open spaces ...
PPS 22 (Renewable energy). Local authorities can now insist on the use of renewable energy.
Design and Access Statements. Now required with development
applications. See CABE below.
PPS 25 (Flood risk).
Appendix F contains important guidance on managing surface water.
Manual For Streets. A Guide to good street design.
Better Places to Live by Design: A Companion Guide to PPG3.
Guidance on Plannning Performance Agreements. A new more flexible approach to determination deadlines
came into operation in April '08.
Commerce Road Decision. An application for a major development in Commerce Road Brentford was rejected by the Secretary of State.
The projected development was for 992 housing units. It had the full backing of the Mayor of London. The Inquiry lasted for weeks and was
a high intensity affair.
Commerce Road: Secretary of State's Letter. This outlines the case against the
development and gives page references to The Inspector's Report for further details.
The previous Mayor of London (Ken Livingstone) supported the application. Reading the documents from the former
London Mayor, in conjunction with the Inspector's report, shows just how wide of the mark his judgement could be on planning matters.
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English Heritage is the lead body when it comes to the designation and maintenance of conservation areas. The first two booklets listed below are extremely important for anyone who want to know how to describe a conservation area for the purpose of showing that a proposed development may harm that area. The book on conservation area management explains, among other things, that local authorities should involve residents in the process of appraisal and of putting appropriate management systems and methods in place.
English Heritage Home Page
Guidance on Conservation Area Appraisals.
Management of Conservation Areas.
A nice example of a conservation appraisal from Uxbridge.
A second Uxbridge document.
A third Uxbridge document.
A fourth Uxbridge document.
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CABE is the "design champion" for the DCLG. It is a Government-funded body with the role of improving design both for town-planning and for individual developments. CABE produces a very large number of publications, papers, briefings and a magazine. Much of the material is free and anyone taking urban design seriously should look at their materials.
How to Write Design and Access Statements. A key document for developer applications.
By Design: Urban Design in the Planning System. (3.8 Mb) Good introduction to design concepts.
Local Authority Design Champions. Hounslow's design champion is Cllr Barbara Reid.
Design Coding - Testing its use in England.
The Use of Urban Design Codes.
Councillor's Guide to Urban Design. Brief introduction for busy people.
Building for life - 20 questions you need to answer. Good introduction to housebuilding standards.
Creating excellent buildings - a guide for clients. (5Mb) Detailed account of the commissioning process.
Design at a glance. A quick reference wall chart.
Design at appeal. Helps to understand what counts when it comes to determination.
Creating Successful Masterplans. An agreed masterplan can make all the difference.
English Partnerships is the National Regeneration Agency. It's purpose is to help the Government support high quality sustainable growth in England. It produces a large number of documents on different aspects of design and community involvement.
Urban Design Compendium 1. A useful document from English Partnerships.
Downloadable as separate files. (The last time we looked there was an annoying glitch with the EP website that
made downloading difficult with some browsers. You can get the same files from us:
Chapter 1 - The Fundmentals;
Chapter 2 - Appreciating the Context;
Chapter 3 - Creating the Urban Structure;
Chapter 4 - Making the Connections;
Chapter 5 - Detailing the Place;
Chapter 6 - Implementation and Delivery;
References.
Urban Design Compendium 2. This publication of November 2007 explains some of the
most recent thinking about design. As with the first compendium you can also get the files from us:
Aiming Higher;
Chapter 1 - Sowing the Seed;
Chapter 2(4 Mb) - Integrated Design;
Chapter 3 - Delivering Quality and Adding Value;
Chapter 4 - From Vision to Reality;
Chapter 5 - Managing Quality Places;
Closing the Circle.
Community Involvment. English Partnerships' view of the process of engaging communities.
Brentford Community Council. Members of the BCC played a key role in making the case against the proposed Kew Bridge development. Their website has useful planning advice and a links to websites dealing with various planning issues.
There are lots of links to useful resources on some of the websites below. Planning Help, in particular, provides links to Government statements and documents stressing the Government's wish to protect the environment. You can look up policies on waste, water, energy, and many other things. Very useful if you haven't got the time to research all these documents yourself and even if you have this is a good place to start.
Planning Aid.
Planning Aid is a Government-funded independent agency providing planning advice.
The Planning Aid Jargon Buster.
There are hundreds of clear definition in this 100 page glossary.
The Planning Aid Planning Pack.
Shows how the planning system works. Hard copy available free.
Planning Help.
Planning Help is a project of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
A useful glossary from the CPRE.
How to deal with problem applications. This site will guide you through the relevant planning guidelines.
One Million Sustainable Homes.
World Wildlife Fund. Extensive materials on sustainable development.
Links on sustainability. Provided by the WWF pages on sustainable housing.
The Environmental Law Foundation. Help on legal aspects of devopment/environment issues.
Explaining PTALs. If you have ever wondered how public transport accessibility levels are worked out and what
some of the related issues are then this the link for you.
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Advice on consulting is contained in many planning documents. The Council's Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) might seem to be the first document to read. This document is long on words but short on specific commitments with respect to major planning applications. There is no formal requirement that developers of major sites should consult residents (merely advice to to do so). The Council is committed to nothing beyond putting the developer's application documents in local libraries and sending a letter to residents telling the bare bones of the application and informing them that they can find the details, as presented by the developer, in their local library. There is more to genuine consultation than this! Fortunately there are other documents which are rather more helpful. The CABE checklist on writing on Design and Access statments says "Has the applicant demonstrated how they have taken account of the results of any community involvement?" and "Does the statement show that the scheme has emerged from a rigorous assessment-involvement-evaluation-design process rather than trying to justify retrospectively a pre-determined solution?". It would be to everyone's advantage if Try Homes were to follow this advice.
Creating Successful Masterplans.
Constructive Talk - engaging in pre-application discussions. Has a small but useful section on
pre-application consultation.
Design and Access Statements - How to write them.
Good advice on the pre-application process.
Community Involvment. English Partnerships' view of the process of engaging communities.
Try Homes bought the Campion site in 2005. Since then it has aquired Linden Homes and adopted its name. Linden Homes was an independent company before it was aquired. Now, having been absorbed into Try Homes, it is part of the Galliford Try Group.
Linden Homes home page.
Linden Homes Environmental Policies
Linden Homes Sustainability Policies
These documents are general Galliford Try policies which have replaced the Linden Homes Green Code
which was a broad policy document on Health and Safety, accessibility, transport, affordable housing, community engagement, community, investment, biodiversity,
public art, energy and climate change, water, construction methods and waste management. You may find it interesting to compare the old (Linden Homes) policy with the new (Galliford Try) ones.
Galliford Try. Linden Homes is a subsidiary of Galliford Try.
Galliford Try: commercial/financial information.
John Thompson & Partners is the architectural company responsible for the third application to develop the Campion Site. This company is handling the Scottish Widows development at Kew Bridge. They are providing both the design for the third application to develop the campion site and the community consultation that is part of the design process. The Director of Community Planning is Charles Campion. Contact details
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PPS describes itself as follows: "PPS is a company of talented people working in the tougher areas of communication consultancy. We thrive on difficult projects, often where the issues involved can seem highly contentious. Such missions allow us to innovate, give great service and get results for clients by the simple expedient of winning the argument."
"If you need an advocate to explain a complex issue in a coherent and compelling manner to an apparently sceptical audience, then PPS is for you. We can help with: (1) Stakeholder liaison; (2) Media relations; (3) Consultation; (4) Public affairs and government relations; (5) Corporate social responsibility; (6) Crisis and issues management."
You can see the PPS website here.
PPS is the fourth organisation PR/community consultation organisation to be hired by Linden Homes to help them with their Campion application. The first was Green Issues Communications who made a very poor impression by their blatent attempts to manipulate opinion and massage findings. The second was JTP who organised some genuine discussions but, we felt, were under pressure to try to get assent on some pre-determined objectives such as open space encroachment. JTP are still involved as architects but we are not clear regarding the community consultation side of things. Thirdly there was Marketing Sciences who attempted a door-to-door survey. That was such a shambolic exercise that we imagine that Linden Homes would like to forget it. Finally (for the moment at least) we have PPS. We are not clear why they have been called in given that JTP was handling community consultation. Perhaps it is because they say that they get results by intensive interaction on a one-to-one basis with residents and that is not really part of the JTP package of techniques. We will soon find out.
Woolf Bond Planning were taken on by Linden Homes after the rejection of their third application to develop the Campion site. The agent for the application is now Mr Douglas Bond of Woolf Bond Planning. The Woolf Bond Planning website doesn't give a lot of information. The promised list of clients has been blank for the 8 months we have been monitoring it. The company email addresses can be found here.
Clarke Renner Architects is the company that was responsible for the design of the buildings in the first and second applications to develop the Campion House site. There was massive opposition to their design from residents. The planning officers recommended rejection. The councillors voted unanimously for rejection. The application went to appeal. Following the appeal Inquiry the Inspector, in his Report, made a series of strong comments about the unsuitability of the design. You can read these comments here. Given that Clarke Renner Architects are no longer working on the Campion development, and given that their design was decisively rejected as inappropriate by the Inspector in JULY 2007 we are surprised that they are still displaying Campion in Residential Projects on their website when we last checked in FEBRUARY 2010. This seems to be both inappropriate and misleading. Is it that they are short of completed or current projects to display? Whatever the reason we will leave these comments here until they remove the misleading information from their website.
This is what the Inspector said of the Clarke Renner design for Campion
"... I consider that the design attempts to cram far too much development onto the site, which is in a sensitive location. This attempt to achieve a large number of dwellings at an inappropriately high density has led to a scheme design which is overlarge, monolithic, out of scale and far too intensive in use. I consider that the design has not been positively influenced by, or is at all compatible with, its local context. It would not knit in with its surroundings. It would harm the conservation area and lead to a significant loss of local open space. It would not contribute positively to making the area better for people and it would not respect the local character, context or community."
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Page last edited 9th February 2010