16 October (Part 1) - Public Cabinet. The Local Plan
The final bit of Public Cabinet last Tuesday was a review of the Local Plan and the
lead speaker was Cabinet Member for Growth Cafer Munur. “It is the vision of how the
borough will grow supported by more than 10,000 pages of evidence collected over
four years. It was an extremely complex process.”
Labour Councillor Joe Ferreira (Erith) said “the plan gets plenty right and the
50% target for affordable housing is really welcome but we see it as a minimum and not a maximum”.
The plan envisages 23 sites delivering 7,000 homes mainly in the north of the borough. “There
are none in Welling and none south of the A2 road. The housing density in the
north will be increased markedly with tall building and there must be a
corresponding growth in infrastructure. Doctors, dentists, shops, restaurants, schools and, nurseries.”
He went on to ask if there were any specific plans to ensure the social and
service infrastructure requirements can be met and the affordable housing target is achieved.
Councillor Ferreira was told that “new infrastructure was absolutely central” and that already
existing would be protected. “The funding gap would be one of the biggest
challenges. It is not all in place yet.”
“The small sites are relatively large, quarter of a hectare, so you can get 25
or 30 units on them. Most will be under ten units.”
Most under ten units but 23 sites provide 7,000 homes? Some units must be very big, presumably very tall.
Did that answer Joe’s questions? I am not sure it did. Maybe it is just as well that no one else asked any.