MAYFAIR NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM GENERAL MEETING , MONDAY 5 th OCTOBER 2015 HAMILTON ROOM, FORSTERS LLP, 31 HILL STREET, W1J 5LS

Transcription

1 MAYFAIR NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM GENERAL MEETING , MONDAY 5 th OCTOBER 2015 HAMILTON ROOM, FORSTERS LLP, 31 HILL STREET, W1J 5LS Agenda 1.0 Consultation 1.1 Overview of approaches and responses 1.2 Key issues 2.0 Next Steps 3.0 Governance 3.1 Sub-committees and focus groups 3.2 Expressions of interest 4.0 Open Forum Introduction Purpose of the forum: - To make Mayfair the most desirable place in which to live, to work and to visit. - Statutory right to enshrine vision in Neighbourhood Plan. - Alongside local plan and city plan this will inform planning policy. Our vision is supported by 5 core principles. The more detailed ambitions of what the forum stands for: 1. A treat for the eyes 2. Where everything works 3. Everything you need 4. A delight to move around 5. Safe and clean Our role relates to the future development of Mayfair with particular focus on built environment and amenity. We will balance Mayfair s role as a global commercial district with people who live here. We may seek to have a view on neighbourhood management issues, but our principal impact will be through the development of policies. Consultation: overview of approaches and responses We had a thorough and open dialogue with the community facilitated through 15 consultation events over 12 days in June/July 2015 Overall there was strong positive feedback: 81% of respondents agreed with our objectives, 5% disagreed and 13% had no opinion. 6 objectives received less than 75% agreement: 1. Balanced range of housing 2. Protect against net loss of office floor space 3. Focus the night time economy away from residential areas (x2) 4. Improve public amenity squares

2 5. No net loss of parking spaces Balanced range of housing: - 72% agreed - A complex issue. How to support local workers and higher levels of occupation? - Need to examine how this policy is addressed. - We will invite people to come and debate these issues via focus groups. Protect against net loss of office floor space: - 61% agreed - Westminster have protected offices within the core activity area. - An issue worth the forum exploring further. - Draft a policy that best addresses where the local need is. Do we need a policy? Is Westminster s policy sufficient? Focus the night-time economy away from residential areas: - 61% agreed - Acknowledgement that there are places in Mayfair that combine roles as leisure and residential areas, such as Shepherd Market. This contributes to the character and economy of Mayfair. Improve amenity of public squares: - 74% agreed - A lot of open comments on public space. - Clearly a strong view that these spaces are cherished. Strong sense they could work harder to support the community. - How to create genuine community hubs? No net loss of parking spaces: - 71% supported no loss of parking, but 84% consider impact of traffic. - Careful thought will be required. - Mayfair Traffic Plan session to come. - We should prioritise people, but understand what traffic is necessary. Focus groups will explore our position on various policies. We ask you to fill in a form if you are interested in getting involved. As we develop policy we will create representatives of local people so there is a co-creation process. Next steps Sue rowlands from Tibbalds How to move from vision and objectives, which broadly have support, to a neighbourhood plan 1. Scope out the objectives The objectives provide a structure to develop policies. E.g. Protect local shops. There could be policies that are very specific about the types of shops people would like. Where are the shops? Where should they be? How do the leases work? We need evidence to help write the policies surrounding the objectives.

3 We also need to consider London Plan and Westminster policy. We should not repeat policies that already appear at a higher level. They need to be very specific to Mayfair. We may find that we don t need to include certain parts in the neighbourhood plan, but we may need to supplement. The next steps may be pro bono, may be by paid consultants. Not everything is necessarily a planning policy. Some points are to do with the management of the area, not pure planning. The Mayfair plan may end up with two chapters. One for policy and one for management. This will be part of scoping out the objectives. 2. Define policies for each objective Once policies are drafted (evidence covered/higher level understood) we can look at what other Neighbourhood Plans have done. We need to determine the level of detail required for each policy to achieve the objectives 3. Draft a neighbourhood plan Westminster s planners will be the people using the neighbourhood plan the most day-to-day. The neighbourhood plan must make decisions clear therefore a close working relationship is vital. 4. Regulatory 14 consultation Statutory 6 week consultation period by the Forum. The next stages should move smoothly since the consultation to date has been robust. This will help to amend the plan. 5. Regulatory 16. This starts the process of giving the plan legal status 6. Independent examination Usually occurs within a day The examiner will recommend plan is fine (straight to referendum), minor modifications then referendum, or does not pass the test and needs major modifications first two options are most likely. 7. Referendum There will be 2 referendums in Mayfair - one for businesses and one for residents. This will go forward to adoption or being made where there is full legal status. Timescale: - Typically now to regulatory 16 is 6 to 18 months depending on objectives and policies - From submission to adoption around 3 months - This equates to a total timescale in the range of 9 to 21 months Q What s the mechanism/process to collect evidence? Just focus groups? A We now have objectives creating a sense of what this requires for policy. We will start to draft policy with Tibbalds expertise and perhaps other support from local experts. Thereafter we will create focus groups as a starting point for conversation around issues we believe to be controversial. Q Don t understand debate for market housing in Mayfair as it is driven by market forces? A To be addressed in open forum Q Forum cannot go counter to a council s policy. Are there any areas that appear to be in contravention so far? A So far there don t appear to be any conflicts. Q Is there scope to realise collective aspirations?

4 A (Tom Kimber, Westminster Planning) Only have to be in general conformity with the council s strategic level policy. Therefore there is quite a bit of room. This has been tested a bit at examination, but not at great depth. This comes back to evidence base. You may be able to diverge further if there is local evidence to support an approach. Q Are the higher level policies that Westminster has written out somewhere? Can we take those which affect our objectives and consider them? A We have done this already before the second round of consultations. Continuing consultation Public Consultation does not stop. We send out regular newsletters. We also have a mapping tool that allows you to tell us about what you like/don t like about Mayfair. This will help with the evidence base as well. Please continue to contact us via Commonplace. Open Forum Q Would it be possible for us to have the high priority plans? We are collating information yet there is already a high priority level. A There is a lot of information. As part of stage one, we took the objectives and looked at all the Westminster planning policy and pulled out those policies which are relevant. This was compiled in a document for the steering group who explored how we could supplement these policies. This was done in November last year, so may be out of date. Will An up to date document may be the most useful but a lot of the material is on the website already. (This is to be discussed with Tibbalds.) Tom Kimber You could stifle innovation by reviewing all of the policies. Q On housing there are 3 types Mayfair needs: wealthy people, Monday-Friday, social housing. There is a need for some form of mixture. Also need entertainment in the area that isn t disturbing, but suitable for all people. On affordable housing is the price set which is affordable? For renting? We have a situation where flats are let to Tenants on affordable lettings. A We understand the breadth of housing. Many people are in relatively low paid jobs which we are exploring. Flats, particularly larger flats, are less occupied therefore we could encourage smaller units to be built. No presumption for policy outcome, but there is an objective that supports a conversation. We would like to have you at the housing focus group to explore more. Q Is it correct that most developers must have a proportion of affordable housing? A Some will use the payment to buy housing out of Mayfair, but within the borough. E.g. the number of units that can be built with the same budget in Queens Park v Mayfair. There will be a conversation as to what the forum supports since there are arguments in both directions. Q When crossrail opens there will be more traffic movements in West End station than Heathrow airport. How can we protect ourselves?

5 A The plan has an ambition to reduce traffic from current position. Nigel Hughes is also running the Mayfair Traffic Management study which is ongoing and will consider crossrail impact. Q How do we continue to bring in all different groups within Mayfair? For example representing schools, nonbusiness, non-resident interests. Have we come to terms with this issue? A This is a fair challenge. The steering group is by nomination and election at the AGM. I agree with the importance of community groups and acknowledge that we can do more. We could be more targeted with community groups. Let s go talk to the schools. Q We could ask the school what they have to offer us versus what they think of our ideas. Perhaps they have ideas for what they can bring. Q What is the follow up with community groups? A They can offer to join a subcommittee or focus group or to nominate themselves for election to the steering group. Q We think about people who work here as opposed to residents, but these people use the facilities and spend a major portion of their life in the area. They have a vested interest in the community. We should find ways that we are all included together. We all make Mayfair. Public Note from member on behalf of Handel house museum They are undergoing considerable development at the moment and will open on 23 Brooks Street (Jimi Hendrix flat). They are creating an oral history project on Mayfair called Mayfair Memories and want to gather an oral history of Mayfair from 1960s- 2000s. Please come to chat about best and worst memories of Mayfair. More events later this year until February/March. Q It is mentioned in planning policy that Westminster have an overview on office space being protected. I was recently involved in planning application for change of office space to retail. This isn t covered under legislation. This may have a detrimental effect on the residents in the community. Is office to retail covered? A Good to test policies with what if scenarios. Interrogate and test policies with case studies.