Planning and regenerationSupport our residents

The Royal Borough is an area of enormous architectural significance and interest and our planning team is committed to providing a high quality, transparent and unbiased service.

 

The Royal Borough handles over 5,000 planning applications each year and is committed to being professional, adaptable and transparent in all its dealings with its customers, providing high quality, unbiased advice at all times.

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COUNCIL ACCEPTS OBJECTIONS AND COMMENTS ON APPLICATIONS IN HARD COPY OR BY EMAIL, BUT WE ENCOURAGE ANYONE INTERESTED IN MAKING A COMMENT TO USE OUR ONLINE FORM, WHICH CAN BE ACCESSED DIRECTLY FROM THE APPLICATION DETAILS PAGE. THIS FORM IS QUICKER FOR YOU TO USE AND ENSURES THAT YOUR COMMENTS ARE DEALT WITH IN A TIMELY WAY AND ALLOCATED TO THE CORRECT APPLICATION.

 

WE DO NOT ACCEPT OBJECTIONS BY FAX.

Privacy

You are advised that the Council stores all comments received about applications electronically and may make them publicly available on the Internet. If you object to this, you should clearly say so at the beginning of your letter. Even if we do not publish your letter in this way, please note that we will still store it electronically in our back office systems.


Consultations

The consultation webpage contains up to date information on the current policy documents consultations along with consultations on conservation area proposals and neighbourhood plans. It also gives information on consultation events and recently closed consultations.

Please note that this webpage is not about consultation on planning applications. For information about consultation on planning applications please go to the 'during your application' webpage.


Ministerial Statement: Promoting Regeneration

On 9 May the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles issued a written Ministerial Statement on "promoting regeneration".  This included a number of meaures, largely related to freeing up planning regulations and removing the need for planning permission for certain changes of use. An intial assessment of the implications of the proposed changes for the Royal Borough can be read below.


Permitted development rights for change of use from commercial to residential. Request for exemption

On 24 January 2013 the Government announced its intention to change planning regulations to remove the need for planning permission for changes of use from offices to residential. These new rights will initially be time-limited for a period of three years, with the Government considering in 2016 whether they should be extended indefinitely.

This Council has sought a borough-wide exemption as explained in the response webpage. This exemption has been agreed by the Government.  A copy of the map showing the exempted area can be viewed on the CLG's website.


Permitted development rights for changes of use of shops, estate agents, restaurants, cafes and offices

The Government have also announced that they intend to change planning regulations to allow greater flexibility with regard the use of premises as shops, estate agents, restaurants, cafes and offices. Details of these proposals can be read on the CLGs website, set out within the section titled, "getting empty town centre buildings back into use."

A unit can convert to or from any of these uses - for a two year period - without the need for planning permission. The Government have provided few details, but our understanding is that the unit will revert to its original use at the end of that two year period. There is no suggestion that the proposals will only revert to empty buildings.

There is no opportunity for a Council to opt out of these proposals, which we expect to be 'made live' at the end of May 2013.


Redevelopment of the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre Site, Warwick Road, London SW5 9TA

We have now received additional information for the planning application for the redevelopment of the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre which can be viewed together with full details of the development proposals on the Earl's Court Application page.

To comment, please write to us quoting reference PP/11/01937 or email planning@rbkc.gov.uk also quoting the same reference.


Community Infrastructure Levy

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a new power which enables a charge to be levied on the net increase in gross internal area floorspace arising from development in order to fund infrastructure that is needed to support development in the area.

The Royal Borough is currently consulting on rates for CIL within the borough.  Further information is available on the consultations webpage.

The Mayor of London has introduced a CIL for Greater London for which a charge of £50/m2 will be levied in the Royal Borough, although medical/health services and schools/colleges have a zero or nil charge (£0/m2) from 1 April 2012. For further information visit our dedicated CIL webpage.


Planning Direct

If you wish to subscribe to our weekly update on planning news please go to Planning Direct.


Help with technical jargon

We are aware that planning is a highly technical area and although we do our best to avoid jargon, throughout our pages you will find several technical phrases. To find out what these mean, see our Planning Glossary [PDF] (file size 74Kb)

Contact numbers

You can always contact us on our planning help line, 020 7361 3012 but for emergency contact out of normal office hours for dangerous buildings or fallen trees, please call 020 7361 3000

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Page last updated: 13/05/2013