ADD2841 Thameside West Planning Performance Agreement

1.1.    Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) were formally introduced into the planning system on 6 April 2008. They are principally aimed at major planning applications that need substantial amounts of officer time and negotiation throughout the life of the scheme. They allow officers to improve the quality of schemes that are eventually submitted as planning applications, and then determined. They also allow the GLA to charge for officer time taken up by the larger-scale strategic schemes.

1.2.    On 11 June 2019, Mayoral decision (MD) 2475 delegated authority to the Assistant Director to enter into PPAs, up to £250,000.
 

2.1.    The principal objective is to maintain an effective, high-quality strategic planning service, at a time of pressure on resources, and growing external and corporate demands. This will be done by ensuring there are sufficient resources to deal with pre-application advice and applications, including call-ins by the Mayor. The expected outcomes are:

•    there is a continued ability to deal with increasing workloads, particularly in relation to the pre-application service, by having sufficient resources in place 

•    the GLA planning function can keep up with high and rising levels of demand for advice, whilst delivering an efficient, fit-for-purpose strategic planning function for the Mayor. 

2.2.    In this case, the PPA will fund a series of pre-application meetings with the applicant (with attendance from Newham officers) to discuss changes to the consented application. This includes variations to the S106 legal agreement. A series of meetings will be necessary to ensure that the proposals continue to align with the Mayor’s objectives, and are deliverable. 
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, in making these decisions, “due regard” must be had to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, to all between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics include age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (the last of these being for the duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination only).

 
3.2.    In this instance, the proposals have been considered; and are not expected to have any impacts on those with protected characteristics as distinct from anyone else.
 

Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.1.    Pre-application advice is fundamental to the implementation of the Mayor’s London Plan. This seeks to ensure that the city meets the challenges of economic and population growth with much-needed housing and commercial floorspace – along with other associated social infrastructure and transport infrastructure to enable the development. The Mayor’s comments and decisions on referable planning applications are a key implementation tool of the London Plan. The pre-application service helps to ensure subsequent applications deliver London Plan objectives.

4.2.    In this respect, the advice offered to the developer at the pre-application stage, as part of this PPA, falls within the Making Best Use of Land delivery programme. The GLA’s Development Management team will, in this case, seek to apply the London Plan and relevant planning frameworks to the development. The team will promote flexibility in advance of the new London Plan where possible, with the aim of bringing forward early delivery of a significant number of homes on this site, in accordance with the Making Best Use of Land delivery plan.

Risk management

4.3.    Income will need to be monitored regularly. This is to ensure the costs of providing the service are covered, and the income is spent within the Regulations associated with the Local Government Act.

Conflicts of interest

4.4.    There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of those involved in the drafting or clearance of the decision.  
 

5.1.    As outlined in the Local Government Act 2003, income derived from charging fees cannot exceed the costs of providing the service; but allows the budget to be balanced over a period. Consequently, and in line with previous financial years, any surplus income received, beyond spend from pre-application charges and PPAs, will be placed in the GLA’s pre-application and smoothing reserves at the end of the financial year (in line with Section 93 of the Local Government Act, which allows the GLA to establish a reserve to ensure all income generated is used on the service).

6.1.    This work will be delivered according to the following timetable: