ADD2476 Royal Docks and Beckton Riverside OAPF – PPA Agreements

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

1.2 A Mayoral decision (MD2475) was agreed on 11 June 2019 which gave delegated authority to the Assistant Director of Planning to enter into Planning Performance Agreements (PPAS) up to a cap of £250,000.

What is the Royal Docks and Beckton Riverside OAPF?

1.3 The Royal Docks Beckton Riverside Opportunity Area Planning Framework (RD+BR OAPF) is a strategic framework that plans development of the of the Royal Docks and Beckton Riverside Opportunity Area (RD+BR OA). This includes new homes, jobs, transport, infrastructure, and social and community uses. The RD+BR OA is one of the largest regeneration areas in London and is in the heart of the Thames Gateway. The draft London Plan estimates an indicative capacity of 30,000 new homes and 42,500 new jobs could be accommodated in the OA up to 2041.

1.4 The OAPF is being prepared jointly by the Mayor of London (Greater London Authority and Royal Docks Team), Transport for London (TfL), and the London Borough of Newham (LBN). The OAPF promotes the Mayor of London’s approach to Good Growth as set out in the draft London Plan, which means growth that is inclusive and that benefits all Londoners.

1.5 The RD+BR OAPF can:

• help guide where new homes, jobs and infrastructure are built up to 2041;

• inform future Local Plan policy reviews by LBN; and

• be considered when deciding planning applications that fall within the OA boundary.

1.6 The RD+BR OAPF will be supplementary guidance to the new London Plan. The RD+BR OAPF does not establish new policies and must be read in the context of the draft London Plan and LBN Local Plan.

1.7 The Project Programme for the RD+BR OAPF:

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 by ensuring there are sufficient resources to deal with pre-application advice and applications including call ins by the Mayor. The expected outcomes are:

• a continuation of the ability to deal with increasing workloads particularly the pre-application service by having sufficient resources in place;

• allowing the GLA planning function to keep up with high and rising levels of demand for advice whilst delivering an efficient fit for purpose strategic planning function for the Mayor;

• the maintenance of resource required to produce a consultation draft RD+BR OAPF by summer 2021; and

• the evolution of a deliverable and aspirational vision for the Beckton Riverside strategic site – which includes both St Williams and ASI site interests – within the OAPF. This will have the potential to inform future planning applications and will benefit from engagement with both parties through the PPA process.

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 as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations 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, gender, sexual orientation (and marriage or civil partnership status for the duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination only). 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 which seeks to ensure that the city meets the challenges of economic and population growth with much needed housing and commercial floorspace along with other associating social infrastructure and transport infrastructure to enable the development. The Mayor’s comments and decisions on referable planning applications is a key implementation tool of the London Plan. The pre-application service helps to ensure subsequent applications deliver London Plan objectives.

Risk Management issues:

4.2 Regular monitoring of income will be necessary 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:

4.3 There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of those involved in the drafting or clearance of the decision. Neither St. William or ASI will have editorial control over any part of the RD+BR OAPF.

5.1 Approval is sought for expenditure of £160,000 for a Planning Performance Agreement and the receipt of £160,000 on a cost recovery basis from the developers St William and Aberdeen Standard Investments.