Optimising Site Capacity: A Design-led Approach LPG

The Optimising Site Capacity: A Design-led Approach guidance sets out how the design-led approach, set out in Policy D3 of the London Plan, should be applied. This approach is the process of setting site-specific design parameters and codes for development sites to provide clarity over the future design. It should be used to determine the most appropriate form of development on a site.

Boroughs and neighbourhood planning groups should apply this approach at the local plan making stage to clarify the design aspirations and, for residential applications, determine the indicative site capacity.

Applicants of sites should carry out this process during the preliminary design stages to determine a site’s optimum design response and to clarify their design intentions. This should be carried out at the pre-application stage and submitted as part of the design and access statement within a planning application.

Between 13 October 2020 and 15 January 2021, a public consultation was held on the Good Quality Homes for All Londoners Guidance. Since this consultation, the guidance has been revised to reflect the consultation feedback.

A lot of the information in the guidance is the same or similar to the previous consultation. However, it has been split into four separate LPGs, refined and presented differently and, in some cases, refocussed on processes and checklists that can be used to meet the requirements of the policies in the London Plan. Module A of the Good Quality Homes for All Londoners guidance has also been split into two documents, the Characterisation and Growth Strategy LPG and Optimising Site Capacity: A Design-led Approach LPG.

This guidance has been produced by the Greater London Authority (GLA). It has been prepared in accordance with the Public Sector Equality Duty and an Equality Impact Assessment has been produced.

Public engagement on the guidance is currently underway. Responses need to be submitted by 27 March 2022. Register to be notified of planning policy consultations or sign up for GLA Planning News.