Unitary Development Plan Introduction
SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE PLAN
1 The revised Unitary Development Plan was adopted by Hammersmith and Fulham Council in August 2003. It is an alteration of the 1994 UDP and is the statutory development plan for the whole Borough.
2 The Unitary Development Plan sets out the Council's framework for development, development control and conservation in Hammersmith and Fulham. The policies and proposals are concerned not only with the development and other use of land and buildings, but also with transport, and are intended to contribute to the objective of ensuring that development is environmentally sustainable. In preparing the Plan the Council has had regard to social, economic and environmental factors which have implications for land-use and transportation in the Borough, including their impact on different groups in the population.
3 When an application is made for planning permission and where the Unitary Development Plan has policies that are relevant to the development proposal, Section 54A of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act requires the application to be determined in accordance with the Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. In effect, this means there is a presumption in favour of development proposals which are in accordance with the Plan, and that if a proposal is clearly in conflict with the Plan there will need to be convincing reasons to demonstrate why the Plan should not prevail. Only if the UDP contains no relevant policies will an application be determined on its merits in the light of all material considerations.
4 Where there are other material considerations, such as additional Government legislation and advice, these will be taken into account in reaching a decision on an application. In addition, the Council will take into account the policies and proposals that are included in the London Plan.
5 In preparing the Plan the Council has considered a wide range of issues affecting the Borough's population, economy, environment and transportation systems. It has had regard to Government legislation and circulars, and national and regional policy guidance, in particular the Government's Strategic Guidance for London Planning Authorities and Strategic Planning Guidance for the River Thames.
THE FORM AND CONTENT OF THE PLAN
6 The Plan is in two parts as required by legislation. Part 1 of the Plan contains general land-use policies and provides the context and framework for the more detailed policies for the whole of the Borough. Part 2 (Chapters 1-12, the Glossary, Annexe I, Annexe II and Proposals Map) contains the justification for the Part 1 policies (set out at the start of Chapters 1-11) and development control policies (Chapters 4-10: land use and transportation topic policies; Chapters 11: Site proposals; Chapters 12: detailed standards). All the Part 2 policies are followed by specific reasoned justifications. In accordance with the regulations Part 2 is in conformity with Part 1.
7 The Part 2 policies, proposals and standards are shown in bold type-face while the reasoned justification of the policies is in normal type-face. It should be noted that because of the introduction or deletion of policies during the Plan preparation process, the policy numbers in the UDP may not always run consecutively. The numbering is the same as in previous versions of the Plan, but where a new policy has been introduced, a letter has been included as a suffix (for example policy SH3A and policy E3A), and where a policy has been deleted there is no replacement policy (for example there is no EN5 or E2).
8 A detailed index to the Plan is included at the end of this document. Index
SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE (SPG)
9 The Council has prepared planning guidance which will supplement the policies of the Unitary Development Plan. Annexe III includes the Council's policy regarding the process of preparing SPG and also indicates the status and weight which it will be accorded in considering planning applications. The guidance is not part of the Plan and is published separately.
View the latest details of applicable supplementary policy to the UDP, including adopted SPDs: Supplementary Policy.
Page last updated: 27/01/2010
