Merton Council is asking for people’s views on how three major estates in the borough could develop over the next 10 to 15 years.

Residents have until the 18 March to respond to the council’s five questions on the content of its draft Estates Local Plan. The document will provide a planning framework for the future which will ensure responsible development and help shape how High Path, Ravensbury and Eastfields Estates could look in the next decade.

The council is asking residents for their views on big picture planning policy issues including:

–       Townscape: how the streets should be laid out

–       Land use: whether land should be purely residential or partly                      for businesses

–       Open space: size of green space and layout

–       Traffic flow

The council is also asking what degree of regeneration on the estates residents would want to see: complete redevelopment; partial redevelopment; repairing existing properties.

All responses will be considered before the next draft is published.  It will then be out of the council’s hands and for the government’s planning inspectorate to approve.

Once signed off by the planning inspectorate, the Estates Local Plan will significantly influence the type of development that could happen on these estates over the next 10 to 15 years. It will act as a kind of safety net to guide well thought-out development in the future. This is why the council is calling on as many residents as possible to take part and voice their view on how high buildings should be, how roads should be laid out for efficient traffic flow and the amount of green space there should be.

Merton Council’s cabinet member for environmental sustainability and regeneration Councillor Andrew Judge said: “It is very important that residents take the opportunity to respond to our consultation. It’s a chance to take a step back and look at the bigger, long-term picture and to raise with the council directly any concerns they may have relating to the future of their neighbourhoods.  Residents’ opinions count and this is about ensuring planning applications which are submitted in the future are assessed within a sensible framework that residents have contributed to.”

The consultation is on the council’s website at: www.merton.gov.uk/estatesplan.htm

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

The council’s consultation on its draft Estates Local Plan is completely separate from the more detailed consultations which Circle Housing Merton Priory, as majority landowner, has already carried out.

Next steps for the council’s draft Estates Local Plan, if there are no significant changes proposed to the draft Plan following the council’s current consultation:

1. 18 March: Consultation ends.
2. Summer 2016: councillors consider results and decide way forward.
3. Summer 2016: This will be the final chance for residents to have their say on the plan for each estate.
4. Autumn 2016: opportunity for residents to tell the independent planning inspector what they do or do not like about the plan.
5. Winter 2017 (Feb) : the independent inspector examines the final plan, including a public hearing.
6. Early 2017: the council votes whether or not to adopt the Local Plan covering the three estates. If adopted, a Local Plan can be used to guide planning applications for the neighbourhoods.