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Policy and Performance, Planning Committee - Tuesday, 22nd July, 2025 7.00 pm

July 22, 2025 View on council website
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Summary

The Camden Council Planning Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss updates on a number of planning policy and performance issues, including affordable workspace, digital planning, retrofitting and conservation, and enforcement.

Knowledge Quarter and Affordable Workspace

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on affordable workspace delivery through planning permission and Section 106 obligations1 in the Knowledge Quarter. The report pack included a summary of affordable workspaces secured through Section 106 agreements, the status of these sites, and any outcomes reported. Since 2011, Camden has negotiated and secured over 17,400m2 of commercial floorspace through these obligations. As of the meeting date, 3,300m2 was completed and occupied, including:

  • Base KX, 103 Camley Street, operated by UCL's incubator programme 'the Hatchery'.
  • 102 Camley Street, small business offices occupied by barista training provider Well Grounded.
  • 1 Triton Square, operated by Impact Hub.
  • The House of Koko, operated by the Koko Foundation.

The report also noted that 11 consented schemes were close to completion, with provision for a further 7,400m2 of affordable workspace.

The report pack also summarised changes to affordable workspace policy in the emerging Local Plan and the introduction of a Payment in Lieu model (PIL). The draft new Local Plan features an updated policy covering affordable workspace provision through planning and development. Draft Policy IE4 (Affordable and Specialist Workspace) retains the same thresholds to trigger obligations and seeks a similar requirement for 20% of new commercial floorspace to be provided at 50% of market rents for at least 15 years.

The report pack also included a discussion of the Knowledge Quarter and affordable workspace for the Life Sciences sector, noting that Camden is seeing a marked increase in lab-enabled Life Sciences schemes where the application of a discounted rent is both a significant challenge to viability and does not necessarily address the primary needs of small businesses seeking space in the sector.

Design Review Panel

The Planning Committee was scheduled to discuss the role of the Design Review Panel within the pre-application process. The report pack included case studies outlining how schemes have evolved throughout the pre-application process, and the role of the panel's expertise.

The report pack quoted the Camden Local Plan, Design and Heritage, paragraph 7.1:

Good design is essential to creating places, buildings, or spaces that work well for everyone, look good, last well and will adapt to the needs of future generations… planning should always seek to secure high quality design and that good design is indivisible from good planning..

The report pack also quoted the National Planning Policy Framework2, paragraph 138:

Local planning authorities should ensure that they have access to, and make appropriate use of, tools and processes for assessing and improving the design of development..there is a range of tools including workshops to engage the local community, design advice and review arrangements… In assessing applications, local planning authorities should have regard to the outcome from these processes, including any recommendations made by design review panels.

Retrofitting and Conservation

The Planning Committee was scheduled to discuss Camden's work on conservation and retrofit, and how the Planning Service balances the need to address the climate emergency with the significance of listed buildings and conservation areas. The report pack noted that there are 40 Conservation Areas which cover circa 50% of the Borough and over 5,600 Listed Buildings, and that the Local Planning Authority is under a statutory duty to preserve/enhance heritage assets.

The report pack noted that Camden declared a climate emergency in 2019 and that power and heating for buildings causes 85% of the direct carbon dioxide emissions.

The report pack also noted that the Planning Service aims to encourage energy efficiency whilst balancing the boroughs heritage, and that retrofitting is a public benefit but does not always outweigh the harm to heritage.

The report pack included case studies of:

  • Bloomsbury Townhouse- Grade II Listed and a deep retrofit.
  • Swiss Cottage Library - Grade II double glazing, Air Source Heat Pumps, new roof.
  • Alexandra Road Estate Grade II* new windows, and new heating.
  • Coal Office- Conservation Area PV Panels.

The report pack also noted that the council is creating new Article 4 Directions for Hampstead, South Hampstead and Belsize Conservation Areas, which will remove the need for owners to apply for planning permission to install solar panels, solar thermal and standalone solar.

Digital Planning Update

The Planning Committee was scheduled to receive an update on Camden's Digital Planning work, with a focus on how emerging technologies and automation will shape the future of planning.

The report pack noted that Camden is a core member of the Open Digital Planning (ODP) community, working with over 100 councils, software developers and central government to co-create digital planning tools based on open standards, and that Camden is helping shape and pilot cutting-edge services such as:

  • PlanX – a user-facing tool to guide residents through the planning process.
  • Digital Site Notice (DSN) and Digital Planning Register (DPR) – smarter ways to share planning data with the public.
  • Back-Office Planning System (BOPS) – modern tools for officers that are designed to automate, not just digitise.

The report pack noted that PlanX has resulted in a 60% reduction in planning duty calls, allowing removal of duty planner service, and that the Report a planning breach service has automatic checks to see if a suspected breach is valid before submitting.

Planning Policy Update

The Planning Committee was scheduled to receive an update on recent and emerging changes to planning policy and guidance in Camden, including the Local Plan, Euston Area Plan, the London Plan, neighbourhood plans and planning frameworks and visions.

The report pack noted that the Camden Local Plan Proposed Submission Draft was approved by Cabinet and Full Council in April 2025 and published for consultation from 1 May to 27 June 2025, and that over 600 respondents have responded to the consultation and officers are currently collating and reviewing all the consultation responses received.

The report pack also noted that the Euston Area Plan (EAP) sets out Camden's vision for the future of Euston and its expectations for how new homes, jobs, green spaces and community facilities should be delivered, and that the Submission draft of the Plan is expected to be reported to Cabinet and Full Council in November 2025, with consultation on a submission draft timetabled for December 2025, with the EAP then submitted for Examination.

The report pack also noted that the Mayor of London has begun the process of reviewing the London Plan, which was adopted in March 2021, and that in May 2025 he published Towards a New London Plan for consultation.

The report pack also included an update on neighbourhood planning, noting that there are currently seven neighbourhood plans adopted in Camden (Camley Street, Dartmouth Park, Fortune Green and West Hampstead, Hampstead, Highgate, Kentish Town, and Redington Frognal), and that Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum are the first in the borough, and in London, to bring forward an update to their Neighbourhood Plan.

The report pack also included an update on planning frameworks and visions, including the Holborn Vision, Bloomsbury Vision, Regis Road Area Guidance, and Camden Town Vision.

Development Management Performance

The Planning Committee was scheduled to receive an update on performance within Development Management including: applications, pre-application submissions and local land charges for the Quarter 1 of 2025/26.

The report pack noted that over the past three years, the volume of planning applications submitted has remained relatively stable, and that the number of pre-application requests also remains reasonably steady and consistent.

The report pack also noted that the national performance targets are for 60% Major and 70% non-major applications to be determined within the statutory time limit or with an Extension of Time (EoT) or Planning Performance Agreement (PPA), calculated over a 12 month period.

The report pack also included an update on Local Land Charges, noting that the average time taken to return search requests in Q1 peaked at 33.1 days, exceeding the statutory timeframe, and that this delay was primarily due to the team being required to prioritise data improvement work requested by HM Land Registry, as part of the ongoing project to migrate the Local Land Charges Register.

Enforcement, Trees and Appeal Performance Update

The Planning Committee was scheduled to receive an update on performance of the planning enforcement team with an overall review of 2024/25 and Q1 of 202/26. The report pack outlined the number and type of reported breaches of planning control, and included further details on the CMP enforcement work, an update on a number of specific projects such as work being done to tackle Short Term Lets and some examples of recent enforcement cases.

The report pack noted that overall, the Enforcement Team received 939 new reports of suspected planning control breaches in 2024/25, which is a decrease from the 1,098 in 2022/23 and 1,031 in 2023/24, and that most reported breaches of planning control relate to works to residential properties, followed by changes of use to short term lets and then advertisements.

The report pack also noted that in 2024/25, the enforcement team served a record 133 enforcement notices.

The report pack also included an update on trees, outlining the number of tree notifications made and Tree Preservation Orders served.

The report pack also included an analysis and overview of all appeal decisions during Q3 and Q4 of 2024/25 and Q1 of 2025/26, highlighting significant appeal decisions and cost decisions.


  1. Section 106 obligations, also known as planning obligations, are legal agreements between a local authority and a developer, used to mitigate the impact of a development on the community and infrastructure. 

  2. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the government's planning policies for England and how these should be applied. 

Attendees

Profile image for Councillor Heather Johnson
Councillor Heather Johnson  Chair of Planning Committee •  Labour •  Regent's Park
Profile image for Councillor Edmund Frondigoun
Councillor Edmund Frondigoun  Labour •  St Pancras and Somers Town
Profile image for Councillor Sagal Abdi-Wali
Councillor Sagal Abdi-Wali  Cabinet Member for Better Homes •  Labour •  Camden Square
Profile image for Councillor Lotis Bautista
Councillor Lotis Bautista  Labour •  King's Cross
Profile image for Councillor Tommy Gale
Councillor Tommy Gale  Labour •  South Hampstead
Profile image for Councillor Liam Martin-Lane
Councillor Liam Martin-Lane  Labour •  King's Cross
Profile image for Councillor Adam Harrison
Councillor Adam Harrison  Cabinet Member for Planning and a Sustainable Camden and Deputy Leader •  Labour •  Bloomsbury
Profile image for Councillor Samata Khatoon
Councillor Samata Khatoon  Labour •  St Pancras and Somers Town
Profile image for Councillor Andrew Parkinson
Councillor Andrew Parkinson  Conservative •  Frognal
Profile image for Councillor Tom Simon
Councillor Tom Simon  Leader of the Opposition •  Liberal Democrats •  Belsize
Profile image for Councillor Robert Thompson
Councillor Robert Thompson  Labour •  Kilburn
Profile image for Councillor Sue Vincent
Councillor Sue Vincent  Labour and Co-op Party •  Holborn and Covent Garden

Topics

No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.

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