Kingston Futures
Information for this page is sourced from the Council.
The Kingston Futures Regeneration Programme is a borough wide initiative to drive growth opportunities and involve itself in the promotion of appropriate development; lobby for infrastructure improvements and seek external funding to deliver projects designed to facilitate residential and business growth. It is well funded. Kingston Futures is part of the Council’s Corporate Policy Programme and is supported by the statutory planning process including a series of planning development briefs. With Kingston Futures the Council is in part responding to the London Plan growth projections and taking initiative on shaping the future of Kingston. This is an ongoing and unfolding process. The London Plan and its further alterations have placed a duty on Councils to deliver their share of the growth. Failure to have a clear vision and strategy for how to deliver this growth whilst maintaining the Borough's character carries greater risk of lost appeal decisions and the kind of growth we would not wish to see. The draft development briefs for North Kingston and Eden Quarter helped to understand how growth in the town centre might be accommodated. The council is pursuing Opportunity Area* status for Kingston town centre in the new London Plan, which it is expected to achieve in due course. It will provide a planning and infrastructure framework for the Kingston Opportunity Area ( page with map link ). The OAPF (Opportunity Area Planning Framework) will also set out the development and infrastructure costs and revenue streams, together with co-ordinated transport options for the town centre. We voiced our concerns about in the Eden Quarter Consultation document, namely protecting open and green spaces, the impact of tall buildings, and the need for enhancing local culture and heritage - We encourage the Council to pursue these aims not only in theory, but also in policy and practice. *Opportunity areas "...are the capital’s major reservoir of brownfield land with significant capacity to accommodate new housing, commercial and other development linked to existing or potential improvements to public transport accessibility. Typically they can accommodate at least 5,000 jobs or 2,500 new homes or a combination of the two, along with other supporting facilities and infrastructure". The Mayor expects Opportunity areas, and to a lesser extent Intensification areas "to make particularly significant contributions towards meeting London’s housing needs". - London Plan. Background
Kingston Futures was originally established as the brand under which The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames markets growth and business opportunities in Kingston town centre and used for a series of planning development briefs. First Launched in June 2014, Kingston Futures expanded its remit in February 2015 beyond Kingston town centre, to look across the Borough for regeneration and growth opportunities. At the same time, the Further Alterations to the London Plan (FALP) identified increased housing, employment and population growth figures for the Borough. The Planning Inspectorates Report on the Examination in Public into the FALP was published on 15 December 2014. Kingston Futures began its delivery phase with the refurbishment of the Ancient Market and will "continue delivering projects supporting growth, prosperity and well being. |
On the 1st July 2015: We attended a Growth and Prosperity for All meeting organised by Kingston First, Kingston Futures and RBK. We met James Berry and all the key players from the Council, except Kevin Davis.
Slides are here:
Vision and Strategy
The Kingston Futures vision and strategy will deliver growth projects over a ten year period. The vision and strategy will "provide a route to shape and deliver growth, and the guiding principles to help deliver a future for Kingston in which we all want to live". The Vision and strategy document can be downloaded here Implementation plan
The Kingston Futures implementation plan will deliver accelerated growth through a number of work streams and interventions designed to "facilitate growth in way that maintains the character of Kingston and also optimises the use of council assets as a catalyst for regeneration". The activity to support this work will include the following items.The interests of residents need to be taken into account in the preparation of these documents:
Key people
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