The Pimlico Forum needs to know your views about some key issues that will affect our area so they’ve produced a leaflet that expands on the ideas in the exhibition and an online survey to find out what you think about it.
Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum was set up to develop a Neighbourhood Plan that will influence how development will happen in Pimlico. The Pimlico Forum is now setting out its thinking about how the area might develop in the future. It is seeking views of residents and local businesses to help develop the plan to the next stage.
There will be a drop in consultation event on Wednesday 8 November 3-8pm at Dryburgh Hall in Alderney Street, SW1V 4ET with a small exhibition.
Leaflet
The Pimlico Forum needs to know your views about some key issues that will affect our area so they’ve produced a leaflet that expands on the ideas in the exhibition and an online survey to find out what you think about it.You can view and download the leaflet here (PDF ∼500Kb).
Survey
The Pimlico Forum is keen to get your feedback on the Plan via their online survey. Please take a minute to tell them what you feel about it – it’s vital that Pimlico residents and businesses have a say in the future of their neighbourhood.
The survey will run to 30th Nov 2017.
The Neighbourhood Plan
Introduced by the Localism Act 2011, Neighbourhood Plans enable communities to have a say in the development of their areas. When adopted, a Neighbourhood Plan becomes part of the Local Plan and the policies contained within it are then used in the determination of planning applications.
Developing the Pimlico Neighbourhood Plan
Everyone’s ideas are sought in the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan, and the result is subject to a referendum of residents across the area – in this case Pimlico (The area designated by Westminster City Council shown on the map overleaf. It excludes the Churchill Gardens Estate, which has its own Neighbourhood Forum). Our plan is being shaped by the Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum, which holds public meetings to discuss it; the detailed work is done by a Steering Group which the Forum elected.
In response to an earlier stage of consultation, the Steering Group has begun to assess the priorities of Pimlico residents, from the feedback received. It would now like to know what you think about the policies that will help shape Pimlico over the coming years.
So, please take a look at the Leaflet and use the Online Survey to have your say. And please tell your Pimlico neighbours about it!
Queries and comments are welcome! If you’d like to send a message to the Pimlico Forum, if you’d like to get involved, please write to email@pimlicoforum.org
About the Pimlico Forum
Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum was proposed by Pimlico FREDA (Federation of Residents Associations of Pimlico) and designated by Westminster City Council with the main aim of developing a Neighbourhood Plan.
The Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum area is the area of Pimlico bounded by Vauxhall Bridge Road, Gillingham Street, the Railway and the River, excluding the Churchill Gardens Estate which has its own forum.
The Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum is developing a Neighbourhood Plan in order to influence planning decisions in the local area. After the Plan is adopted by Westminster Council it will shape decisions in the area.
What is a Neighbourhood Plan?
The Plan is a planning document that will influence what planning applications for new buildings can be passed, aspects of their design, what conditions for example on affordable housing will be applied, where residential or commercial development can take place and it will also affect how certain taxes (the “Community Infrastructure Levy”) are spent in the area.
The Plan has to be in general conformity with National planning policies and with Westminster’s Strategic planning policy, but there is considerable scope within this and can add detail to gaps in existing policies.
A steering group was elected last Summer and a meeting of the Forum was held on 21st March 2017 (Read a report of the meeting here).
Vision
The last meeting of the forum agreed a vision for the plan:
Continue to maintain the quiet village atmosphere and its largely residential nature.
Improve the quality of life of current and future residents by bringing about a more vibrant retail and commercial sector and enhancing leisure and cultural facilities.
Development that respects and enhances the form and setting of the conservation areas.
Protecting the squares and green spaces and where possible add more of them.
Improve the local environmental quality by continuing to limit and if possible reduce the harmful effects of traffic.
Progress
Since we last reported at the Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum meeting in St Saviour’s Hall on 21 March, we’ve been making progress in developing our Neighbourhood Plan:
We’ve met Victoria and Belgravia forums and local housing associations.
We’ve also met residents’ representatives of some of the local estates.
We’ve also set up several workstreams to develop the plan, led by local residents and members of the forum.
Roadmap
We envisage the plan covering the workstream areas of:
Housing.
Design and Heritage.
Economic/Non residential development.
Environment, leisure, open spaces and Transport.
Maintaining our infrastructure.
We’re planning to brings this work together in an exhibition and more detailed consultation event on 8th November (afternoon and early evening) in Dryburgh Hall, Northern end of Alderney Street on the Abbots Manor Estate, so please save the date!
Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum was proposed by Pimlico FREDA (Federation of Residents Associations of Pimlico) and designated by Westminster City Councilwith the main aim of developing a Neighbourhood Plan.
The Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum Area
The Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum area is the area of Pimlico bounded by Vauxhall Bridge Road, Gillingham Street, the Railway and the River, excluding the Churchill Gardens Estate which has its own forum.
The second meeting of the Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum took place on Tuesday 21 March 2017 at St Saviour’s Hall, Pimlico.
Present were the Steering Group as well as Councillors: Nickie Aiken, Christabel Flight, Jacqui Wilkinson, Angela Harvey, Shamim Talukder and Murad Gassanly and 67 Pimlico residents.
The meeting approved Andrew McCarthy, a retired solicitor living in Pimlico, as an additional member of the Steering Group. It also agreed that the Forum should be incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee, a corporate form that limits the liability of members to £1 and the necessary changes to the Constitution will be put to the next meeting for formal approval.
The Committee has been asking local residents groups what they like about Pimlico, as well as what would make it better and what the priorities should be for the Neighbourhood Plan. It has also been finding out from the most recent Census data the characteristics of the households in Pimlico:
There are about seventeen and a half thousand residents in Pimlico, living in nine and a half thousand households, almost all of them flats.
30% own their own homes, 30% live in council or housing association homes and 36% rent privately.
There has been a 21% increase in the number of residents living in Pimlico between the census of 2001 and 2011 and a 64% increase in people living in private rented homes.
Without much new build, this huge increase in population has happened without any major increase in street frontage or indeed increase in infrastructure provided.
We have also been asking the local residents associations:
What did they like about the area,
What would make it better,
What buildings or services were needed in the next 20 years
And what policy areas should be given priority.
In the light of the responses the meeting agreed with the Committee’s view that the “Vision” for developing the Neighbourhood Plan at this stage should be:
Continue to maintain the quiet village atmosphere and its largely residential nature
Improve the quality of life of current and future residents by bringing about a more vibrant retail and commercial sector and enhancing leisure and cultural facilities
Development that respects and enhances the form and setting of the conservation areas
Protecting the squares and green spaces and where possible add more of them
Improve the local environmental quality by continuing to limit and if possible reduce the harmful effects of traffic
PNF Steering Group
Peter Ruback (Chairman) James Ingham (Vice Chairman) Edward Reeve (Treasurer) Clive Aslet Mair Garside Andrew McCarthy
The meeting was held at St, Saviour’s Hall Monday 26 September 2016 at the invitation of the Pimlico Federation of Residents Association
Present:
Directors of Pimlico Freda: Mr Edward Reeve (Chairman), Mr Richard Gayner, Lady Scott
Westminster Councillors: Angela Harvey, David Harvey and Nickie Aiken
Guest Speaker: Mr Simon Birkett from the Knightsbridge Association
+ 50 Pimlico residents
Edward Reeve, acting as Chairman, welcomed Simon Birkett from the Knightsbridge Association (KA) to the meeting. He then outlined the main purpose of a Neighbourhood Forum which is to create a Neighbourhood Plan (NP). This Plan can include not only planning matters but it can also cover such issues as trees, open spaces, hotels, short-term tenancies, cultural and sporting provision for the area etc. Once approved, it will carry significant weight in planning decisions for Pimlico during its five-year life span. The Localism Act 2011 defines the hoops to be jumped during the process of creating a Neighbourhood Plan and states that NPs must cohere with both national and local policies.
Simon explained to the meeting that he had recently formulated Knightsbridge’s Neighbourhood Plan with the help of a professional planning firm. Their Plan runs to 140 pages and has cost the Kensington Association £100,000. It will soon be the subject of a public consultation, followed by a local referendum before it becomes active. He finished by generously saying that he would be happy to help us formulate Pimlico’s Neighbourhood Plan and to share any relevant chapters which feature in the Knightsbridge Plan.
The Chairman decided to set up a Steering Group, totally separate from Pimlico FREDA, which would manage the PNF membership, create the Neighbourhood Plan and raise funds for any professional help that might be needed. Raising funds was considered to be the biggest challenge in our area which has no big businesses.
The PNF Steering Group was then formally elected by the meeting as follows: Peter Ruback as Chairman, and Clive Aslet, Edward Reeve, Mair Garside and James Ingham as members.
