Planning update - an interview with Steve Clark - chief planning officer at Merton Council
As planning and licensing are brought under the same control, what are the challenges and upcoming issues facing our streets

Wimbledon Civic Hall. Project managers have been appointed, and they are developing the project taking into account the views of community organisations, and the scheme developed in the late 1980s for the site. The hall is envisaged to e a 400-600 seat capacity venue in the car park next to Wimbledon Theatre. The consultants report is scheduled to complete in July 2004, and the decision on how to proceed will be taken. Finance is still required for the hall - a local philanthropist would be most welcome. The idea of local subscriptions has not been ruled out but is unlikely to raise more than a proportion of the cost. An issue yet to be decided is to what extent Section 106 receipts (money paid by developers for improvements to the local area) can be used for the scheme.

Wimbledon Park Hall. A planning brief has been prepared for this site and is now out for public consultation. It is quite close to the plan put forward by local residents association, for a redevelopment which would include a community facility of approximately the same floor area as the current facility. If the consultation goes well the site will be sold to a developer who will undertake to build the new community facility.

Licensing legislation. The Bill received assent last June 2003. The government has to put guidance and statutory instruments through parliament, and indications are that this will happen in June 2004. One issue yet to be resolves is representation from the Local Government Association that the fees for licenses do not cover the cost of granting them. it is anticipated that there will be a 6 month period before a transitional period of 6 months, with the Council taking over responsibility for licensing around September 2005. However it can receive applications from say December 2004. The council must produce a statement of licensing policy, after comments and consultation, which will be the rule book from which individual applications are judged.

Planning applications:

Atkinson Morley Hospital. The health trust has indicated that it will be submitting a revised application which is fully in accordance with the council's planning brief. This remains to be seen, but if so, it should go through relatively quickly.  The application is awaited.

All England Lawn Tennis Club. An application has been received for a new roof over Centre Court. This is being considered alongside an application to meet safety and sports ground legislation, and the council is keen to make sure that both are acceptable. Chairs have to be larger, so there is proposed to be an extension of the seating area in order to keep the same numbers of spectators. However this increases travel distances. The council are asking for the court to be able to be evacuated in a reasonable time. The gatehouse is now complete, and overall the quality of the design is considered good.

Plough Lane. A new application has been put in to increase the number of residential units on this site. The Mayor of London is involved since it is a referable application, and Government of London is looking for 50% affordable housing rather than 30% which the Council require. This may lead to an increase in density.

Electromagnetic radiation has been raised as an issue in relation to this development which is near power lines. Merton Council does not have expertise in EM radiation although they keep abreast of developments. The responsible body is the National Radiological Protection Board. NRPB have been formally consulted on the proposals and have reported that the anticipated strength of the electromagnetic field is well within the limit of 100 micro-tesla ( Their figure is 0.6).

Telecom masts. The government have made it clear that the planning system is not the proper forum for considering the health effects of telecom masts. if a local authority turned down such an application on health grounds they may have their decision overruled and costs awarded against them. Parliament is the forum for health concerns, and through parliament the NRPB.

In Raynes Park there is concern about a new mast in an industrial estate, situated between the railway lines, but only 150 metres from West Wimbledon Primary School.

Merton Council keeps a watching brief and meets regularly with telecom operators, but there is a central government have raised 28 billion through licenses, and the police system TETRA, as well as all the 5 major telecom operators, and the railways are all upgrading their equipment so there will many more masts going up.

Merton Priory Information Centre. The Trust has been formed and are pursuing their application for lottery funding for the centre.

Colliers Wood is still expanding. The scheme on the old Brown and Root tower site has been approved. It involves, mainly residential, (about 230 flats) but with a new library and community facilities, and some office accommodation. There is a question as to whether the applicant Saracens will sell on the development to someone else. Additionally there are 70 flats are proposed on the old Nissan garage site. These and other schemes mean that Merton will meet its targets for new housing.

Wimbledon Station Precinct - the P1 site. The railways are continually in a state of flux, and no immediate redevelopment is on the cards. A dutch architecture school made a study of the site. MB to follow up.

Merton Design Awards are being held this year and nominations are sought. Phil Ryder is the officer responsible.

Pavings and barriers in Wimbledon Town Centre. A recent Civic Forum event called for a rethink of the pedestrian marshalling scheme in central wimbledon - pedestrians are coralled by railings and barriers, and there is far too much obstruction and signage on the pavement. Russell Makin, cabinet member for transport, has indicated his support in principle for a rethinking of this design strategy. SC explained that a similar proposal for Kensington high Street led o a legal question of who would be liable, if as a result of the removal of the barriers, someone was harmed. In this case a councillor at RBKC had personally taken liability, the only way to persuade reluctant highway engineers to proceed. For this reason SC though that such a scheme in Wimbledon would be unlikely to proceed. MB asked about the quality of the street infrastructure: many lamp posts are out of plumb. Concrete paviours have a short life expectancy.

Funniest thing that happened recently? A call from the cash office at Merton Council to say 'we have a cheque here for you for £648,000'. It was the planning delivery grant ( funding from central government as a result of Merton meeting its planning targets) which had come through. This will help Merton fund its planning department better, leading to improved service.

The Unitary Development Plan is now finalised, and the final version is being produced. We will shortly be embarking on its successor, the Local Development Framework, which will be prepared over the next few years. This is a slimmer version of the UDP which sets out strategy, which will be supported by Supplementary Planning Documents giving further details.

Steve Clark interviewed by Marcus Beale - 5 May 2004