Policy 7 requires high-quality residential design, protecting residents' amenity and quality of life. It applies to new developments, ensuring adequate privacy, daylight, and green space. The council will support developments meeting National Space Standards and providing accessible, adaptable homes.
Plain-English summary of the adopted policy text below. The full text is the rule; this is the gist.
Residential development should be of a high design quality that is inclusive and provides an attractive, safe and accessible living environment for new residents whilst ensuring that the amenity and quality of life of existing and future residents is not adversely impacted.
To protect the amenity of existing and future residents the Council will support developments that do not result in:
i. Unacceptable overlooking or loss of privacy or outlook;
ii. Unacceptable loss of daylight and sunlight; and
iii. Unacceptable levels of noise, vibration and disturbance.
To ensure a high quality living environment for residents of new developments, the Council will support residential developments that: iv.
Meet the National Space Standards and the London Plan requirement for floor to ceiling heights;
London Borough of Havering Local Plan 2016-2031 Adopted 2021
7 Successful Places to Live
Are sited and designed to maximise daylight and sunlight;
Incorporate an appropriate level of high quality, usable green infrastructure and amenity space that is designed to be multi-functional and offer a range of environmental benefits and leisure and recreation opportunities;
vii. Provide both balconies and communal amenity space in flatted schemes; and
viii. Maximises the provision of dual aspect accommodation unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated;
In any development affordable and market housing will be expected to have the same external appearance and equivalent amenity in relation to views, daylight, noise and proximity to open space.
New developments should promote independent living by utilising designs which can allow for alterations to be made in the future. The Council will require 90% of new build housing to meet Building Regulation requirement M4(2) ‘Accessible and Adaptable Dwellings’, with the remaining 10 percent meeting Building Regulation requirement M4(3) ‘Wheelchair User Dwellings’.
The Council will support and encourage proposals which provide adaptations enabling residents to live independently and safely in their own homes.
7.5.1
All residents should feel at ease within their home. If people feel safe and comfortable in their homes then they are more likely to be positive about their surroundings and this can help ensure that they will wish to live and stay in an area and mix with their neighbours to create mixed, inclusive and integrated communities. Careful, high quality design is therefore required to ensure that new and existing residents have a good quality of life. Adequate privacy, amenity space, comfort and security are important design issues that contribute to the health and wellbeing of residents. Securing these benefits can help community cohesion and encourage people to put down roots and invest in an area.
7.5.2
The positioning and orientation of properties, including their windows and balconies, must be carefully considered to ensure that adequate privacy is maintained for everyone. In particular, habitable rooms and areas of private gardens close to dwellings should not be excessively overlooked by windows or balconies. Screening can reduce overlooking in these instances. All habitable rooms should contain at least one main window with an adequate outlook where nearby walls or buildings do not appear overbearing or unduly dominant. Loss of outlook arises from development taking place in close proximity to existing development and introducing or significantly increasing a sense of enclosure.
7.5.3
The Council will expect the impact of development proposals to be assessed following the methodology set out in the most recent version of Building Research Establishment’s (BRE) “Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight: A guide to good practice”. Depending on the scale of the development a Daylight and Sunlight Report may be required to fully assess the impacts.
7.5.4
New development in Havering should be of a high quality and offer a good quality living environment for residents. Dual aspect accommodation offers a range of benefits such as better daylight, a greater chance of direct sunlight for longer periods, natural cross ventilation, mitigating pollution, offering a choice of views, greater flexibility and adaptability. In line with the Mayor’s Housing SPG 2016 developments should minimise the number of single aspect dwellings. Single aspect dwellings that are north facing, or exposed to noise levels above which significant adverse effects on health and quality of life occur, or which contain three or more bedrooms should be avoided.
7.5.5
High quality green infrastructure and amenity space provides many benefits in terms of opportunities for recreation and leisure, and enhancing quality of life through improved health, reduced stress levels, child development through play spaces and interaction with the natural environment.
7.5.6
The fundamental design considerations for amenity space are its quality and usability. The size, shape and slope of amenity space is key to its usability. Awkwardly shaped, narrow and very steeply sloping amenity spaces should be avoided. In designing high quality amenity space, consideration should be given to privacy, outlook, sunlight, trees and planting, materials (including paving), lighting and boundary treatment.
7.5.7
The design and provision of private amenity space is particularly important in flatted schemes. Balconies should be incorporated into all flatted developments and should, as a minimum, be 1.5 metres in depth and in line with the Mayor's Housing SPG. Ground floor dwellings in flatted schemes can provide
Local Plan 2016-2031 Adopted 2021 London Borough of Havering
7 Successful Places to Live direct access to a private garden space leading to a private communal space beyond. Communal amenity space will be expected on all flatted schemes and may be appropriate on some large housing schemes. Communal amenity space should be designed to be private, attractive, functional and safe.
Its quality and management should encourage a sense of ownership and pride.
7.5.8
Where it is not possible or appropriate to provide private gardens and communal amenity space, roof gardens will normally be acceptable alternatives provided they do not result in overlooking which reduces the privacy of neighbouring residents or other occupiers within the development.
7.5.9
Proximity to public open space will be considered when assessing the adequacy of provision of private amenity space only where design and layout is of sufficient high quality and contributions are made through s106 for enhancements to existing open space.
7.5.10
In areas where restaurants, pubs, bars, and night clubs are already established prior to the development of new residential developments in the same area, developers are to include the Deed of Easement of Noise as part of the sales agreement.