HILLINGDON UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN - London Borough ...

LPAC's Strategic Planning Advice for London of February 1994 (see para 2.10 above) envisages
London as a city with a high urban quality based on the conservation and improvement of its green and
built environment.
2.23 Strategic Planning Guidance 1989 also gives a clear signal to boroughs to reaffirm the accepted
uses and status of Metropolitan Open Land and to define the detailed boundaries in their UDP. Boroughs
are to ensure that nature conservation is given full consideration when policies which can affect SSSIs and
other types of protected sites are drawn up. With regards to the built environment, Boroughs are to identify
in their UDP and conserve in a sympathetic way, areas of distinctive architectural character and historic
interest in order to protect their built heritage. Also of significance is the requirement to protect strategic
views, and other local views, and the need to take account of and preserve ancient monuments and their
settings.
2.24 The Council's recognition of the value of the Grand Union Canal as a recreational amenity for
the Borough is also being pursued through the London Canals Committee (LCC). The latter is made up of
authorities through which the canal runs, and organisations such as the Inland Waterways Association,
British Waterways and the London Tourist Board. The Committee has produced a set of guidelines for
canalside developments and the Council ensures that full account is taken of these when considering new
canalside development proposals. Notwithstanding the role of canalside building in providing
employment, the Council aims to ensure that new development is visually sensitive to the canalside
environment. Development should be of a particularly high standard and take account of the special
waterside qualities of its location. Small scale wildlife habitats along the banks of the canal or on adjoining
sites may be of importance to nature and should be preserved in the interest of nature conservation.
2.25 Both English Nature's 'Planning for Wildlife in Metropolitan Areas' and the London Ecology
Unit's Ecology Handbook for Hillingdon have provided a basis on which the Council has developed its
nature conservation and ecology policies. Draft Revised Strategic Guidance (1995) requires "nature
conservation objectives to be taken into account in all planning activities which affect rural land use and in
urban areas where there is wildlife of local importance" (Para 6.16).
2.26 The Council's policies for maintaining and enhancing the environment aim to:
-recognise the importance of the countryside, to promote its enjoyment and attempt to manage it
for the benefit of all;
-to identify, enhance and protect areas of nature conservation importance;
-to provide a framework within which the quality of the built environment can be improved
whilst retaining the desirable legacies of the past; and
-promote forms of environmentally sustainable development and transport which are
efficient in their use of energy and do not contribute to environmental pollution.
(ii)
Meeting Community Needs
2.27 The Council is aware, however, that it is necessary to balance conservation objectives with the
requirement for some new development to meet the needs of a population which totalled 231,600 in 1991,
and is projected to grow to 241,500 by 2001. These needs encompass everything which residents require
for a full and satisfying life, ranging from basic necessities such as a home, health facilities and places to
shop, to places in which the increasing amount of leisure time can be enjoyably spent.
2.28 It is estimated that the number of young children (0-9 years), adults aged 20-49 and those aged
75 and over increased over the period 1981-1991, whilst the numbers of young people aged 10-19 and
those aged 50 to 74 fell. Significant increases in secondary school numbers have been experienced over the
past 5 years, i.e. from 1992-96. This trend is set to continue and increase more significantly to the turn of
the century and beyond. Projections using actual numbers of children already in the primary sector in
London Borough of Hillingdon Unitary Development Plan