HILLINGDON UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN - London Borough ...

-to encourage development which provides employment likely to be met from the local labour
force; and
-to ensure that the redevelopment and regeneration of older industrial areas and new
employment-generating development secure environmental improvements.
2.55 The Plan also contains policies for the Borough's major employment and traffic generator,
Heathrow Airport, and other aspects of the aviation industry which have an impact on Hillingdon. It also
includes policies for hotel development and tourism which are an integral part of the local economy. A
further chapter deals with minerals and waste disposal industries which, whilst not directly of major
importance in employment terms, are related to the economy of London as a whole and have a significant
impact on the local environment.
(iv)
Providing access to Opportunities for All Residents
2.56 There are people who may experience particular problems as a result of which they are unable to
participate fully in the life of the community. However, it is the Council's intention to increase access to
facilities and opportunities for all Hillingdon's residents. In its statutory and informal consultation
arrangements on planning matters, the Local Planning Authority will take specific steps to consult and
involve ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, women and elderly people. It is necessary for local
planning authorities to consider the relationship of planning policies and proposals to social needs and
problems, including the likely impact on different groups such as ethnic minorities, religious groups,
elderly and disabled people, single parent families, students and others who may be disadvantaged (PPG12,
Para 5.48).
2.57 People of pensionable age form a significant and increasing proportion of Hillingdon's
population, and both the number and proportion of those over 75 is particularly on the increase. Planning
decisions can play an important role in helping to facilitate the independence of elderly people and their
active participation in the social life of the Borough. Elderly people, due to their increased frailty and
decreased mobility, are likely to be more disadvantaged than the general population and policies are needed
to ameliorate this disadvantage. The specific planning needs of elderly people will vary, but their problems
include inappropriate and inadequate public transport and dependency upon locally provided health care,
community, recreation and shopping facilities. It is the intention of the Local Planning Authority to seek to
ensure that elderly people are catered for throughout the Borough through a proper assessment of their
needs and improving their access to existing and proposed facilities.
2.58 The 1991 Census indicated that the number of people with limiting long-term illness was
22,923, about 10% of the total population. Their problems overlap with those of women and elderly
people; nationally, 75% of people with disabilities are over pensionable age. However people with
disabilities are not a homogeneous group, having widely different abilities, interests and aspirations.
Whilst their basic needs tend to be the same as for everyone else, they experience problems of access to
facilities and mobility within buildings. They often have to make special arrangements for everyday
activities, frequently depending on others for transport, because their needs have not been taken into
account. Furthermore, restricted employment opportunities and associated low pay can severely limit
housing options for people with disabilities. The Council recognises that the potential of many people with
disabilities could be increasingly realised if environmental constraints were removed, and a number of
policies of this Plan seek to address specific problems and improve access to the Borough's facilities.
Many planning decisions can have a major impact on people with disabilities, and the Local Planning
Authority will take their needs into account in order to enable them to enjoy the same opportunities and
ability to participate in everyday activities as are enjoyed by other residents.
2.59 In 1991, 28,067 people (12.3% of Hillingdon Borough residents in private households) were in
households whose head was in a non-white ethnic group. Nearly two-thirds of them had ancestors from the
Indian sub-continent. Their age-structure shows a higher proportion of children and a much lower
proportion of pensioners compared with the age structure of all residents in private households. This
structure derives from that of the immigrant population who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s. Information
London Borough of Hillingdon Unitary Development Plan