As the official planning authority, Kingston Council has the final say on this proposal. However, one major issues threatens the decision making process:

‘The tilted balance’

Kingston doesn’t have an up-to-date Local Plan. Its existing plan is from 2012, and the emerging plan will not be adopted until 2027.

Its plan is considered out of date as it does not provide 5 years visibility of housing provision – currently 1.48 years.

This failure places Kingston and residents in a weakened position Under the National Planning Policy Framework (paragraph 11), any council lacking an up-to-date plan must ‘tilt the balance’ in favour of proposals for new developments unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.

There is a small argument to be made that approving the development might prejudice the plan making process (NPPF paragraphs 50-51).

Ordinarily development applications should follow local plans and policies, not the other way round. This application will require ammendments to Metropolitan Open Land that can only come throught the Development Plan process (London Plan Policy G3).

A decision to build on MOL should not be rushed in to in order to meet a short term housing need. This point is made in NPPF Paragraph 142:

“The Government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence“