Central Area Good Growth SPD

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The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has prepared the first draft of a supplementary planning guidance to support the development of high-quality housing developments in the central part of the borough. We now want to hear your views and feedback on the draft document.

This is your opportunity to have your say and contribute to this work. There is more information about the project below, but if you want you can go straight to the survey.

Why is this SPD needed and how does it relate to the Local Plan?

In order to deliver much-needed homes and to plan

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has prepared the first draft of a supplementary planning guidance to support the development of high-quality housing developments in the central part of the borough. We now want to hear your views and feedback on the draft document.

This is your opportunity to have your say and contribute to this work. There is more information about the project below, but if you want you can go straight to the survey.

Why is this SPD needed and how does it relate to the Local Plan?

In order to deliver much-needed homes and to plan for housing growth, the Tower Hamlets Local Plan 2031 directs housing delivery by identifying four sub-areas to positively manage development opportunities and change at the strategic level. The sub-area found at the central part of the borough is known as the Central Area. The Central Area has a well-established character, with several conservation areas and listed buildings, as well as some of the borough’s key green spaces such as Victoria Park and Mile End.

The area is formed of several neighbourhoods, or character places, as the map below shows:

Map showing Tower Hamlets and the boundary of the Central Area within it. The map also shows each of the 10 character places with a different colour.

With limited land available for significant redevelopment and a sensitive character, it is expected that the Central Area will go through a gradual intensification through small-scale housing developments that are sensitive to the existing context. These may include roof/rear extensions to existing buildings, estate infills and new build developments.

The Central Area Good Growth Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) aims to:

  • Provide guidance to help deliver housing growth
  • Help to ensure new developments respect and enhance the well-established character of this part of the borough
  • Encourage good quality, sustainable housing
  • Allow for a variety of housing solutions and promote innovation where possible
  • Support those involved in putting forward development proposals such as residents, homeowners, community groups, SMEs, developers and associated agents by providing more certainty on the council's aspirations
  • Describe the character and buildings of the Central Area to inform context-led design

What does the SPD cover?

The Central Area Good Growth SPD, which is now in draft form for public consultation, provides design guidance to ensure that new small-scale housing developments proposed in the Central Area are of a high design quality and that they respond to and enhance the area’s distinctive and valued character. The SPD is informed by an updated character study of the different neighbourhoods in the Central Area, including descriptions of existing scale, urban grain and typologies. By providing design guidance directly informed by existing character, the SPD will promote Good Growth in the Central Area.

Why is Tower Hamlets consulting?

After an early stage public consultation in September 2020 and a series of workshops, we have developed guidelines in collaboration with residents, council services, Members, developers, architects, officers and experts in a range of fields.

We now want to hear from you! This is the first full draft of the document that is being made public - your feedback is invaluable to help shape the final adopted document.


How can you respond to the consultation?

You can tell us your views by:

  1. Completing the Online Survey. The Survey goes through the document chapter by chapter with related questions and you can choose whether you want to comment on all or just some of the chapters.
  2. Adding a pin to the Interactive Map. We want to know which housing projects that have been delivered in the past couple of years that you like. This can include roof/rear extensions to existing buildings, estate infills and new build developments.
  3. You can book a Scheduled a Virtual Drop-in session for Tuesday 26th January and Wednesday 3rd February. The idea is that you can bring any specific questions or points you’d like to discuss with us about the SPD. If you’re interested, we ask you to sign up for a 15-min slot using the link above.
  4. Attending an Online Sessions. Project officers will be holding a series of online sessions where they will run through a presentation on the emerging SPD and will answer questions from the public. You can sign up to any of these events here:

If you would like to get in touch with the project team with further questions/comments please email placeshaping@towerhamlets.gov.uk

In addition to the public events, we are also holding focus-group workshops with youth groups, neighbourhood forums, self-build groups and officers working on similar guidance from other councils. You can email us for more information placeshaping@towerhamlets.gov.uk


Outline of the Central Area of Tower Hamlets:


Outline of the Central Area of Tower Hamlets