Romford Town Centre - expired

Havering has set out 18 policies relating to Romford's Town Centre, detailed below. Please select the policy you are interested in.

Havering's Romford Town Centre

• ROM1 - Additional Retail Floorspace
• ROM2 - Retail Development Sites
• ROM3 - Non-Retail Uses in Romford Town Centre
• ROM4 - Refurbishment of the Liberty Shopping Centre
• ROM5 - Pedestrianisation South Street /High Street
• ROM6 - Repaving/planting landscaping in South Street/Western Road
• ROM7 - Repaving/planting landscaping in the Market Place
• ROM8 - Office Development
• ROM9 - Eastern/ Western Road Office Area
• ROM10 - Leisure Uses
• ROM11 - Sites for Town Centre Development
• ROM12 - Retention of Housing
• ROM13 - Restraint of Peak Hour Traffic Flows
• ROM14 - Increase of Public Off-street Parking
• ROM15 - Car Park between Eastern and Western Road
• ROM16 - Improved Public Transport Facilities
• ROM17 - Licensed Taxi Facilities
• ROM18 - Cycle Facilities

POLICY ROM1

There will be a general presumption in favour of the creation of additional retail floorspace in the town centre (as defined on the Proposals Map) provided such floorspace will not create adverse environmental effects or levels of traffic congestion and will not prejudice the implementation of specific policies and proposals in this plan. Proposals that involve loss of housing will be assess against Policy ROM12.

Romford is one of the largest shopping centres in London and has a sub regional importance in shopping terms. As such it has been designated as a Strategic Centre in LPAC's Strategic Planning Advice, and in Policies STR1 and STR4 of this Plan.

Further retail expansion of Romford is necessary to maintain and enhance this strategic role as a Centre serving the whole Borough and a much wider catchment area. New retail development in the Town Centre will help to take pressure off existing outlets. It may also attract trade at present going out of the Borough to Central London and will help to cater for any increase in work-related shopping trips particularly those generated by new office development in Romford.

Further qualitative improvements in shopping provision are also desirable to provide a greater range, quality and choice of goods and types of shopping facilities in a location accessible to all sections of the community.

Developments affecting the Romford Conservation Area will be required to preserve and enhance its character and appearance in accordance with Policy ENV3.

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PROPOSAL ROM2

The Council will seek to secure retail development at the following retail development sites (as defined on the Proposals Map and set out in Schedule 9, found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page. ):

(a) North Side of Market Place.

(b) Vacant site to the west of Western road multi-storey car park.

(c) 11-21 North Street.

These limited proposals (which were also proposals of the Romford District Local Plan) are consistent with consolidating Romford's strategic role and are not considered to jeopardise the viability of District Centres in the Borough nor to pose any significant threat to the prosperity of other major shopping centres in adjacent Boroughs. Any trade diversion from individual shopping centres is likely to be small as trade diversion will be spread among the many shopping centres within Romford's very extensive catchment area.

a) North Side of the Market Place. This is an important site in terms of the contribution it can make to both the commercial and the townscape quality of the centre. Its development could include commercial uses appropriate to the Town Centre principally new shopping floorspace with offices above and fronting the Market Place. The Council will wish to secure in any development of the site a properly laid out parking facility for market traders vehicles, the provision of facilities for the management of the market, new public conveniences (including parents/baby facilities) and landscaping.

b) Vacant site to the west of Western Road multi-storey car park. The Council does not directly control the site but will seek to encourage retail development to complement the adjoining Town Centre uses.

c) 11-21 North Street, Planning permission has been granted for two alternative schemes:

ii) 5 shop units with 2 storeys of office above, with a gross floorspace of some 2200 sq.m.

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POLICY ROM3

In the retail core (as defined on the Proposals Map) the Council will allow retail uses (Class A1) at ground floor level with service uses being permitted only where all of the following criteria are met:

a) the use provides a service appropriate to a shopping area (eg Use Classes A2, A3);

b) the proposal will not result in a group of 3 or more adjoining non-retail uses;

c) not more than 15% of the length of the relevant frontage will be in non-retail use following implementation of the proposal.

In the frontages 72-116 and 87-131 South Street criteria, b) and c) will not be applied where the application is for an A3 use (eg restaurant, wine bar, take away food shop):

In the fringe areas (as defined on the Proposals Map) criteria b) and c) will not be applied. Retail uses (Class A1) and appropriate service uses (eg Use Classes A2 and A3) will generally be permitted but other uses will not normally be allowed.

In both the core and the fringes the Council will, where appropriate, insist on a shopfront being provided and an agreed display maintained.

This Policy is intended to maintain the viability and vitality of the Town Centre by protecting the predominantly retail use so that the range and choice of goods sold is maintained. At the same time, it recognises that uses such as banks, building societies and restaurants provide a complementary service for the shopping public, and it is therefore appropriate to make some provision for them in the centre.

The core has been defined in such a way as to single out the most concentrated areas of shopping for protection. In these areas the policy seeks to restrict the number of non-retail uses and also to prevent their grouping as this would interrupt the continuity of individual shopping frontages thus undermining their contribution to the centre as a whole. The defined fringe areas are sufficiently large to leave reasonable scope for other appropriate uses.

The Council is prepared to be more flexible regarding restaurants, wine bars and take away hot food shops in the frontages 72-116 and 87-131 South Street in the interests of providing such services near the important transport interchange of Romford Station, a cinema and discotheque and the offices in Eastern/Western Road. In addition these frontages are on the edge of the retail core and will reduce any pressures for non-retail uses in the rest of the core. However, the Council will not be prepared to allow such changes of use to fragment the retail frontage to an unacceptable degree.

The insistence on an agreed shop front and window display will help to ensure that the retail character of the retail core is not weakened as a result of allowing non-retail uses.

NB. In dealing with multi-level schemes the Council will interpret "ground floor" as meaning any level at which the public presently shops.

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PROPOSAL ROM4

The Council will seek to achieve the comprehensive refurbishment of the Liberty shopping centre (as defined on the Proposals Map and set out in Schedule 9 ,found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page.).

The original Liberty Shopping Centre was completed in the early 1970s and is now in need of refurbishment. In this context, and as part of its overall proposals to improve the environment of the Town Centre (See also Proposals ROM5, ROM6, ROM7), the Council will seek to secure appropriate comprehensive environmental improvements. This will include high quality finishes, improved lighting, glazed roofing and improved security outside shopping hours to increase its attractiveness to shoppers, shopkeepers and investors.

The Council retains a financial interest in the shopping centre and is thus in a position to encourage its partners to bring about this refurbishment.

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PROPOSAL ROM5

The Council will pedestrianise South Street north of Exchange Street together with High Street, east of Angel Way (as defined on the Proposals Map and set out in Schedule 9, found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page.). The Council will then undertake re-paving, planting and landscaping schemes in the pedestrianised area.

The pedestrian only areas already created in the Town Centre are successful examples of the Council's policy of improving the environment and of seeking improvements for safe and convenient pedestrian movement (See Policy TRN16). The Council wishes to extend these benefits to other parts of the centre. The detailed scheme to be implemented will make provision for the use of the area by service vehicles during limited hours, a taxi rank and a parking facility for people with disabilities in High Street, with limited use of High Street by market traders' vehicles leaving Market Place.

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PROPOSAL ROM6

The Council will carry out re-paving, planting and landscaping schemes in South Street between Havana Close and Western Road and extending partly into Western Road (as defined on the Proposals Map and set out Schedule 9, found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page.) in order to improve the environment, particularly for pedestrians.

The completion of the Ring Road has enabled the Council to introduce traffic management measures to reduce road congestion and improve the flow of traffic in the Town Centre, including the closure of South Street between Havana Close and Western Road to all traffic except buses, cycles and emergency vehicles. This has enabled the creation of a pedestrianised area in accordance with Policy TRN16. As and when resources permit, the Council will take the opportunity to improve the environment of these parts of South Street and Western Road by landscaping which will include re-paving and planting and the provision of bus lay-bys on the south side of Western Road (See Policy ROM16).

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PROPOSAL ROM7

In the Market Place east of Market Link (as defined on the Proposals Map and set out in Schedule 9, found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page.) the Council will undertake re-paving, planting and landscaping schemes consistent with the layout of the market, in order to improve the environment particularly for pedestrians. The opportunity will also be taken to improve pedestrian facilities in the Market Place west of Market Link.

The proposal to improve the environment of Market Place will involve landscaping including re-paving and planting but will not involve the removal of the vehicular access or all car parking from this area. As and when the detailed proposals are drawn up for such a scheme, interested parties will be notified and given an opportunity to comment before any decision is taken.

To the west of Market Link the opportunity will be taken to extend the pedestrian area where possible, and generally to improve the appearance of the surface area of the Market Place. This proposal is a further example of the Council's commitment to improving the environment and pedestrian safety (See Policy TRN16).

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POLICY ROM8

In the town centre, offices may be approved provided they will not create unacceptable environmental conditions or excessive traffic flows and will not prejudice the implementation of specific policies and proposals in this plan. Proposals that involve loss of housing will be assessed against Policy ROM12. Offices within Use Class B1 will not be acceptable at ground floor level in the retail core or the fringe areas (see Policy ROM3).

Romford has been identified in LPACs Strategic Planning Advice as an Intermediate Office Location where accommodation should be provided to meet the effective and potential demands for business floorspace.

The Romford District Local Plan identified two Office Development Areas at Eastern Road/Western Road and the British Rail Coal Yard site. The redevelopment of these areas is now either complete or committed. Other "Sites for Town Centre Development" which could accommodate major office development are identified in Policy ROM11 of this Plan. However, it is expected that the remainder of Romford Town Centre will also remain an attractive location for office development. Because it recognises the role of offices in the continued success of the centre, the Council will approve proposals provided they do not conflict with other policies of the Plan.

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POLICY ROM9

In order to maintain office employment in the Eastern/Western Road office area (as defined on the Proposals Map) the Council will:

a) resist changes of use of existing offices;

b) resist development/redevelopment proposals for any use other than offices.

The Romford District Local Plan identified the Eastern Road/Western Road areas as one of the Council's preferred locations for large scale office development. That policy has been very successful as the development of the area is now almost fully committed and is nearing completion. The Council intends to maintain the important commercial role of the area and the opportunities for office employment which it provides.

However, the Council is aware that there remain non-office uses within the areas and has no proposals to redevelop these for offices.

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POLICY ROM10

The Council will seek the retention and enhancement of existing facilities for arts, cultural, entertainment, sports and other leisure sues and will encourage the provision of additional such facilities. The Council will not normally permit proposals which would conflict with other policies and proposals of this plan although exceptions may be made where there are no other more suitable locations. However, exceptions will not be made where proposals would create unacceptable environmental conditions.

The Council feels that a further increase in the provision of arts, cultural, entertainment, indoor sports and other leisure facilities in Romford would be commensurate with its role as a Strategic Centre. The Town Centre is readily accessible by public and private transport and thus can serve a wide catchment. The Council has made a substantial provision of facilities such as the Dolphin Leisure Centre and the Ice Rink and therefore will particularly be looking to the private sector to provide additional commercial entertainment facilities.

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PROPOSAL ROM11

The plan designates the following areas (as defined on the Proposals Map and set out in Schedule 9, found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page.) as sites for town centre development. These will offer opportunities to provide, in a comprehensive manner, appropriate town centre developments:

a) junction of High Street and St Edward's Way.

b) Regarth Avenue.

c) Como Street.

Romford is the dominant commercial centre in Havering and as a Strategic Centre of regional importance it provides business, retail, leisure and community facilities and employment for the whole Borough and beyond. These three sites are likely to be available for development within the Plan period.

The Council considers that these sites are well suited to accommodating Town Centre uses such as retail, offices, leisure and car parking. They are all conveniently located in relation to the Town Centre and to public transport facilities.

The Council does not seek in this Plan to prescribe the detailed land uses to be provided on each site. Rather, it wishes to leave an element of flexibility so that as sites are brought forward for development, they can be used to meet the needs of the centre at that time subject to the need to keep an overall balance between uses and to avoid attracting excessive flows of traffic.

Whilst the main land use is likely to be commercial (shops, offices, leisure), the Council will wish to explore, where appropriate, the scope of the sites for making a contribution to the public car parking needs of the Centre (see Policy ROM14) and for providing housing as a secondary element of any scheme (see Policy HSG4).

In order to maximise the benefit from the development of these sites, the Council will wish to see each site developed comprehensively. This will also assist in achieving the high standard of architectural design which the Council will seek since these are sites of particular townscape importance.

a) Junction of High Street and St Edward's Way

The site at the junction of High Street and St Edward's Way is Council owned and is presently used for public car parking. Although the site was designated in the Romford District Local Plan for leisure uses, including possibly an hotel, the site could satisfactorily accommodate any of the town centre uses set out above, and accordingly this Plan allows greater flexibility.

b) Regarth Avenue

The dwellings in Regarth Avenue are an isolated pocket of housing in relatively poor physical condition, surrounded by existing commercial and industrial uses. The Council has acquired the leases of over half the properties in the area and is currently using them for short stay accommodation.

The site was designated in the Romford District Local Plan for commercial leisure uses, possibly with an element of offices. However, if comprehensively redeveloped, the site could accommodate any of the town centre uses set out above and accordingly this Plan allows greater flexibility. A comprehensive approach is particularly important on this site since the piecemeal introduction to part of the site of commercial uses would not be allowed while any substantial adjoining residential uses remained since this would worsen the already less than ideal amenity of existing residents.

c) Como Street

Como Street was identified in the Romford District Local Plan as a site for a non-food retail use such as DIY store of some 20,000 sq.ft with associated multi-storey parking. Whilst this form of development would still be acceptable, the policy of this Plan allows greater flexibility to respond to the land use needs of the centre and to the problems of access to the site arising from the closure of the North Street/Como Street junction.

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POLICY ROM12

There will be a general presumption in favour of the retention of housing, loss of housing will only be acceptable in one of the following exceptional circumstances:

a) where the property is not self-contained and was built before 1939;

b) where the property contains replacement housing;

c) where the property is within the Victoria Road Commercial area;

d) where the Council considers such loss of housing justified on the basis of the land use requirements of the area as a whole.

The availability of small office suites for local businesses and the ability of small shops to expand are essential to the continued economic prosperity of the Town Centre. Often businesses seek to use residential accommodation above existing commercial uses. However, because of the Council's wish to protect housing, changes of use will normally only be granted at non self-contained premises which cannot be readily converted to self-contained accommodation and which often suffer from a poor residential environment.

In redevelopment schemes for non-residential uses which involve the loss of existing housing the Council will seek to secure where appropriate the inclusion of housing as a secondary element of the scheme. Such replacement will contribute to the supply of housing in the Borough.

Because the Council wishes to see the Victoria Road Commercial Area provide opportunities for small scale businesses to become established to provide further job opportunities, it is prepared to allow loss of existing housing, which in any event tends to suffer from a poor residential environment. (See Policy EMP14).

There may be other exceptional circumstances where a reduction in the number of dwellings may be acceptable in order to achieve significant benefits for the area as a whole.

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POLICY ROM13

As part of its co-ordinated approach to transport in the town centre the Council will restrain, as far as possible, weekday peak hour flows in Romford Town Centre.

Weekday peak hour flows are primarily the result of the use of private motor vehicles for journeys to work with destinations either in Romford Town Centre or beyond. In order to contain congestion to manageable proportions, it is necessary to discourage as much as possible of this usage by implementing two methods of parking control and giving priority to public transport (See Policy ROM16).

Firstly, it is important to discourage the extensive use of public car parks by long term parkers. These are often workers who would add to peak hour congestion on the radial routes around Romford Town Centre, as well as reducing available spaces for shoppers and other short term users.

Secondly, within the Town Centre the Council will apply a restrictive parking standard for office developments which because of their high employment levels and hours of operation, tend to generate high levels of peak hour traffic. The Council accepts, however, that it is normally necessary for a business to have, at least, some on-site operational parking for essential users, some visitors, and a pro-vision for service vehicles (See Appendix 3, found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page).

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POLICY ROM14

The Council will seek to increase public off-street parking to serve the town centre.

The maximum pressure for public car parking spaces in the Town Centre occurs on Saturdays, and to increase its attractiveness to shoppers some increase in public parking available on Saturdays is desirable. In order to augment the existing provision of public car parking in the Town Centre, the Council already operates a 'Park and Ride' scheme which will continue (See Policy TRN21). However, despite the success of this venture it is considered that in view of high demand for parking, the maximum number of spaces that the highway capacity will allow should actually be provided in the Town Centre. Romford will be approaching the present capacity following completion of the proposals of this Plan (See Proposals ROM2, ROM11 and ROM15). However, in the event that future highway improvements or traffic management schemes are successful in reducing congestion significantly, this may enable a further increase in public car parking. These spaces will be largely provided in new public car parks but it may be possible to include private non-essential car parks as part of the total public car parking available on Saturdays if agreement can be reached with owners.

Public car parking in Romford is designed primarily for shoppers and the Council operates a pricing structure in public car parks which favours short term parking.

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PROPOSAL ROM15

A car park will be provided between Eastern and Western Roads (as defined on the Proposals Map and set out in Schedule 9, found on the "Appendices and Map Schedules" page.).

The Council considers that in line with its policy of increasing public off-street parking in Romford (See Policy ROM14) it would be advantageous to provide car parking on this site. This would assist, subject to peak hour highway capacity considerations (See Policy ROM13), in providing additional off-street spaces to meet shopper demands on Saturdays. It would also have the benefit on the less busy weekdays of providing spaces for longer stay parkers such as office workers. Some of the provision for long stay parkers in Romford will be lost by the replacement of the Eastern Road Long Stay Car Park with an hotel (See Policy EMP13).

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POLICY ROM16

The Council will seek the provision of improved facilities for public transport users.

A high proportion of trips to and from Romford are made by public transport and the restraint of private cars envisaged in Policy ROM13 relies on this continuing. The Council will, therefore, seek to ensure that every effort continues to be made to provide passengers with easy, direct and attractive access by public transport to and from their destinations. (See Policies TRN11, TRN12, TRN13).

An example of this will be on the south side of Western Road where the provision of bus lay-bys will enable more buses to have stops. (See Proposal ROM6). At present many of these buses stop in South Street near the Railway Station which is further from the heart of the Shopping Centre.

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POLICY ROM17

The Council will maintain facilities for licensed taxis within the town centre.

The Council recognises that licensed taxi services are an important part of the public transport system and provide a type of service which cannot be met by other forms of public transport. The Plan accordingly makes provision for a taxi rank in the pedestrianisation of South Street and High Street (See Proposal ROM15).

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POLICY ROM18

The Council will seek the provision of facilities for the safe and convenient movement of cyclists within the town centre. It will support the provision of suitable secure parking areas for cycles in the town centre and will take into account the needs of cyclists in highway proposals, pedestrianisation or traffic management schemes.

It is recognised that cycling can assist in reducing road congestion. The Council will therefore investigate opportunities to provide facilities for the safe convenient movement of cyclists into and within the Town Centre.

The Council will support and encourage the provision of facilities for cycle parking the Town Centre where practical and appropriate. These facilities should be safe, secure and convenient for cyclists whilst not prejudicing the safety of pedestrians.

The completion of the Ring Road has enabled the Council to introduce measures to reduce road congestion within the Town Centre. When implementing such schemes the Council will take into account the needs of cyclists (See Proposals ROM5).

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