AAP SWOT
Overview of the 2010 Colindale Area Action Plan Policy Chapters
Opportunities: • The existing AAP does not go far enough to connect Colindale to its wider surroundings. This is particularly true for neighbouring Burnt Oak, which could be reached if the Silk Stream was opened up to create an attractive green connection between Colindale and Burnt Oak. • In the existing AAP, an opportunity for a modal shift to clean transport by disallowing residential developers to provide private parking, has been missed. With the residential densification of the area, this would have presented a huge opportunity to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions from private vehicles.
Connecting Colindale Strengths: • The existing AAP for Colindale recognises movement as a vital part of the Colindale’s development trajectory. • Plans to upgrade and improve capacity of Colindale Underground Station is a strength of the existing AAP.
Threats: • The greatest threat is the continued reliance on private vehicles for transport. Without incentives or control measures to ensure that developers do not provide new car parking for all new residences, then efforts to encourage walking and cycling will be undermined.
Weaknesses: • Whilst the existing AAP acknowledges the importance of transport development in Colindale, it overlooks pressing concerns that undermine a movement toward sustainable transport modes. The AAP provides no policies which limit the use of private vehicles in Colindale. Current congestion levels in Colindale are a major obstacle to the improvement of the pedestrian and cyclist environment, as well as a barrier to efficient public transit on busses around the centre of Colindale.
A High-Quality Environment in Colindale • Strengths: • The existing AAP provides clear requirements for new developments to provide children’s playgrounds based on the needs of new residences. • The AAP clearly stipulates that new developments must provide quality homes, which meet the Building for Life and Lifetime Homes standards. • The AAP is clear that 10% of residences within new developments should be disability adapted. • A key strength of the AAP is its retention of policies that look to enhance existing green spaces. Whilst the policies concerning green space enhancement are not totally coherent, in general there is an understanding that these spaces are great assets for the local area. Weaknesses: • The existing AAP stipulates that development in Colindale should evoke a ‘distinct identity’ of the area. However, the AAP fails to establish what is meant by the character of Colindale. As such, interpretation of
the local character is left to individual developers, resulting in a lack of coherence and agreement as to the type of design appropriate for the area. The AAP stipulates that Colindale Avenue and Edgware Road should be transformed with hard landscaping to create pleasant pedestrian locations in the form of piazzas and boulevards. However, without measures to mitigate traffic congestion in these areas, landscaping to improve the pedestrian environment is undermined.
Opportunities: • Whilst the AAP clearly states that it is the responsibility of the developer to provide children’s play space for new developments, it misses the opportunity to ensure that these spaces should be disability adapted. Moreover, the AAP neglects to clarify what play provision should be incorporated into the wider public realm improvement measures and who should be responsible for its provision. • Generally, the existing AAP fails to link the aims of a ‘sustainable environment’ and the exciting public realm in Colindale. For example, this could have been achieved by specifying sustainable design codes for children’s play equipment and encouraging environmentally friendly behaviours in the public realm etc.
•
The document fails to specify how increased ‘biodiversity’ can be achieved in existing green spaces. This focus on biodiversity and the asset of bountiful existing green spaces presented a unique opportunity to guide biodiversity and ‘new habitat’ provision, but the language used in these policies was vague and unclear.
Threats: • Whilst the AAP notes poor levels of legibility in Colindale for both residents and visitors alike, efforts to improve this will be likely undermined by the absence of pedestrianisation and car-control policies to open up the pedestrian environment and make Colindale easier for pedestrians and cyclists to negotiate. In this sense, the policy goal of increased ease of movement is undermined. • The AAP specifies that tall buildings (in excess of 6 stories) ought to be located only in the most ‘sustainable locations.’ The wording of this, is somewhat misleading and confusing as the word ‘sustainable’ is used elsewhere within the AAP with regards to natural biodiversity and other environmental concerns. Moreover, the policy concerning tall buildings is at odds with what many would consider to be the architectural character of Colindale. The AAP does not engage with this issue, instead, it seems that tall buildings pose a potential threat to the existing architectural character of the area.
5
