Policy information sourced from the Bexley Local Plan

DP15: Providing and protecting social and community infrastructure

Providing

  1. Proposals for new social and community infrastructure (as set out in Table 10 above) or for the enhancement or expansion of existing infrastructure will generally be supported, particularly the provision of health, physical activity, leisure, education and children and young people’s facilities. In all cases, proposals should be:
    • sustainably located, ideally close to the local community the facility is intended to serve, or within areas of good access to public transport, such as Town Centres, particularly where the proposal is likely to generate a significant volume of traffic;
    • easily accessible to all by a range of sustainable travel modes, including walking, cycling and public transport;
    • of an appropriate character, size and scale to meet the needs of the community; and,
    • designed to be as flexible, adaptable and capable of multi-use as possible.
  2. Proposals for education (including early years) facilities and places of worship should provide a Travel Plan to assess any traffic issues and ways to resolve these as a result of the development
  3. Proposals for new or expanded Education facilities should be designed to reflect the school commissioning plan.
  4. Proposals need to demonstrate that they are supported by the relevant service provider.
  5. The creation of use class F.2(a) small walk-to convenience shops (that do not exceed 280m2 gross in total) should be provided in new larger residential developments where there is no convenience shop within 1,000 metres walking distance to the site.

Protecting

  1. The Council will not permit the loss of existing social and community infrastructure types included in Table 10, or defined on the Policies Map as Education Land, except where:
    • it can be demonstrated that there is no current or future need for the existing premises or land for any appropriate community use (or specifically for educational use where the land is designated as Education Land) and that it no longer can serve the needs of the community; or
    • alternative community facilities for the specific end user that meet current or future needs are provided within the relevant area; or,
    • it has been assessed in line with part 6.a. or part 6.b. as part of an agreed strategy or programme of estate management, which includes changes to the service delivery model.
  2. Changes of use from individual use class F.2(a) convenience shops will only be permitted where it can be demonstrated that an alternative convenience shop is available within reasonable walking distance from the existing unit.

For more information please see the Bexley Local Plan