Policy information sourced from the Westminster City Plan
17. Community infrastructure and facilities
NEW INFRASTRUCTURE
A: New community infrastructure and facilities will be supported where there is an identified present or future need. The council will use its Infrastructure Delivery Plan alongside other strategies to plan for and deliver new infrastructure. New facilities will be of a nature and scale to meet identified need and be sufficiently flexible to meet the requirements of providers as they may change over time.
B: Where new facilities are provided they should be designed to accommodate a range of community uses wherever possible. The council will strongly encourage the co-location of facilities and access for appropriate organisations and the local community.
EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE
C: Existing community facilities and floorspace will be protected other than where it can be demonstrated that either:
- the loss or relocation is necessary to enable service provision to be reconfigured, consolidated, upgraded, or delivered more effectively as part of a published strategy to improve services and meet identified needs; or
- there is no demand for an alternative social and community use for that facility or floorspace, evidenced by vacancy and appropriate marketing for at least 18 months.
D: Where a reduction in community floorspace is deemed acceptable, other ancillary uses will be permitted where they support the continued function of the main community use.
E: Within designated town centres, where the loss of community facilities is deemed acceptable, replacement uses with an active frontage will be prioritised. For other sites in the CAZ, other town centre uses will be supported in principle. In all other cases, residential use will be preferred.
For more information please see the City Plan