Staines Development Framework - masterplan

Staines Development Framework consultation ran from 15 June - 5 September 2022

Consultation on the draft Staines Development Framework began on 15 June and ran until Monday 5 September 2022.  The document is available to read online at https://spelthorne.inconsult.uk/DSDF

We welcomed the views of those who live, work and visit Staines-upon-Thames.

What happens next?

Once we have received all consultation responses, these responses will be analysed and any further changes considered by the Task Group. The Local Plan and the Staines Development Framework will then be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, a government organisation acting for the Secretary of State, which will arrange for an Examination in Public to take place.

Chair's update on Staines Development Task Group Meetings

The Chair of the Staines Development Task Group, Cllr Michele Gibson,  will provide an update after each meeting.

Staines Development Task Group Meetings Update (PDF, 130 KB)

Council challenges the Government and local MP on housing numbers

Communication between Spelthorne Borough Council and both Kwasi Kwarteng (Member of Parliament for Spelthorne) and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) regarding the Local Plan and Housing Numbers - July 2018 to November 2021

Council challenges the Government and local MP on housing numbers

Background information

Spelthorne Borough Council is producing a new Local Plan to include policies and site allocations to meet our housing, employment and infrastructure needs over the next 15 years, setting out how and where development will take place. In 2018, we held a public consultation to consider broad options for how this could be achieved. The four options were to intensify brownfield (previously developed) sites in the urban area, release Green Belt, maximise development opportunities in Staines upon Thames or a combination of these approaches. The option to maximise sites in Staines suggested that a 'masterplan' could be developed to help guide this approach. Staines is the borough's largest town with good access links and has a sizeable proportion of potential development sites compared to other towns and villages in Spelthorne, which is why one of the options was to focus growth here.

The Council decided to pursue the fourth option of the combination approach, which would ensure development could be balanced throughout the Borough and meet our needs in the most sustainable way. There was then a further public consultation on Preferred Options from November 2019 to January 2020.

Work had begun by this stage to commission a Masterplan for Staines that would be adopted alongside the Local Plan as Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). The Staines Development Task Group comprises every councillor from the Staines wards.

The Masterplan was renamed the Staines Development Framework and consultants began working with stakeholders to set out the key issues that the Framework would seek to address, followed by a public consultation on Objectives and Options.

Staines-upon-Thames Development Framework Task Group members

Consultants, David Lock Associates, are leading on the SDF and a Working Group comprising twelve Spelthorne councillors and including representation from wards in Staines, works closely with the consultants and officers to provide a clear steer for the direction of the Masterplan and provide constructive feedback.  This will help ensure that the views of our communities and other stakeholders are the foundation for the future of Staines.  All Spelthorne councillors will be consulted in recognition of the strategic importance of the town to our borough.

Membership of the Working Group is as follows:

• Councillor Michele Gibson (Chair) Riverside and Laleham ward
• Councillor Ian Beardsmore, Chair of Environment and Sustainability Committee
• Councillor Olivia Rybinski, Vice-Chair of Environment and Sustainability Committee
• Councillor Chris Bateson, Staines South ward
• Councillor Malcolm Beecher, Staines ward
• Councillor Tony Harman, Riverside and Laleham ward
• Councillor Tom Lagden, Staines ward
• Councillor Sinead Mooney Staines South ward
• Councillor Denise Saliagopoulos, Riverside and Laleham ward
• Councillor Joanne Sexton, Ashford North and Stanwell South
• Councillor Veena Siva, Staines ward
• Councillor Jennifer Vinson, Staines South ward

The Staines Development Consultation results

A six-week public consultation on the Staines Development Framework Objectives and Options report (PDF, 1 MB) ran from 18 May to 29 June 2021. The Objectives and Options Report consultation document was accompanied by a questionnaire. 745 responses were received from individuals or organisations with 693 completing the questionnaire and the remaining 52 sending documents. The questionnaire included 35 free text boxes giving respondents freedom to express their views. The responses received have been broken down into more than 19,000 comments which are summarised in graphs and tables through the Objectives and Options report produced by David Lock Associates (PDF, 379 KB) and the Officer report SDF Objectives and Options response document. (PDF, 2 MB) 

Since then, the Staines Development Task Group has considered the outcomes of the consultation and has been steering work to produce a draft Framework. This includes considering whether a 'zoning' approach could be applied that would limit the heights and densities in more sensitive locations in Staines.

For more information on the consultation background documents, please see the  Objectives and Options Report (PDF, 1 MB) and supporting Analysis and Review paper which contains initial ideas about what's great about our town centre, what's not so great, and what could be done to improve things.

Residents' Association Briefing

On Thursday 13 May 2021 we held an online briefing for Residents' Associations and Members to let them know about the consultation before it began and how they could assist us by sharing information with their members.  David Lock Associates gave a presentation and copies of the slides (PDF, 4 MB) are available along with a recording of the meeting.