Greengage undertook a community infrastructure assessment of the local area surrounding a proposed residential led mixed use development comprising 338 residential units, flexible non-residential space and a café across several blocks and a 24-storey tower.
The assessment first identified all locations and capacity of community infrastructure classified under Use Class D1 in the local area of Poplar and the wider borough. These facilities include primary health care facilities, childcare facilities, schools, places of worship and community facilities including libraries and community centres. Data was collected from online databases and through direct interviews on issues such as whether dentists or childcare facilities are operating at or near capacity and whether new admissions are being accepted. It was found that all types of D1 facilities had capacity to support the existing population. The baseline understanding of current capacity of infrastructure allowed the impact of the proposed development to then be layered on top.
The population of the residential development in absolute terms was established as well as details about the expected child yield using recommended GLA multipliers. These figures were used to assess whether the existing community infrastructure within a reasonable catchment, had sufficient capacity to sustain the new development. The concluding study found that all community facilities had sufficient capacity to support the proposed development, allowing the client to submit a supporting assessment with the planning application to respond to the Planning Committee’s specific concerns in the pre-app process.
