WYG on planning and re-purposing heritage

WYG's Planning Director, Anne Clements, spoke at our November Future Cities Forum in the original factory buildings in the Royal Arsenal Woolwich, about the political leadership necessary for effective regeneration and place-making, the importance of a pragmatic approach to heritage assets and the need for quality training in planning.

Anne sat on a panel discussion with Sir Steve Bullock of the Sutton Housing Partnership, Sharon Strutt of the London Borough of Redbridge and Homes England's Phil Collings - who ran the major regeneration at Ancoats in Manchester. This was a panel debate that looked at the housing crisis in the context of cultural redevelopment and the high street.

Anne has a wealth of planning experience. She spent 15 years working on the Brent / Quintain project at Wembley and importantly spoke about the redesigning the layout of Wembley Arena, a Grade 2 listed building which had been created as a swimming pool in 1930's. The regeneration of Wembley has been a vital project that has created new housing and retail as well as a sustainable entertainments venue.

Despite heritage concerns the planning team at LB Brent were so clear that Wembley Arena had to be reworked in order to save it, that the developer was allowed to turn the building around internally to face the stadium and all of it was done with the support of English Heritage. 'This has allowed Wembley to remain as a must-play rock venue, and to compete with its South London rival the O2', Anne added.

Please watch Anne's interview (above) recorded after the event where she talks about the art of bringing different partners together in planning cultural regeneration, avoiding fluctuations in investment and place-making, land assembly barriers, housing density, the housing crisis and planning leadership.