Planning policy and guidance

The council’s planning guidance consists of a series of documents that provide a positive approach to managing development by helping to assess planning applications and create a more vibrant, sustainable community to improve quality of life for all.

The Development Plan for Tower Hamlets is comprised of the London Plan (produced by the Mayor of London), Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans (currently, none are adopted – but the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Plan holds significant weight while a referendum on the plan is postponed).

The Development Plan is also influenced by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which sets out strategic policies for development and growth within England.

The policies we use to decide planning applications

Local Plan – guides and manages development in the borough.

Neighbourhood planning – enables the community to guide development in their local area through neighbourhood forums and neighbourhood plan documents.

Monitoring and programme reporting – provides further detail on the performance of council policies, deliverable housing sites and a project plan for emerging documents, through an annual monitoring report, Five Year Supply of Deliverable Housing Sites and Local Development Scheme (LDS).

Upcoming projects

New Local Plan early engagement

The council is beginning early engagement on the preparation of a new Local Plan. This is to gather feedback from the local community and capture views across a broad range of themes.

Your input is valuable for the preparation of a new Local Plan for Tower Hamlets. This will inform development of new policies to help shape the future of the places we live, work and play.

Early engagement on the new Local Plan is open for public comment and feedback between Wednesday 25 January 2023 and Wednesday 8 March 2023.

Get involved:

• An interactive StoryMap platform has been set up. The platform contains a summary of the challenges, opportunities, and key policy themes of the project. It asks questions to capture your views, allowing you to submit comments as you go.
• You can also find the questions from the StoryMap page as a separate form or on the Let’s Talk consultation page.
• The Let’s Talk consultation page has details of the new Local Plan project. This includes background information, a project timeline, and FAQs. You can also find details about webinars and face to face events (including a Town Hall event and drop-in sessions).
• Physical copies of the survey and associated new Local Plan documents will be available at council libraries and Idea Stores.

New Local Plan - Town centres survey

As part of the development of the new Local Plan, NEMS Market Research Ltd will be carrying out telephone surveys on behalf of the council. The purpose of these surveys is to understand:

• how residents and visitors are using the borough's town centres
• how the borough's town centres can be enhanced

Those taking part will be selected and contacted directly by NEMS who will make sure that they survey a representative cross-section of the borough's population.

Please contact the Plan Making team if you have any questions.

Leaside Area Action Plan

A second consultation on the draft Area Action Plan for the Leaside area of the borough will run between 29 November 2021 and 4 February 2022.

Details of the consultation, including a copy of the consultation document and instructions on how to respond, can be found on the Lets Talk consultation page.

A number of evidence base documents have been produced as part of the AAP process, and are available to download.

• Poplar Riverside Land Audit
• Area Characterisation and Capacity Study
• Site Allocations Methodology
• Leaside Infrastructure Delivery Plan
• Employment Study
• Connection and Movement Study Baseline Report
• Connection and Movement Study Recommendations Report
• Transport Report
• Retail Needs Assessment 
  • Appendix A
  • Appendix B
  • Appendix C
  • Appendix D
  • Appendix E
  • Appendix F
• Biodiversity Issues Paper
• Towards Net Zero Carbon: The Role of Carbon Pricing (this report was not produced for Tower Hamlets, but is referred to as justification for policies on carbon pricing in the AAP)
• Social Cohesion Evidence Base Paper
• Heritage Impact Assessment Stage 1
• Heritage Impact Assessment Stage 2
• Industrial Capacity Study – Empson Street (50mb)
• Industrial Capacity Study – Blackwall Trading Estate and Leamouth Depot (this has some accessibility issues which may cause problems for some users)
• Open Space Review
• Integrated Water Management Plan
• First Regulation 18 Leaside AAP Draft, April 2021 (note: this is provided for reference, but has been superseded by the latest draft available on the Let’s Talk consultation page).

London Legacy Development Corporation

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) came into being on 1 April 2012. It is the local planning authority for the Olympic Park and surrounding neighbourhoods including Bromley-by-Bow and Fish Island. Please see the LLDC website for details of their Local Plan and other planning guidance within their boundary.

Further information

You can email the team at localplan@towerhamlets.gov.uk or talk to us by phoning 020 7364 5000. 

If you would like to be kept informed about local planning policy updates, please email us to join our mailing list.