Child Friendly Principles in Planning

The Royal Town Planning Institute included good practice from Redbridge in their new practise guidance called Children and town planning: Creating places to grow. They share how the Redbridge Planning and Building Control Team have a key role in delivering Child Friendly Redbridge. Some of the actions hey are taking include:

• Embedding the UNICEF principles into the planning application process. This is being implemented by identifying opportunities to engage with youth groups on the design of developments as part of the consultation process. A pilot scheme that examines the public realm of a large supermarket with youth groups is underway
• A review of the Redbridge Local Plan will take place in 2022. This provides an opportunity for the planning team to embed the child-friendly aspirations within the future engagement process and planning policies. The planning team will engage with young people including Child Friendly Redbridge Ambassadors, the Youth Council, SEND Youth Forum, Children in Care Council, Young Carers and others such as schools and youth clubs
• Community Design Forums are due to be established across the borough. These will encourage residents to opt into a forum to be kept up to date with ongoing developments or consultations for their local area. The forums will be promoted via schools and to youth groups to ensure a diverse membership

A future goal is to develop a design guide for developers based on the UNICEF UK principles. The planning team recognises that applicants currently refer to multiple policy and supplementary planning documents to ensure that the boroughs aspirations are met. To encourage child-friendly development they are aware they need to make the process of doing so as simple as possible.