4.10 Waste, Cleansing and Maintenance
Related SPD sections •
Key City Plan policies
28. Highway access management
29. Freight and Servicing
37. Waste Management
43. Public Realm
The NPPF sets out the strategic principles of securing the re-use, recovery or disposal of waste without endangering human health and without harming the environment; and ensuring the design and layout of developments and other infrastructure complements sustainable waste management, including the provision of appropriate storage and segregation facilities to facilitate high quality collections of waste.
Westminster’s Waste Strategy focuses on maximising waste reduction, reuse and recycling 70 The same applies to household waste as it does to waste arising in the public realm. Appropriate provision for waste management needs to be designed into schemes with appropriate waste receptors located where there is recognised need.
Guidance on the design and placement of waste facilities is included in Chapter 4.5 Street Furniture above.
Public realm scheme design should also consider ease of cleansing and maintenance of each item placed within the public realm, including all types of street furniture, paving materials, and greening. Loose materials for example will not withstand the type of jet washing required of heaving traffic areas of the West End. Light coloured and porous materials if not treated, will quickly stain if bins or vehicles are placed upon them.
When designing a public realm scheme, it is also necessary to plan for sufficient future maintenance through the payment of a commuted sum. The maintenance activities and time period of the commuted sum payment is to agreed with the council, it should refl ect the likely maintenance required during the design life of the project This will ensure that the newly designed area will be maintained to a high standard. Communication with the Waste and Cleansing team should be initiated in the early design stages of a project to align any strategy 71
Management and Maintenance Guidance
A. Proposals must include information detailing proposed future management and maintenance arrangements of a scheme and its features
B. Maintenance and management should be designed in at the start of the process and may require securing through legal agreement.
C. Delivering partners will be expected to contribute towards maintenance for the lifetime of the scheme.
70 https://www.westminster.gov.uk/media/document/municipal-waste-management-strategy-2016-2031
71 https://www.westminster.gov.uk/media/document/planning -obligations-and-affordable-housing-spd-wcc-adopted-2024