Go ahead for first 3,300 homes at Barking Riverside
16 June, 2009
- Detailed planning approval secured
for development stages 1 and 2
- Construction on the first homes ready
to commence in December 2009
- The planning consents now enable
Barking Riverside to deliver much needed housing and transport
improvements
Barking Riverside Ltd has been given the
go-ahead by London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC)
and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for the first two
stages of development comprising 3,300 homes, new community
infrastructure and two schools.
The approval of these major reserved matter
applications - submitted to LTGDC in December 2008 - marks the
delivery stage for the £3.5 billion 10,800 home project, which will
see a range of homes built over the next 25 years and will create a
community for 26,000 people.
This major milestone will now pave the way for
the construction on the first homes at Barking Riverside - a joint
venture between the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Bellway
PLC – to start in December 2009. The first dwellings could be
ready for occupation as soon as spring 2010.
Yesterday’s approval now gives the formal
go-ahead for:
- The first 3,300 new homes (with1,500 proposed
in the first stage and 1,800 in the second stage);
- A new primary and new secondary school;
- The Western Quarter – one of the key areas
indentified in the Masterplan including plans for doctors’
consultancy, a day nursery and play space;
- A new District Centre comprising the new
schools and other facilities; these will be shared between the
schools and community (later phases of the development will also
deliver health facilities – including a new polyclinic – as well as
retail and other leisure facilities services);
These developments will be supported by the first phase of the East
London Transit (ELT) route via Barking Riverside. The
construction work on the new transport link began in early January
2009 and will start serving the first residents from early 2010,
connecting them to the Barking Town Centre transport interchange
and the wider area.
A major emphasis in the applications was on
providing high quality family housing - with more than 45% of the
2,500 homes proposed in the second stage being three-bedroom
homes. The plans also include open space - around 40% of the
total area - and new access routes to the riverfront.
As a next step, Barking Riverside Ltd will
prepare a full planning application for the first primary school on
site, having recently secured its funding. Subject to
planning permission, construction of the new education facility
will start in mid 2010.
Peter Andrews, Chief Executive of
LTGDC, said:
“Barking Riverside is one of very few
schemes in east London that delivers family housing rather than
flats. It’s what the public want and in the current economic
environment it’s the right thing to be building.
“The message that should ring out loud and
clear across the capital from this point on is that Barking
Riverside is happening; it will inject vital additional homes to an
area of London desperately in need of it and spearhead the
regeneration of London Riverside in a bold and imaginative way,
lifting and revitalising the surrounding areas and laying the
building blocks of renewal for years to come.”
Roger Bond, Bellway Director for
Barking Riversidesaid:
“This is an important milestone for
Barking Riverside, as well as the Borough and the wider Thames
Gateway. We now look forward to the next stage of
development, which will see the start of construction on
community-focused family homes and infrastructure.
“Our ambition is to develop a vibrant and
sustainable community– a place where people are proud to live and
work. Barking Riverside is more than a new housing
development – it is about long-term 'place-making' on a large scale
in a high quality environment and accessible riverside setting,
and this planning decision brings us one step closer to
delivering this ambition.”
Cllr Mick McCarthy, Cabinet Member for
Regeneration, Barking and Dagenham Council, said:
“We are delighted to hear that planning
permission has been given for the first 3,300 new homes within the
Barking Riverside development. Construction of these new
homes are proposed to begin later this year and will feature a host
of improvements, such as schools, health care facilities, and play
space and leisure services. This innovative development will
transform this former brown field site into a vibrant, sustainable
community, with mixed tenure housing, increased employment
opportunities and a variety of transport to access the
area.”
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For more information please contact Baiba
Upmale (bu@londoncommunications.co.uk)
on 02076128480.
Notes to Editors
- Barking Riverside is located
at the heart of the Thames Gateway. A vibrant, sustainable
community, Barking Riverside will comprise approximately 10,800 new
mixed-tenure homes within a high quality urban environment and also
a range of community facilities. These will include: schools,
healthcare, shopping, community facilities, employment, leisure
opportunities and environmental benefits all supported by new,
integrated public transport links. For more information about
Barking Riverside go to our website: http://www.barkingriverside.co.uk/
- Outline planning permission was granted by
the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham in November 2006 for
the first phase of the development delivering 1,500 homes.
- Bellway Homes Ltd is one of
the country’s top housebuilding companies. Headquartered in
the North East of England, the Group’s operations stretch the
length and breadth of the country. Bellway’s product
portfolio ranges from one, two and three bedroom apartments;
terraced housing; town houses; semi-detached houses and three, four
and five bedroom detached properties to luxury apartments and
penthouses. The Group is also active in the provision of
accommodation for Housing Associations.
- The Homes & Communities Agency
(HCA) is the single, national housing and regeneration
agency for England. It brings together the development and
regeneration expertise of English Partnerships, investment
functions of the Housing Corporation, and the Academy for
Sustainable Communities, with major delivery programmes of
Communities and Local Government.
Its role is to create opportunity for people to live in high
quality, sustainable places. It provides funding for affordable
housing, brings land back into productive use and improves quality
of life by raising standards for the physical and social
environment. During the next three financial years the HCA controls
a budget of £17.3bn. http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/
ENDS