Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 26 (21 July 2015), the Cabinet Member for Regeneration reported on proposals to progress the Barking Housing Zone project in Cambridge Road.

The Cabinet Member explained that the majority of the site was owned by Swan New Homes who would lead on the development of new, high quality apartments, aimed at attracting tenants with disposable incomes wishing to make a home in a reinvigorated Town Centre.  The development would include 49 units (18%) for shared ownership as well as ground floor space for use as a creative industry hub, in support of the Council’s ambitions for a Creative Industries Zone in the Borough.  Under the financial arrangements for the project, the Council would forego a capital receipt for the sale of its part of the total site in favour of a 250-year lease at a peppercorn rent for the ground floor space.

In response to issues raised, the Cabinet Member for Regeneration confirmed that he would look into the steps that could be taken to prevent the new development becoming a magnet for buy-to-rent prospectors, as that would undermine the Council’s aims for the area, and also explore the role that partners could have in the wider regeneration of the area.  Following on from that, the Cabinet Member advised that Network Rail, who was responsible for the railway bridge, had committed £6m for improvements to the accessibility to and appearance of the Barking Station area.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Agree to enter into an agreement with Swan New Homes to transfer the Council’s freehold ownership in land in Cambridge Road, shown in red in Appendix 1 to the report, in return for a 250-year lease at a peppercorn for the ground floor space, as set out in paragraph 3.4 of the report;

(ii)  Agree to enter into an Intervention Agreement with the Greater London Authority for £650,000 of grant funding towards the shell and core and fit-out costs for the ground floor of the Cambridge Road site; and

(iii)  Endorse the funding bid submitted to the London Regeneration Fund for a programme of interventions to establish a Barking Creative Industries Zone.