Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2023 were confirmed as correct.

Further to Minute 25 (22 September 2020), the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development presented a report on proposals regarding the provision of gypsy and traveller sites within the Borough as part of the development and progression of the Barking and Dagenham Local Plan 2037.

At the meeting in September 2020, it was noted that three sites at Choats Road, Collier Row Road and the extension of the existing traveller site at Eastbrookend Country Park were proposed to provide the additional capacity of 25 new pitches required to meet identified need for the period up to 2037, in line with national planning policy requirements and the Mayor’s London Plan.  Since that time, the sites at Choats Road and Collier Row Road, which were not in the Council’s ownership, had been withdrawn as potential options by the landowners, leaving the extension of the site at Eastbrookend Country Park as the only remaining option.  During the Preliminary Hearings stage of the draft Local Plan consultation programme, the Planning Inspectors had raised that issue as a major risk for the Council to address before the draft Local Plan could proceed to the main Examination stage, due to commence later in the year. 

In light of the Planning Inspectors’ comments, Be First identified a further 60 potential alternative sites in the Borough owned either by the Council or third-parties and conducted a formal “Call for Sites” process, inviting landowners to propose additional sites.  Whilst the “Call for Sites” process did not receive any responses, Be First carried out detailed assessments of 19 of the 60 sites, which were detailed in Appendix A to the report, to assess whether they met the key criteria of (1) reasonable access to health and education services, (2) good environmental quality in terms of noise and air pollution levels, (3) not prone to flooding, (4) able to accommodate a minimum of five pitches, and (5) owned by the Council or have a realistic prosect of being available.  The Cabinet Member advised that only one of those potential sites, at 47 Thames Road, Barking, passed the key criteria test.  However, it was recognised that financial and social issues relating to the site, as well as its future inclusion in the Thames Road Transformation Zone, meant that the 47 Thames Road site was also not considered a practical site to put forward to the Examination stage of the Local Plan.

The Cabinet Member explained that meeting the needs of the gypsy and traveller community was an integral part of the Council’s Inclusive Growth strategy, not only because of the Council’s obligations to that protected group under the Equality Act 2010 but also its commitment to provide all residents of the Borough, including the gypsy and traveller community, with the best possible housing and living conditions.  He would, therefore, continue to work with officers to identify potential alternative sites and it was noted that discussions were ongoing with the Greater London Authority (GLA), Barking Riverside Limited and Transport for London (TfL)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.