Report states Heathway Shopping Centre and Millard Terrace would be replaced with a “mixed-use” development up to 25 storeys tall, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter
Council plans to demolish and redevelop Heathway Shopping Centre and Millard Terrace in Dagenham have moved a step closer.
Details revealed on Barking and Dagenham Council’s planning website say up to 550 homes could be built at the Heathway site following demolition.
Current residents will be able move into newly-built housing at Church Elm Lane and Becontree Avenue.
Proposals say the council envisages “an ambitious redevelopment of the existing 214-234 Heathway, Mall and Millard Terrace”.
The council had signed off on an environmental impact assessment screening opinion for the redevelopment on Thursday, 18th June.
These often come ahead of formal applications for planning permission for large-scale developments.
A report, prepared by the council’s development arm Be First, said the shopping centre and Millard Terrace would be replaced with a “mixed-use” development of homes, shops and community space.
It says this would involve building a tower up to 25 storeys high. There would also be a public square and play space.
People currently living in Millard Terrace’s 158 homes would be offered newly-built housing at two other sites in Dagenham – Brocklebank Lodge and Jervis Court.
The council wants to build between 80-90 homes at the now-vacant Jervis Court in Church Elm Lane and the Leaping Toads nursery behind it in Rectory Road.
There would be two new buildings, up to a maximum of six storeys.
Another 60-70 homes would be built at the site of the now-demolished Brocklebank Lodge in Becontree Avenue.
There would be two or three blocks here, up to a maximum of five storeys.
All three new housing developments would have space for children to play, and also be “car free” or “car lite”, meaning little space for parking.
Leading Labour councillors agreed in February that the two sites should be used to house residents moved out of Millard Terrace.
A target timeline suggested that they could be built and ready to occupy by January 2029.
Speaking in February, Labour council leader Dominic Twomey said the move would “improve the life chances and conditions that residents of this borough live in”.
Cllr Twomey said that for some people, Millard Terrace had “been their home for a long time”.
But he added: “We’ve seen that with previous regeneration projects, in the Gascoigne [Estate] for example where actually people sort of wanted to move and sort of didn’t want to move because their heart’s there.
“But actually they could see that it’s time to move on.”
The council has long planned to redevelop the shopping mall and Millard Terrace as part of a wider regeneration of the Heathway town centre.
The two are earmarked for new housing and shops in the council’s Local Plan – its long-term vision for development in the borough.
Council leaders approved new planning guidance aimed at shaping the regeneration of the Heathway on Tuesday, 16th June.
The guidance envisaged new homes and taller buildings, a public square, wider pavements and better lighting.
Labour councillor Maureen Worby, responsible for development, said Barking and Dagenham Council wants the Heathway to be “a more vibrant, welcoming place”.
