A rule had previously restricted housing at the Dagenham redevelopment before the opening of a new railway station, reports Nick Davis, Local Democracy Reporter
A rule preventing new homes being built before a new railway station opens at Beam Park has been scrapped by Barking and Dagenham councillors.
Planning permission for the Beam Park development in Dagenham originally said the new station would have to be built at Thames Avenue before the project could be completed.
But councillors voted to allow housing construction to continue alongside the work to build the station. They agreed that this would “accelerate the delivery of housing”.
Property developer Vistry was granted planning permission to build 3,119 homes at Beam Park in 2023, to be built across seven phases, labelled A-G.
The council granted planning permission with a condition that homes could only be built in phases A-D before a new Beam Park railway station was built.
Phases A and C have now been constructed. But Vistry applied to the council last month to amend the condition so that the station could be built alongside phases E, F and G instead.
In a supporting statement with its application, Vistry said doing this “directly accelerates housing delivery and affordable homes in the area”.
The statement said the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Department for Transport (DfT) still needed to carry out technical work before the station could be built.
This includes carrying out passenger numbers and financial modelling, and reviewing construction costs.
Vistry said this work had to be done before Network Rail and the DfT can formally sign off on the new station.
However a council planning officers’ report said that their “commitment to the station delivery” is “positively progressing”.
Officers recommended that councillors agree to the changed condition. However, they said the council would need evidence that the station would be built before construction on the homes could begin.
This evidence includes a letter from DfT or Network Rail confirming work to build the station has authority to begin, an implementation agreement between the GLA and the DfT, approved design packages, and evidence that site enabling works have begun.
Councillors agreed to the changes at a planning committee meeting on Monday (16th).
