Agenda and draft minutes

To note the membership of the Committee.

The membership of the Committee was noted.

An update will be given at the meeting.

Committee members received an update on the work of the Rainham Compass Programme.

The Rainham Compass vision, agreed by Cabinet in June 2009, outlined the Council’s ambition for Rainham Village, the London Riverside and the surrounding area. Set around the four key points of Village, Enterprise, Community and Riverside, it detailed ambitious plans to preserve and promote Rainham’s rich heritage while further strengthening the community and providing greater cultural, educational and economic opportunities for local people.

A further report to Cabinet in February 2014 set out a five year review of the Rainham Compass and its achievements. The key headline was that over the five years since its inception the Rainham Compass programme had delivered on all twenty-three of the recommendations relating to specific projects and initiatives as set out in the June 2009 Cabinet report. Alongside the main programme of projects identified in the report significant additional regeneration activity had been undertaken and was continuing throughout the Compass area.

Members were advised that recent meetings with the Healthcare Commissioning Group, had taken place, to try and secure better GP facilities in the area.

Members noted that enhancing works were planned for the A1306 and that it would be of benefit if Members were invited to a briefing session with the designers to discuss the proposed works.

Officers advised that development on the Orchard Village site was now in its last phase and that construction was near completion of the largest Passivhaus housing development in East London on the former Carpetright site.

Members also noted that works were continuing to bring Napier and New Plymouth Houses up to Decent Homes standard.

Officers advised that the future focus would be on the large residential development and employment sites along the A1306 particularly on the GLA owned Beam Park site and the adjacent Somerfield development and Dovers Corner ensuring that development was appropriate, high quality and delivered new housing opportunities for local people. This would include the master-planning of the A1306 and the development of a series of public realm and transport improvements for TfL LIP funding. A new rail station at Beam Park was vital to ensure existing communities were able to access employment opportunities where public transport had historically been poor. New development would require new schools and community infrastructure work was continuing to identify needs and funding and sites to deliver them.

Officers also advised that creating high quality public spaces and easy access to the beauty of the Thames and Riverside area was at the heart of the Council’s vision to develop Rainham as an attraction in its own right. Supported by partnership work and multi-million pound investment, the Council aimed to boost the local economy based on the area’s environmental heritage.

Members noted that a lot of the projects were on-going and felt it would be useful if a site visit could be arranged for members to visit completed, on-going and proposed schemes.

During a brief debate members discussed former planning decisions that had been taken with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

An update will be given at the meeting.

Members of the Committee considered a briefing paper that detailed the introduction of The Mayor of London’s Housing Zone Programme.

The paper explained that The Mayor of London had a responsibility for providing an overall strategic plan for housing in the capital. A key part of this was the development of new affordable housing.

The draft London Housing Strategy published in April 2014 identified the housing pressures being faced in every part of London, including the outer boroughs such as Havering.

Whilst Havering shared many characteristics with areas outside of the M25, the low density and green environment was to be treasured, it was absolutely clear that the Greater London Authority, which enacted the Mayor’s policies, and developers alike saw Havering as an area for growth. It was vital the Council played a role in guiding this growth to maximise the benefits for local people.

The draft London Housing Strategy recognised that the London Boroughs had very legitimate concerns about the character and scale of local development. The Boroughs clearly had a dual role in enabling new development opportunities to come forward whilst at the same time promoting the highest quality of new housing to meet local need.

It was welcomed that the Mayor, in the draft London Housing Strategy, was clearly in tune with Havering Council’s emphasis on high quality homes which add to the fabric of the borough and were in keeping with the locality.

The London Housing Strategy included what was arguably the most significant opportunity in a generation for London Boroughs to pro-actively participate to such a large degree in the shaping and development of their neighbourhoods through the development of new housing. This was the Housing Zone programme.

Housing Zones were areas where home building would be accelerated by close partnership working between boroughs, land owners, investors and builders. They would be a designated part of a borough in which investment could spur on the development of at least 1,000 new homes on brownfield land. The time taken to get new schemes started was recognised, but the Mayor wanted to see new homes becoming available during the 2015-18 period.

The Housing Zone Prospectus was crystal clear that a Housing Zone could only proceed where the local borough was driving the programme and was putting in its own resources, in the form of, say, land holdings, capital investment and staff time. In return, the Greater London Authority, GLA, would look to provide grant for new affordable housing, repayable loans to speed up housing delivery, investment in infrastructure and more streamlined working between the different parts of the ‘GLA family’, for instance, GLA planners and Transport for London.

The primary aim of a Housing Zone would be the maximisation of new housing supply. Resources were not available for improvement of existing council housing stock. That said, the Prospectus recognised that Housing Zones should focus on place-shaping and creating a high quality environment for new residents, thus funding will in all probability be required for schools, community  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

An update will be given at the meeting.

Members received a presentation on Transport for London’s (TfL) proposed new river crossings.

The presentation outlined the various options that had been put forward by TfL as potential new river crossings in East London.

The proposals included:

•      A Silvertown Tunnel

•      Replacing the Woolwich ferry

•      A ferry crossing at Gallions Reach

•      A new road bridge at Gallions Reach.

TfL were now consulting on four further ideas for river crossings at Woolwich, Gallions Reach and/or Belvedere- Rainham.

The river was a barrier between north and south London. People and goods needed to cross it for social and economic purposes and a lack of capacity and cross-river connections was causing congestion and other problems.

At present residents and businesses in East London relied on four cross- river links: Blackwall Tunnel, Woolwich Ferry, Rotherhithe Tunnel and the Lower Thames crossing at Dartford (bridge and tunnel). With a recovering economy and growing population, more people will want to cross the river and the problems currently experienced by people/businesses would only get worse.

Members were advised that the bridge at Belverdere would provide a new road link across the river, connecting to roads in Belvedere and Rainham. In Rainham the bridge would link to the Marsh Way Junction and the A13.It would carry two lanes of traffic in each direction: one for general traffic and one for buses, heavy goods vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. The bridge would be open 24 hours a day under normal conditions and traffic would be charged to use the bridge.New roads would link the bridge to the existing road networkIn Havering. The bridge would join the A13 in the vicinity of CEME at the Marsh Way junction.In Bexley a new access road would join to the A2016 near to Picardy Manorway junction.

Officers advised that the cost of the construction of the bridge would be in the region of £500m-£900m and £0.5m in operation and maintenance per annum. It was also envisaged that the bridge would not be built before 2025-2030.

TfL had advised that journey times across the river would reduce significantly with the bridge carrying approximately 1,500 vehicles per hour in each direction at the busiest times. The bridge would also lead to reduced traffic on other routes in particular A12, the inner A13 and the Dartford Crossing. Increased traffic would be expected on the outer A13 and the A1306.

Members noted that the possible benefits of the crossing included improved access and opportunities for businesses and residents in East London, reduced travelling times to centres of employment and business, regeneration in Havering and North Bexley and the creation of new homes in the London Riverside Opportunity Area.

On the negative side possible concerns for residents in Havering included increased traffic flow on the highway network in peak hours on the A13 east of the new crossing and on the M25, increased traffic volume on the outer A13, A1306 and other strategic roads, and increased traffic on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.