A 15-home development on green belt land in Chadwell Heath, east London, has been given the go-ahead. Both Barking and Dagenham councillors and Greater London Authority officials approved the proposals.
Development details and planning approval
Planning officers at City Hall determined that the project "would not cause substantial harm to the openness of the green belt". The Metropolitan Green Belt is a protected ring of countryside across Greater London designed to prevent urban sprawl from spreading into surrounding counties.
Croft Homes RM5, a real estate company, applied to build a row of 15 houses in Collier Row. The plans involve building 13 houses and two flats next to the Grover Gardens development at Providence Place, which falls inside the restricted buffer zone.
Policy context and local support
Council planning officers said national planning policy makes an exception where a development would be a "limited infilling of previously developed land" and where there would be "no substantial harm to the openness of the green belt". The Labour Government has loosened building regulations to allow construction on green belt land and prioritise development next to railway and Underground stations in the capital.
London mayor Lord Sadiq Khan is preparing to instruct local authorities to build on the green belt following the reforms. Some councils, including Labour-run administrations, have pushed back against targets currently included in the draft version of the mayor's London Plan.
Officer assessment and final approval
Under the planning policy shake-up announced by ministers last year, schemes proposed in the green belt must satisfy strict conditions, including a higher ratio of affordable housing, new or improved green spaces, and appropriate infrastructure.
Nicholas Jehan, a planning officer, told councillors at a planning committee meeting in December that part of the land Croft Homes proposed to develop had previously been used for storing vehicles. He said the new row of houses would largely be screened by trees and the Grover Gardens development.
"This stretch of green belt here along Collier Row Road is significantly reduced in quality by the existing level of development and officers are satisfied that the proposals represent limited infilling of a section of the green belt," he said.
Councillors voted unanimously at the time to approve the development. It then had to be passed to City Hall because its location clashed with London-wide planning policy that restricted green belt development. Reviewing the application in April, the overarching authority permitted the council to grant planning permission. Agreeing with the council's assessment, officers said there would be "no sound planning reasons" for it to intervene.
The council granted planning permission formally on Thursday after signing a legal planning agreement with the developer.
