Newham Council has unanimously refused Keystone and the Greater London Authority’s hybrid planning application for the £3bn Silvertown regeneration at Thameside West, E16.
Councillors said the 5,000-home plans failed to protect future residents from the adjacent LA Lounge nightclub and industrial uses, threatening ongoing operations and expansion in the region.
They said the plans offered insufficient infrastructure and integration with the public and the Thames Wharf.
Development of the 40-acre site includes introducing residential uses to strategic industrial land, in one of the largest brownfield regenerations in the capital.
Proposals for 5,000 homes had included 32.5% affordable housing provision by units and 37% by habitable rooms, promising 975 London affordable-rent homes and 650 intermediate or shared-ownership homes.
An outline planning application also proposed 200,000 sq ft of employment space, 80,000 sq ft of shops, a primary school, 1km of river frontage, two parks and a new DLR station.
Detailed plans for phase one included 500,000 sq ft of development, comprising 460 homes and 35,000 sq ft of workspace on the site of the former Carlsberg Brewery.
Five councillors followed the planning officers’ recommendation to refuse for 15 reasons, and have referred the development to the GLA.
Jules Pipe, deputy mayor for planning, regeneration and skills, will consider the scheme over the next two weeks and make a decision to allow the verdict to stand, directly refuse or call-in the scheme.
The Draft London Plan specifies that new development should be responsible for mitigating impacts from existing noise-generating activities under the new “agent of change” principle, which was added to the National Plannning Policy Framework last year. It also protects strategic industrial locations around the Thames Gateway.
The site is jointly owned by the GLA and former Quintain chief Max James’ firm Keystone, part of Silvertown Homes. It was previously controlled by Quintain but was excluded from the sale to Lone Star in 2015. The regeneration is Keystone’s first major project. It will develop the site in collaboration with the GLA and has a goal to begin construction in 2020.
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