Capital & Provident (C&P) has attacked London mayor Ken Livingstone’s proposals to safeguard London’s wharves – a policy that will force C&P to scale back plans for its Peruvian Wharf scheme.
C&P had secured consent from Newham council for a 1.8m sq ft (167,220 sq m) mixed-use scheme on the site but this week Livingstone named the wharf as one of 52 he plans to protect.
C&P will now have to fall back on an earlier, smaller planning permission that preserves the wharf, or take the mayor’s policy to court.
Sunny Crouch, Capital & Provident’s project director for Peruvian Wharf, said: “Given the mayor’s focus on delivering new affordable housing and the regeneration of the Thames Gateway, we are naturally surprised that the Peruvian Wharf site remains safeguarded.
“We consider our proposals entirely consistent with the draft London Plan, with significant regeneration benefits which will also act as a catalyst for the development of other sites in the Thames Gateway.
“The London Borough of Newham supports our proposals and we will now consider our response to this document during the consultation period.
“It is too early to comment further at this stage.”
The policy, revealed exclusively by Estates Gazette (12 April, page 30), was issued for consultation at the start of this week.
It will force owners of 52 riverside sites to preserve them as industrial and waste recycling wharves, or face having the sites compulsorily purchased by the mayor and the London Development Agency.
References: EGi News 16/04/03
