Property developer Ballymore has won approval from councillors to build 1,667 homes at an ex-industrial site in Knights Road, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

How Ballymore says its new development on Knights Road in Silvertown will look (credit Ballymore) — How Ballymore new development on Knights Road in Silvertown is expected to look (credit Ballymore)

A Newham councillor has said she is “dismayed and heartbroken” at the low level of affordable housing planned at a major new development in Silvertown.

Property developer Ballymore won approval from councillors to build a new 1,667-home development at Knights Road in Silvertown yesterday (Tuesday 28th), but with just 153 ‘affordable’ homes included as part of the plans.

During a debate on the plans at a strategic development committee meeting, Labour committee member Madeleine Sarley Pontin criticised the amount of affordable homes.

Cllr Pontin said: “The majority of those private homes will be sold to people out of the borough and [are] therefore not alleviating the homelessnes and the need for larger homes within the borough.”

The development, which also includes industrial and commercial buildings, is set to be built at the site of a former chemical works encompassing Knights Road and Bradfield Road.

It has also housed a petroleum depot, a transport depot and a recycling plant for construction waste materials.

Council planning officers say this means “there is a high likelihood that the soil and groundwater within the site is contaminated” including with “asbestos, heavy metals and hydrocarbons”.

Ballymore’s representatives told councillors that the high cost of cleaning up the site meant the company could only afford to allocate 9.2% of homes for affordable housing.

Newham Council planning policies call for 50% of new homes to be designated as affordable, which are discounted from the market rate.

However, the level provided at each scheme is usually subject to a financial viability test from the developer, which can then be used to lower the number of affordable homes.

A representative of Ballymore told councillors that 153 social rent homes was “more than the maximum viable amount of affordable homes that can be provided on this site”.

Ballymore UK’s chief executive John Mulryan pointed to “the very high cost of remediation of the sites, as well as works to the river wall and the highway works”.

He added: “The industry has gone through an unprecedented period in the last four or five years, through an extraordinary increase in costs, significant economic headwinds and the market for private housing, which has flatlined for over ten years.”

Complaining about the financial viability tests carried out by developers, Cllr Pontin said the committee was being asked to approve developments with less than 50% affordable housing at “meeting after meeting”.

“We continue to be dismayed and heartbroken at the idea that under our local policy, and under the local plan policy, that developers are failing to meet the high level of social homes that are needed,” she said.

The committee voted to approve the development, with Labour councillors Rachel Tripp, Blossom Young, John Morris, Alan Griffiths and Terence Paul in favour, but Cllr Pontin against.

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