Controversial plans to build 500 homes, offices, a park and a hotel at Bishopsgate Goodsyard – one of central London’s last remaining brownfield sites – will be discussed next week.
Tower Hamlets Strategic Planning Committee will view plans for a cluster of towers up to 29 storeys high for the site in Shoreditch on Thursday.
The former railway goodsyard has been largely derelict for decades and straddles the boundary of Tower Hamlets and Hackney, with almost 30 per cent of the western end of the development in the neighbouring borough.
The site has had a long planning history which began in 2010.
Both local authorities were strongly opposed to the original plans for 1,400 homes submitted in 2014, citing the low 15 per cent affordable housing and looming 46 storeys towers which would cast a shadow over neighbouring Spitalfields.
But affordable housing has been boosted to 50 per cent and the two councils now disagree on the benefits of the scheme, a joint venture between Hammerson and Ballymore.
Tower Hamlets planners said they will not raise any objections to the proposal, which will be determined by the Mayor of London on December 3.
However Hackney Council said, while it recognised the scheme would bring benefits to the borough, the “extent of design and heritage concerns raised are considerable”.
Some 511 objections have been received, complaining about overdevelopment, density, height and scale. The Victorian Society is among those against the plans.
A spokesman for Hammerson and Ballymore said: “We’re pleased Tower Hamlets Council’s planning officers are recommending the council supports our revised planning application for The Goodsyard, which delivers on many of the borough’s objectives for this strategically important central London brownfield site that has been under used for so long.
“We especially welcome the Tower Hamlets’ recognition that our revised plans will deliver a huge range of benefits to the local area and London long into the future, providing 500 homes, including 50 per cent affordable, over 11,000 jobs, a substantial provision of affordable workspace and one of central London’s largest new parks.”
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