Plans to build more than 60 affordable homes have got the green light from the council.
In total, 63 dwellings would be built at the junction of Oxlow Lane and Rainham Road North in Dagenham after the Town Hall’s planning committee members approved the scheme at a meeting on Monday, March 23.
Cllr Cameron Geddes, cabinet member for regeneration and social housing, said: “These plans will enable more local people to live in a modern, affordable home rather than pay sky high rents in the private sector.”
The council’s plans include demolishing two existing blocks of flats and replacing them with new buidings rising from five to seven storeys. In total, 15 of the new homes are deemed suitable for families with each having three bedrooms.
A total of 36 per cent of all the homes will be offered at a low cost rent with the rest at affordable rents, meaning they can be rented for up to 80pc of the market rate.
Rents are expected to start from about £160 a week for a one bedroom flat based on 2020/21 prices.
Cllr Simon Perry, speaking at the meeting, raised concerns about the almost doubling in height of the existing buildings, the number of dwellings on the site and lack of public transport in the neighbourhood.
“Public transport is low. The density exceeds the recommendations and there’s a lack of family units,” he said.
But the meeting heard that although the number of flats was “much higher” than recommended for the area, there was a need to balance that with the desire for more homes.
Noise would also not have an adverse impact on the area, the members heard, while the scheme would provide 23 car parking spaces and 144 cycle racks.
Cllr Perry then challenged the impact the buildings would have on privacy and overshadowing of neighbouring homes.
Jennie Coombs, head of affordable housing at the council’s regeneration arm Be First, said: “There was quite a lot of consultation done with local residents. [The fact that] there haven’t been a huge amount of objections leads me to believe the residents were happy that privacy, sunlight and daylight were not impacted upon to a level where they wanted to object.”
The plans were approved unanimously by the committee members.
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