Planning permission was granted on Tuesday 28th March for the major regeneration of three key sites in the Church Street neighbourhood. This followed a recent positive resident ballot result which saw the community support the revised proposals.
The Church Street Regeneration Programme will deliver up to 1,120 new homes and will ensure the re-provision of all existing council homes with new higher quality council homes for social rent with affordable homes making up over 50% of the homes delivered in the scheme.
The approved plans will enable the council to:
Build new high quality, affordable homes by unlocking funding from the Greater London Authority
Create new pedestrianised routes and high quality green public spaces through new public and private landscaping
Create new community facilities, including a new playground and replacement library
Provide enhanced market infrastructure for Church Street Market
Create new jobs and training opportunities, as well as new shops for the local community
Introduce new cycle infrastructure, including cycle storage, enhanced cycling routes and 1,500 new cycle parking spaces, building on the council’s Active Travel commitments.
The plans will transform the three key sites in the Church Street neighbourhood re-providing 228 council homes at a better quality, allowing council tenants the right to return, and delivering at least 156 additional council homes for social rent. A further 169 intermediate rent homes bring the total provision of affordable homes across all three sites to over 50%.
Local residents have voted in favour of the Council’s two major regeneration schemes at Church Street and Ebury Bridge. This has unlocked £60m in additional funding from the GLA which has enabled delivery of higher levels of truly affordable housing.
Along with the delivery of new homes, the regeneration will also deliver enhanced infrastructure and improvements to Church Street Market (such as increased storage and van parking for market traders) allowing it to continue to flourish and to provide opportunities for increased vibrancy and footfall.
Cllr Matt Noble, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Renters and Climate Action at Westminster City Council said:
“Following on from the positive resident ballot result, we’re pleased to have secured planning permission for the Church Street Regeneration scheme to improve the lives of residents living and market traders working in and around the surrounding area. The proposals will make a visible difference to the neighbourhood with better homes, greener streets and more opportunities for jobs, entrepreneurship and learning.
The approved plans demonstrate our commitment to improving the Church Street Market, which is the vibrant heart of the local community. We’re taking a big step towards our commitment to deliver at least 1,400 truly affordable council homes in Westminster for our residents who need good quality, family sized, sustainable homes that are built for the future, so everyone can live in a fairer Westminster.”
Now planning permission has been granted for Church Street, enabling work at Site A will begin later this year.
The planning application submitted was a ‘hybrid’ application that consists of two parts:
A detailed application for Site A
An outline application for Sites B and C, the public realm and Church Street Market.
This means there will be further consultation and design development with the local community for Sites B, C and Church Street market, which will be done in due course.
The council launched its new Fairer Westminster strategy in October 2022, which sets out how the council will work with the local community to support them and tackle inequality. The introduction of resident ballots aims to give residents a say on the future of their area and to deliver more council homes for social rent, building a fairer city for people to live in. As part of the new Fairer Westminster strategy, the target is for approximately 70% of affordable homes on council-owned developments to be Council homes for social rent.
The council announced its commitment to increase the number of truly affordable homes in Westminster in October last year. The projected GLA funding for both Ebury and Church Street, takes the affordable homes total across all the Westminster schemes to at least 1,400 council homes for social rent.
