Bishopsgate Goodsyard scheme decision deferred after GLA recommends refusal

A letter issued by the mayor this week (2-page / 44 KB PDF) said he had agreed to a request on behalf of developers Hammerson and Ballymore to defer his decision in order to allow the applications to be amended to address concerns raised in a GLA report.

A report (131-page / 1 MB PDF) dated 8 April said the mayor supported the principle and recognised the benefits of a well-designed, high density scheme at the site. However the authors said that under the existing plans "the potential public benefits are to be delivered in a way that would result in unacceptable and avoidable significant negative impacts".

The developers were seeking outline planning permission and listed building consent for a scheme including 1,356 new homes, up to 65,859 square metres of office space, more than 22,500 sq m of public open space, shops, restaurants, cafés and community facilities. A total of 12 buildings had been proposed, with heights of up to 177.6m. Full planning permission was sought for the first three residential buildings, containing 940 homes.

The proposed scheme was initially submitted to Tower Hamlets and Hackney Councils in July 2014. It was subsequently revised last June and the application was called in for determination by Johnson in September.

The GLA report said the scheme would cause "unacceptable" daylight and sunlight impacts, in conflict with the local development plan. It said the "density, height, massing and layout of the scheme" were not appropriate, in particular the proposed massing along the north-western edge of the 4.4 hectare site.

The authors said the cumulative heritage impacts of the scheme also weighed against approval. They said the proposed demolition of the Grade II-listed Oriel gateway in particular "has not been adequately justified and remains unacceptable". The scheme was also considered to cause minor harm to the settings of the Tower of London, the Geffrye Museum and three conservation areas.

A further point of concern was the potential for part of a proposed street "to become a magnet for anti-social behaviour".

The GLA did not accept that the negative impacts of the proposal were "an inevitable consequence of developing the site". The report suggested that "a revised scheme could reduce the impacts to an acceptable level and still deliver significant public benefits". It said that a scheme with "significantly less height and massing along the north-western edge of the site in particular" would both reduce the daylight and sunlight impacts and "lessen many of the heritage impacts identified".

Planning expert Victoria Lindsay of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "The mayor decided to call in this planning application last year in what was seen as a bid to accelerate the decision-making process. Whilst the recommendation by Johnson's senior planners is a set-back for the developers after a long and controversial planning battle, the mayor’s decision has now been deferred beyond next Monday so that the developers have a chance to address GLA’s concerns. It is unlikely that mayor Johnson will be the one to make the decision on this scheme given that his time as mayor will soon draw to a close. Mayor Johnson, is however, still set to decide the Alpha Printworks and Westferry Printworks call-ins by the end of this month".