The Council first resolved to grant planning permission for the scheme to the new Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) in June this year. Following negotiations and completion of a section 106 agreement, final approval (30-page / 285KB PDF) has now been given.
The plans will see the existing wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market on the 25 hectare site be demolished along with a residential building. This will pave the way for a mixed-use development to comprise a new fruit, vegetable and flower market, up to 2,503 homes, a 200-bed hotel and retail and commercial space. The development will also have a new 11,800 square metre park called Linear Park which will run from Vauxhall to Battersea Park.
The scheme will be carried out by developer VSM Estates, a joint venture between St Modwen and Vinci. CGMA selected VSM Estates as the preferred bidder to develop the site in March this year.
The section 106 agreement obliges CGMA to make 15% of the new homes affordable and to make contributions towards local infrastructure, including public spaces and new cycle routes and footpaths.
"This permission is one more step in delivering the Vauxhall /Nine Elms/Battersea strategy," said Wandsworth Borough Council assistant director of planning, Seema Manchanda, according to reports. "The planning team and the Council have worked hard with the applicant since the resolution in June to ensure that the vision is delivered in the grant of this permission.”
