London residents have told of their concerns about a Sir Sadiq Khan-backed new town swelling with 20,000 homes – amid fears over GP bookings and school places.
Locals have been speaking out about the proposed new 20,000-home Barking Riverside project in east London after councillors gave it the green light.
Planners in Barking and Dagenham approved a scheme to create a new town at Barking Riverside that has been dubbed ‘Barkalona’ or ‘Barcelona-on-Thames’ – with comparisons to gentrification developments in that Spanish city in the 1990s.
The project, supported by London mayor Sir Sadiq in a joint venture, will involve new schools, health centres, parks, and community spaces built beside the Thames river.
The Barking Riverside development includes 4,000 new properties earmarked for affordable housing – with 50,000 people potentially housed across the area.
Among the features of the masterplan are two public parks, three extra schools, a new health facility and commercial space, enhanced walking and cycling routes, as well as riverfront access.
Official figures in January revealed that just 47,600 new homes have been built in the capital since Labour came to power in July 2024, out of 309,600 across England.
The capital’s figure was far short of the target of 88,000 new homes a year set by the Government to meet its goal of 1.5 million across the country by 2029.
Revised proposals for a development including 20,000 new homes has been approved by Barking and Dagenham council planners – this vision has been shared by the developers
The Barking Riverside project in east London has been given the green light, with 4,000 of the new properties earmarked as affordable housing – pictures show what it could look like
Among the features of the new masterplan are two public parks, three extra schools, a new health facility and commercial space, as well as the 20,000 homes
Councillors in Barking and Dagenham earlier this week approved the scheme to create a new town at Barking Riverside – dubbed ‘Barkalona’ by locals
Supporters of the newly approved scheme – including one of Sir Sadiq’s deputies Tom Copley – say it will provide not only much needed new homes, but also schools, health centres, public parks and community spaces.
The latest proposals almost double the previously granted allocation of 10,800 new homes across the 443-acre site.
But local reaction has been mixed – with concerns raised over the potential impact.
Local resident Mehak Yasir, 36, works at the Grounded Coffee truck parked outside the Overground station.
She moved into a new-build three-bedroom apartment just over two years ago after the council offered her a house.
While she is looking forward to new development bringing in more customers to the area, Ms Yasir also told of her worries that local amenities were not keeping up.
She said: ‘They need to build another primary school and another secondary school.
‘There are no local markets here, which have to be made before they make the buildings.
‘People are struggling to go shopping. They don’t have enough parking here.
‘We don’t have any GP surgery or supermarket like Tesco – we only have two small Co-ops here, nothing else.
‘For our GP we need to go to Thames View, a 10-minute drive from here.’
Over in the nearby Thames View housing estate, constructed in the 1950s, local Labour councillor Sabbir Zamee was putting up a sign advertising a local ‘Eid in the Field’ event.
He shared concerns that the new homes in Barking Riverside could negatively affect residents in his area.
He said: ‘Health has not been addressed. They are giving a couple of schools, being built in the future.
‘They’ve already built like 40 per cent of the development – accordingly they didn’t develop all of those things.
‘Here as a neighbouring community, we are struggling for the last 10 years.
Labour councillor Sabbir Zamee shared concerns health needs had been not been addressed
Stuart Graham, who arrived in 1999 from Edinburgh, said of the east London area: ‘It was great at first – but you can’t afford nothing here now’
Riverside resident Mike Press, a 29-year-old software engineer, told how the project had helped him get on to the property ladder
The site for the proposed new development in east London sits beside the River Thames
Building work has been ongoing ahead of the new planning permission for revised proposals
Among the features of the masterplan are two public parks, three extra schools, a new health facility and commercial space, enhanced walking and cycling routes, plus riverfront access
‘We have people who are using our health facilities, people are using our faith facilities – we can’t say no, because we’re neighbours, but we are suffering.
‘I’m calling my GP, 30 minutes of waiting and then the call is disconnected.
‘The GP is trying hard – he’s giving every day 100 appointments, but they have 20,000 people there.’
In nearby Thames View pub The Lighterman, lifelong Barking resident Stephen, 72, called the new housing area ‘Barkalona’ due to its density.
He said: ‘I’ve worked in the building trade all my life, but where’s all the traffic going?
‘They’re building no infrastructure. There’s two schools on this estate. When anything goes wrong, they use it as a rat run.’
He put the area’s cheapness down to its postcode. While Barking Riverside postcodes begin with IG – known as the Ilford postcode area – those in nearby East Ham start with ‘E’, for East London.
Stephen said: ‘Once an E comes into it, you go, say, from a half-million pound house to one and a half [million].
‘We drink in a pub called the Manor Arms, in Poplar, it’s been there for donkey’s years.
‘The houses that were around there, you could not give away. They go for three and a half to 4million pounds now. Unreal, innit?’
Friend Stuart Graham, who arrived in 1999 from Edinburgh, said: ‘It was great at first – but you can’t afford nothing here now.’
There are also supporters of the development that has already got under way.
Riverside resident Mike Press, a 29-year-old software engineer, told how the project had helped him and his partner get on to the property ladder – buying a two-bedroom flat for £330,000 three and a half years ago.
Mr Press, originally from north-west London, said: ‘Here is the cheapest bit anywhere near the M25.
‘I was looking outside the M25 at commuter towns, where the price is about the same but the cost of travel going into town – because my partner commutes five days a week – would have cost more.
‘That’s kind of the allure of this area – there’s nothing here so the houses are relatively cheap, so you have people trying to get on the ladder like myself.’
He added: ‘There is a housing shortage in this country. Here is a great place to do it because it’s all pretty much brownfield.
‘There needs to be more stuff around here for the people that live here anyway so I only see positives, to be honest.
‘We do need more housing – a lot of NIMBYism in this country stops it happening. Wherever we can get more housing, I think we should go for it.’
Construction worker George Hawkins, 38, from Plumstead in south-east London, began working on the Riverside project a month ago.
He said: ‘The work’s getting done at a steady pace – everyone seems to be happy.
‘It’s a good amount of work to be done here so for me it’s ideal.
‘I live on the other side of the river, so travelling to work I get the boat to work and the boat home – it’s a lovely way to travel.
‘It’s a bit more scenic coming on the river and it’s a nice project to work on.’
But Mr Hawkins urged there to be ‘a bit more amenities around here’, adding: ‘That’s what it’s missing.
‘We go down and get a bit of food off the couple of food wagons down there if you don’t bring your own packed lunch in.
‘You’ve got a Co-op down in the estate. I’ve not been down yet but I’ve heard it’s a bit of walk.’
A London Overground station and an Uber Boat pier opened at the site in 2022.
Mr Hawkins said: ‘The boat weren’t working one day, but you’ve got the station there, haven’t you?
‘For travel-wise, you’re spoiled for choice. You’ve got your buses around here to take you as well, if you ain’t one for the trains.
‘It seems all right – it’s a good up and coming area.’
The developers’ revisions for the site were last week given outline planning permission by Barking and Dagenham council.
Barking Riverside is a joint venture between London mayor Sir Sadiq and housing association L&Q.
More than £170million in grant and loan funding has been handed over in the past five years by government agency Homes England.
The development approval comes amid attempts to tackle Britain’s ‘housing crisis’.
The Labour government has updated planning rules, suggesting local objections should not stand in the way of houses on brownfield sites.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also been vehement in his criticism of ‘nimbys’ and ‘blockers’ – describing himself as a ‘yimby’, meaning ‘yes in my backyard’.
In its planning policy framework, Labour said brownfield schemes ‘should be approved unless substantial harm would be caused’.
Mr Copley, deputy mayor for housing and residential development, said of the newly approved plans: ‘Barking Riverside is one of the most significant and exciting housing developments not just in London but anywhere in the UK.
‘It is a fantastic example of a major brownfield regeneration, supported by City Hall and partners, which is delivering for the local community in this vibrant part of east London.
‘I welcome the news that the Barking Riverside story is set to enter its next phase, ensuring thousands of more high-quality and affordable homes for Londoners in the coming years as we continue to build a better and fairer capital for everyone.’
BRL managing director Leigh Johnson said: ‘We’ve worked extensively with stakeholders like the NHS and the Council’s education department to scope the social infrastructure that is needed as part of this new application to support the growing community at Barking Riverside.
‘This includes schools and health facilities and was all informed by GLA population modelling and was independently reviewed by a third party acting on behalf of the council and statutory consultees.
‘Of course, there’s lots of infrastructure that’s already been delivered here – five schools, including two primary schools, one secondary, and two SEND schools, accompanied by three nurseries.
‘There are great transport links with London’s newest overground station and the River Bus pier, which enables Uber Boat by Thames Clippers journeys.
‘Additionally, Barking Riverside is already home to the Rivergate Community Centre and The Wilds community space, both of which offer subsidised space for resident activities.
‘Moving forward, we’re prioritising additional health infrastructure, providing £6million in funding for on-site healthcare, as well as new shops.
‘The new planning approval also facilitates the delivery of up to three new primary schools and at least two new community centres, with BRL providing up to £4.2million for their delivery.’
Barking Riverside is a joint venture between London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and housing association L&Q
L&Q’s group chief executive Fiona Fletcher-Smith said: ‘Delivering well-designed affordable homes and community infrastructure at scale at Barking Riverside represents our long-term plans to tackle the housing crisis in London.
‘We believe it could be a blueprint for brownfield development across the country.
‘This milestone reflects the ambition of the partnerships involved, from L&Q and the Mayor of London to the many others contributing to the success of the project.’
Sir Keir’s Government has set a target of building 1.5 million new homes by the end of the current Parliament – but there are industry fears that this will not be possible.
Meanwhile, the Construction Industry Training Board has warned that 61,000 new workers each year would be needed to hit the 2029 housebuilding target.
The number of UK construction workers fell to 2 million in the third quarter of last year – the lowest for 25 years – and while 35 per cent are aged over 50, only 20 per cent are under 30.
The Office for Budget Responsibility last year forecast there would be 305,000 new homes built a year in the UK by the end of the decade.
This would see a total of only 1.3 million new homes across the entire UK from this year to 2029/30, the watchdog estimated.
It said Labour’s planning reforms would only add an extra 170,000 new homes, but the Government claimed the OBR had not factored in other key changes being made.
And the Home Builders Federation wrote to the OBR last October, saying even their estimates were ‘only achievable’ if the Government provided help for first-time buyers to stimulate demand and reduced planned taxes on new homes that were making many sites ‘unviable’.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said in response: ‘We will leave no stone unturned to build the 1.5 million homes this country desperately needs and restore the dream of homeownership.
‘On top of the major planning changes we have already introduced to get developers building and our huge £39billion investment in social and affordable housing, we are going further and faster to accelerate reforms and bring about the biggest era of housebuilding in our country’s history.’
Yet analysis of official figures in January this year revealed construction had plummeted nationwide under Labour’s watch.
Every English region has seen a fall but the slowdown was worst in London, with only 4,170 new homes starting construction in the 2024-25 financial year – a 72 per cent decline from 2023-24.
Across England, just 115,700 homes were started in Labour‘s first year in office – a mere 39 per cent of the 300,000 a year needed to hit the Government’s housing target of 1.5 million by the end of this Parliament in July 2029.
The numbers were compiled by the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, which said Labour’s chances of hitting their target was ‘close to zero’.
Labour has previously said it still hopes to meet its target, with construction expected to surge once the impact of its planning reforms comes into effect in the latter part of this parliament.
Just before the Christmas parliamentary recess, the Government released a new draft National Planning Policy Framework that pledges to speed up applications and make it easier for developers to get approvals.
It is set to lead to a major shake-up in the system governing development near busy railway stations.
Local authorities will be told to give a ‘default yes’ to all applications within a 15-minute walk, provided they will deliver at least 20 homes per acre.
Council planning committees will also lose the right to decide on small developments, with decisions handed over to ‘expert trained planners’.
