Plans have been approved for the second site of a £1billion housing regeneration scheme in east London.

Joint venture partners Havering Council and Wates Residential submitted plans for a modern retirement village at the Solar, Serena and Sunrise House site in Hornchurch in November 2019.

On June 25, the plans were agreed at a virtual Strategic Planning Committee meeting. The plans will now be considered by the Mayor of London before the final decision is issued.

Kate Ives, development director for Wates Residential, said: “Securing approval to regenerate the Solar, Serena and Sunrise Courts site is fantastic news and marks another key step in our partnership with Havering Council to deliver thousands of new homes for local people, as well as new community investment, employment and training opportunities.”

The site in south Hornchurch previously provided sheltered accommodation but will now be redeveloped to provide 175 homes, 80 of which will be for affordable rent, with the remainder split between shared ownership and sale on the open market.

Plans include communal facilities such as a lounge and a treatment studio for health and wellness, which may be used by council support services, GPs or other NHS services will provide on-site support for some residents’ routine healthcare needs.

There will also be flexible storage space for either bicycles or mobility scooters and all homes will also have solar panels to help keep service charges at an affordable cost.

The site is one of 12 included in the ’12 Estates’ regeneration programme, which will see about 3,500 homes delivered by the joint venture partners in Havering over the next 12 to 15 years.

The £1bn programme will seek to double the amount of council rented accommodation and more than double the number of affordable housing.

Phase one of the estates project began in July 2019 with the demolition of Napier and New Plymouth House in Rainham. An application at the Waterloo Estate in Romford was also submitted in June 2020, in addition to the retirement village at Solar, Serena and Sunrise Courts.