After seven months of scrutiny by the Greater London Authority the application for the homes to be built in Rom Valley Way has finally been approved.
The Mayor of London has given the green light for 620 homes to be built on the site of the former Romford ice rink.
Initial plans were approved by Havering Council back in February, but developers -Affinity Global - finally received approval from the Greater London Authority (GLA) just a few weeks ago.
The GLA took eight months to decide whether or not to approve the application, and the developers will now be able to start work on the site in Rom Valley Way.
Affinity Global will be building 11 blocks of one to four bedroom apartments, between four and eight storeys high, along with a supermarket, a café and a doctors surgery.
The planning application states that there will also be two residents’ gyms, cycle parking and 250 car parking spaces.
The application was first submitted in August last year, and just over a year later the GLA was content with the decision by the council to approve the homes.
A draft section 106 agreement also includes that a contribution of more than £3.8m will be made by the developers to near-by schools, and that “50,000 will be spent on a controlled crossing over Oldchurch Road to improve access to the existing walking and cycling route along the western side of Waterloo Road.
Seb Whitton, business development manager at Affinity Global told the Recorder that although it had been frustrating waiting to hear back from the GLA it is great that they have finally been given the green light to build the homes.
He said: “We’ve been waiting for a long time for approval, we submitted it to the GLA the day after the application was approved by Havering, and we only heard back a few weeks ago.
“It’s an exciting time now, and we are hoping we can move quickly to get these homes built.”
Speaking in a report Sadiq Khan said: “Having now considered a report on this case, I am content to allow Havering Council to dtermine the case itself, subject to any action that the Secretary of State may take, and do not therefore wish to direct refusal or to take over the application for my own determination.”
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