Plans to improve the riverside in Rainham with a viewing platform, courtyard and landscaping have been submitted.

A planning application has been submitted by London Riverside Business Improvement District (BID) to improve and utilise public space in Rainham Riverside.

This is up to 400m west of Rainham Marshes and is between Easter Industrial Estate in Ferry Lane South and the River Thames, north of the Tilda processing plant.

The report says the public area, which is surrounded by industrial development, is currently “underutilised and neglected”.

Suggested improvements include a riverside viewing structure, a courtyard named the Museum of Garden Escapes, additional access paths and soft landscaping including trees.

Round three funding from the London mayor’s Good Growth Fund has been received to improve community access to the area.

The riverside belvedere structure is proposed to be one storey tall and six meters high, and would be made from in-situ concrete or recycled brick walling with corten weathering steel elements.

It would provide seating, shelter and would work with existing topography to provide views over the Thames.

Meanwhile, the Museum of Garden Escapes courtyard would stand one storey high at three meters.

It aims to highlight the diversity of plants in the area and re-establish the site of the Three Crowns Inn pub - formerly Ferry Inn - as a marker on the Rainham Riverside.

According to the plan, the "two architectural inventions will provide focal points and much-needed amenity" at the site.

The report states the proposed changes aim to “improve access to Rainham riverside while protecting its ecological significance”.

If approved, work is suggested to begin in March 2022 and end in September.

Throughout the research and design process the community have been consulted, the report says, with an initial questionnaire being circulated through the BID to local businesses, workers and other site visitors.

Community groups and schools have also been involved in a temporary garden project on part of the site.

Havering Council is due to make a written decision by February 15.

Appeals can be made within six months of the decision.

This follows the success of round two Good Growth funding for an innovation hub, Future Cube, in Rainham.

View the application using P2062.21 on Havering Council’s planning portal.