Beam Park could become a “dead area” if transport arrangements are not properly managed, a committee has heard.

At the Havering Council highways advisory committee meeting on November 16, Cllr Paul Middleton noted the controversy over the planned train station.

During a discussion of parking arrangements for Beam Park, the Saint Andrews ward councillor said if the station were not to be built after all, it would “change everything hugely”.

The future of Beam Park station, which was proposed to serve the 3,000-home development, remains uncertain.

According to Havering Council, the station will not be completed without government support, but the Department for Transport (DfT) has said it wants to "be held immune" from the project's financial risks.

At the end of October, transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris claimed the government had never given support for the station to be built.

At the council's committee meeting last night, councillors voted in favour of a review and consultation of parking arrangements around the site of the development and the proposed railway station.

A council report noted that the sale and occupation of the newly developed properties, along with the opening of a new primary school, was putting stress on parking in the area.

The plan to design a parking scheme for the Beam Park area has been divided into three phases.

Phase one would see controls introduced, such as permit and loading restrictions, for the development which is already in place and where residents have already begun moving into properties.

The next phase would see parking controls in existing streets on the north side of the A1306, around Orchard Village.

The third and final stage would introduce controls in the residential side of the A1306, but to the east of Orchard Village, where development is currently in progress.

The council's report noted that Barking and Dagenham Council has already introduced parking controls in the Beam Park area, which straddles the two boroughs, resulting in additional parking displacement on Havering roads.

They agreed to send a questionnaire to consult the area’s residents on the issue.

Cllr Middleton said: “Anything that does come forward from this [consultation] is going to have to improve parking arrangements hugely otherwise it is going to be a dead area."