PLP to submit third application for Westferry Printworks development

PLP is set to submit a third planning application for a major mixed-use scheme at the Westferry Printworks site in east London’s Isle of DogsThe practice already has consent for 722 homes, a major school and office space at Westferry. It’s first planning application for the 5ha former printworks site was submitted in 2015 and approved by then-mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2016.Two years later PLP and developer Northern & Shell submitted revised plans for a much denser scheme, with 1,524 homes and five stepped towers – the largest standing at 44 storeys tall. These 2018 plans were approved by housing secretary Robert Jenrick but ultimately rejected in 2020 amid a cash-for-access scandal and following strong opposition from the Planning Inspectorate and Tower Hamlets Council.Now PLP is drawing up plans for roughly 1,200 homes at the site, together with 23,000m 2 of commercial and community uses, according to an Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Request lodged with the council.The document suggests the new scheme will have buildings between four and 30 storeys – with ‘four taller buildings surrounding low to medium-level buildings of varying architecture’. It would also include new public realm as well as enabling the development of a major new secondary school for the area.In its latest financial report , developer Northern & Shell said it was progressing work for 1,200 homes on the site under its 2016 consent – adding that it was ‘in discussions with all relevant stakeholders to seek to improve the consented scheme’.A source close to the scheme told the AJ that new plans for the plot would be submitted early next year and that Tower Hamlets Council – which is now run by mayor Lutfur Rahman’s Aspire party – is more receptive to increasing the number of homes on the site than it was previously under Labour Party rule.However, a spokesman for the local authority insisted: ‘We’ve not received a formal planning application for this development. I or when we do, we’ll follow the normal planning process, publicise the application and carry out the relevant consultations with residents.’Development manager Mace and PLP have been contacted for comment about the latest plans.PLP’s second planning application for the Westferry Printworks site was approved by Jenrick despite a damning report from a planning inspector , who listed several problems and said that ‘insufficient attention [had] been paid to any factor other than seeking to maximise the amount of market housing in the scheme’.The decision was quashed in the High Court in May 2020 following a challenge by Tower Hamlets Council. The court said the timing of Jenrick’s decision showed ‘apparent bias’ towards Northern & Shell – and its billionaire owner Richard Desmond – which reportedly saved £45 million in community infrastructure levy payments due to the speed of the minister’s approval.It later emerged that Jenrick had made a concerted effort to fast-track his decision on Westferry Printworks in a bid to save the developer this money. The quick-fire decision had come after Desmond sat next to Jenrick at a Conservative Party event; texted Jenrick about the scheme and donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party just two weeks earlier.The scheme was subject of another planning inquiry last year, after which a new housing secretary, Michael Gove, rejected the scheme .