Barking Riverside and Thames View are two wards within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD). Both wards are included in the London Riverside Opportunity Area, designated by the London Plan in 2004. It still appears in the London Plan 2021 with targets of 44,000 homes and 29,000 jobs by 2041.
Within Barking Riverside and Thames View, there are two major developments: one ongoing development known as Barking Riverside Masterplan, developed by Barking Riverside Limited (a development company owned 49% by the Greater London Authority and 51% by the housing association L&Q); and one planned development in Thames Road by Be First (LBBD’s planning and development company).
While the developments are delivering and planning to deliver a large number of new homes, residents are concerned about the lack of community facilities and health infrastructure in the area, and how the new homes delivered will bring even more pressure to the scarcity of these services.
The Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, and the Barking-based community development trust Thames Life, have been working on a knowledge exchange project between November 2023 and July 2024. This project has been funded by the Economic Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account (UKRI). The project emerged from the loss of the Everyone Everyday Warehouse on Thames Road in summer 2023, one of the few free or low-cost community facilities in the are, the fact that there is only one health centre covering the Thames View and Barking Riverside wards, and a wider concern of the lack of social infrastructure in such a large development.
Building on these concerns, the aims of this project are:
- to assess, in collaboration with residents and community groups, the existing social infrastructure in the area;
- to co-design with residents and groups a community-led vision for social infrastructure in the area, with a particular focus on community spaces, health facilities, and green spaces;
- to facilitate a knowledge exchange through which community members involved feel more empowered to participate in decision-making and connecting this experience to others in London.
For achieving these objectives, this project followed a Participatory Action Research methodology, which involved organising five co-design workshops with 70+ residents and community groups, attending resident planning forums organised by Thames Life, attending meetings organised by community groups in the area to discuss this project, meeting stakeholders involved in the development of Barking Riverside, and semi-structured interviews with 18 people working or living in or near Thames View and Barking Riverside.
The output of this project is a community-led vision for social infrastructure in Barking Riverside and Thames View. The map shows this community-led vision and the proposals that came out of this knowledge exchange project. This can be presented to stakeholders involved in the development of the area. It is important to note that this is not a masterplan for the area, but a community vision that can be incorporated into future developments. Its scope is limited to community facilities, health infrastructure, and green spaces. It aims to be the beginning of a dialogue between communities, developers and public authorities involved in Barking Riverside and Thames View wards.
By Pablo Sendra, associate professor of planning and urban design, The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London
Paul Miller, Deputy Managing Director of Barking Riverside Limited (BRL), commented:
The Barking Riverside development has already seen several important pieces of social infrastructure delivered here, including:
1. An Ofsted “Outstanding” secondary school
2. Two primary schools
3. Two SEN schools
4. A range of nurseries
5. The Rivergate Community
Centre
6. The Wilds Ecology Centre
7. 3 new play parks and additional open spaces.
As part of the existing Outline Planning Permission that was granted in 2016, further social infrastructure is planned, which BRL is working hard to bring forward. This includes health and leisure provision.
We have been engaging with the UCL research. Some of the identified aspirations reflect the feedback received as part of the community engagement programme led by BRL in relation to the new Outline Planning Application for Barking Riverside. This took place across January – June 2024, and collected nearly 900 pieces of feedback.
BRL would like to re-confirm that, as part of the new Outline Planning Application, population modelling has been undertaken to ensure that the appropriate number of schools, play areas, community, and health facilities are included in our proposals, and that these are appropriately sized for the growing population. This population modelling is being reviewed and scrutinised by the Council as part of the planning determination process, with the final social infrastructure plans being confirmed after this. We will continue to engage with residents throughout the planning process.
