This meeting of Newham Council's Strategic Development Committee included applications to determine planning permission at four sites in the borough, and considered the minutes of two previous meetings.

Land at Former EMR Site, Bidder Street, Canning Town

The most significant item on the agenda was an application for planning permission by IXDS Limited to build a data centre at the Land at Former EMR Site, Bidder Street, Canning Town. This is a 1.98 hectare site that was previously occupied by European Metal Recycling, but is currently vacant. The proposed data centre would be 72.3 metres tall, and would include ancillary office space, a plant building and an energy centre. It was recommended for approval subject to a Section 106 agreement to secure a number of benefits for the local community.

The former EMR site is on land designated by Newham Council as a Strategic Industrial Location¹ and a Strategic Site. Newham Council's policies on Strategic Industrial Locations² seek to protect them from development that could take place elsewhere, particularly where this would involve the loss of existing industrial floorspace. The council requires that any loss of industrial floorspace from Strategic Industrial Locations must be compensated for by equivalent or better provision elsewhere, and must lead to a net increase in jobs.

The Section 106 agreement would secure a number of benefits for the local community. These include £4.08 million for a Data Economy Programme designed to improve the skills of Newham residents and help them get better jobs, £1.625 million for a Digital Connectivity Strategy, and a commitment to provide 35% of construction jobs and 50% of end-user jobs to Newham residents. The Section 106 agreement would also secure a financial contribution of £520,000 towards the Canning Town Station Improvements, £1 million towards the delivery of the Mayer Parry Bridge, and £200,000 towards the provision of pedestrian routes. The applicant also agreed to enter into a ‘Car Free’ agreement to prevent employees parking in the Canning Town Controlled Parking Zone.

The proposed data centre would be built to BREEAM Excellent standards, and would include a district heating plant that would utilise waste heat from the operation of the data centre. A connection to this network would be offered to the neighbouring residential development at the Crown Wharf site (a Barratt Development) and potentially a further 13 large scale heat pump energy centres with thermal storage, and 4.5km of low temperature heat network pipework, to provide heat to supply 13 mixed-use developments in Newham and Tower Hamlets. The applicant would be required to work with future and potential District Heating Network operators to secure the delivery of this heat network.

Newham Sixth Form College, Prince Regent Lane, Plaistow

The committee considered two applications to extend the temporary permissions for classroom blocks at Newham Sixth Form College, Prince Regent Lane, Plaistow.

The applications relate to a two storey ‘Business Unit’ block which was originally granted temporary permission for five years in 2014 and subsequently extended for a further five years in 2019 and a single storey block (Block G) which was granted temporary consent for five years in 2009, and was subsequently extended for five years in 2014 and for another five years in 2019.

The applicant had requested a further five-year extension for each block. The committee was asked to approve a reduced extension of three years. The applicant had confirmed that they would enter into a Project Planning Performance Agreement³ to explore a permanent solution during this period, after which the temporary buildings would be removed.

An objection was received from a resident at 22 Jenkins Road, who stated that pupils used the fire escape to smoke, and were not adequately supervised. The resident also stated that trees were not adequately maintained, and that the burglar alarm was not monitored overnight or at weekends. The resident also expressed concerns about anti-social behaviour by pupils in the local area.

Altitude 14 Lascars Avenue, Beckton

The committee considered an application by CBRE for the change of use of a building at Altitude 14 Lascars Avenue, Beckton from office (Use Class E) to flexible use as education (Use Class F1) and office floorspace, retaining some existing retail floorspace. The site is owned by RAD CHP Ltd, and falls within Strategic Site 31 (Royal Albert North) in the Local Plan.

The building is nine storeys tall and provides 14,355 square metres of floorspace. It was completed in 2019, but has remained largely vacant due to a lack of demand for office space in the area. The building is within walking distance of two DLR stations and Custom House Elizabeth Line station.

The application was supported by a masterplan, which sets out the applicant's aspirations to develop the site as an education campus, in line with the Local Plan. The proposed change of use would be the second phase of this masterplan, following the approval of an application for 628 student bed spaces at the adjacent Lascars Avenue West and Royal Albert Quay West sites at the previous meeting.

A Section 106 agreement would secure funding for a Travel Plan and a commitment to provide three blue badge parking spaces on site. The agreement would also include a restriction in leases to prevent occupiers from obtaining street parking permits.

The applicant had received a letter in support of the application from the CEO & Principal of the London Design & Engineering University Technical College, 15 University Way.

The application was recommended for approval.