18 November (Part 2) - The Eastside Quarter
I
seem to have mislaid the Bellway Homes leaflet that I picked up from
their exhibition last month
but Elwyn Bryant was more careful with his and he told
me it referred to a total of 518 homes; seven studios, 216 one bed, 248 two bed
and 47 three bed apartments with some units being affordable housing and a
mixture of social rented and shared ownership properties.
He asked Bellway Homes if they could shed more light on figures for affordable and rented properties but they told
him it would all be down to Bexley Council.
Elwyn wrote to Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Growth Linda Bailey to see if
she had formulated any ideas about possible numbers. She said she had no idea as
Bellway has not yet submitted a planning application.
That suggests to me that Bellway Homes and Linda Bailey are being evasive. I would expect major developments such as The Eastside
Quarter to be discussed in great detail with planning officers before a formal
application is made. It would surely be madness to spend tens of thousands of pounds
hiring architects and drawing up plans without getting some idea beforehand of
what the Council is likely to approve. One might similarly suggest that at
the very least a ball park figure for affordable and rented homes would be known.
Surely Bexley Council must have a target to aim for but maybe things are as
chaotic in Bexley as the alternative would suggest. Elwyn asked Councillor Bailey
what figure she and Bexley Council would recommend.
However Cabinet Member Bailey held her ground. She has no idea what the planning department will recommend.
Are we expected to believe that the Cabinet Member
for Regeneration and Growth has never given the planning officers any idea of
what level of affordable homes she and her Cabinet colleagues would like to see?
More plausibly Councillor Bailey says that the Planning Committee “will decide whether the
plans are compatible with Bexley’s policies”, but what policies?
If Linda Bailey knows what the policies relating to affordable and rented
housing are she didn’t want to tell Elwyn.
Maybe the clue is in Bellway’s name for the site, but I doubt it.
Eastside quarter.