Keeping London Moving Virtual Brunch: LB Barking & Dagenham

Last week we hosted the second of our virtual brunch sessions speaking to borough’s around London about what they have been working on pre/post Covid, this time we were joined by Pat Hayes, Managing Director of Be First Barking and Dagenham’s development company.

In general the council is keen to continue work and is trying be as flexible as possible in regards to planning consents and applications in the borough. They are looking to talk to developers and investors who want to invest in the area, but not land agents looking to flip sites and can offer loans to companies on commercial basis to support and give assistance to get projects going. Outside of this the borough is looking to the following areas to improve the borough:

Cycling
People are returning to work and looking at aways to travel in without getting public transport , they will need government investment to make big changes like new cycle lanes but they think there is a lot of potential here for improvement.

Co-living
There could well be a place for co-living in barking however they want sustainable development models that support existing communities and bring new people in but not pushing people out and could be a great way to house key workers and or contractors who are temporarily based in an area.

Industrial working
They are looking at ways to replace lost jobs from reduction in workforce - particularly Ford, so hope to invest in anything that could offer relief in these areas and utilise the spaces - EG Photo studios.

Attendees included: Iceni, Aitch Group, London Strategic Land, Weston Homes, Countryside, Lucid Land, HTA, Ikon, Nema Capital, and MHA.