The project to build 41 “permanently affordable” homes in Shadwell has not progressed to a planning application in six years
City Hall has been urged to help unlock a long-delayed community housing project in Tower Hamlets which has not got off the ground after six years in planning.
In 2018, the Cable Street Community Land Trust (CLT) were awarded a disused Transport for London (TfL) site to build 41 “permanently” affordable homes in Shadwell, including up to 12 social housing properties.
Six years later, they won a £1million grant from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to design the homes and submit a planning application – but in 2025, TfL paused the project due to viability concerns.
Officials estimated that it would add around £2million in maintenance costs at the adjacent Docklands Light Railway (DLR) track if the scheme was to proceed as planned. This is because part of the site is needed to carry out the maintenance and, if lost, it would mean taking occasional possession of Network Rail land to carry out the work instead.
These delays meant the CLT missed out on access to the GLA’s Community Housing Fund (CHF), which would have meant another £7million for the project, campaigners said.
Community leaders from Tower Hamlets have now met with Tom Copley, Sir Sadiq Khan’s Deputy Mayor for Housing, to try and break the deadlock.
Following the meeting, Mr Copley noted that the GLA already extended the CHF deadline twice for the project, and claimed TfL’s actions have gone “beyond” what is expected to accommodate the CLT’s ambitions.
He urged the CLT to apply for further funding through the London Social and Affordable Homes Programme (LSAHP) and to ensure TfL, who want to ensure permanent access to the car park currently owned by Tower Hamlets Council, can do so.
“It is clear that the GLA and TfL are doing all that we can to facilitate this project, and going significantly further than we have with our other partners, including councils, housing associations and other providers of social and affordable housing,” he wrote in a letter.
“I hope that you are able to develop proposals that would meet the flexible and minimal conditions set out if there is a further opportunity to bid for funding through the LSAHP as we intend, and for the land to be disposed without significant operational and financial risk.”
Frankie Webster, Senior Organiser at Citizens UK, told the LDRS that she was “encouraged” by the letter, adding: “Ten years is a long time for any community to wait, but we believe there’s now a real opportunity to make this happen.
“Cable Street is an opportunity to show what’s possible when London backs community-led housing that keeps homes genuinely affordable for generations.
“With the right leadership and commitment, this can become a landmark example of how the city tackles the housing crisis while putting local people at the heart of development. We’re ready to work with the GLA, TfL and the Mayor to turn that ambition into reality, and we’ll continue campaigning until the homes our community has waited so long for are finally delivered.”
Benali Hamdache, a Green Party London Assembly Member who sits on the Housing Committee, added: “Community Land Trusts are an important and much needed alternative to the developer led model that is failing to provide the housing Londoners actually need.
“The Cable Street Community Land Trust project began because local people in Shadwell were being priced out of the area they call home.
“I have written to the Mayor urging him to work to extend the funding deadline, resolve the concerns raised by TfL and to meet with London Citizens leaders to work through these challenges together.”
In January, the London Assembly passed a motion calling on the Mayor to cover any costs required to “safeguard the building of these homes on the existing site”, if they could not be eliminated entirely.
However, in his response to the motion, Sir Sadiq appeared to blame the CLT for failing to approach officials regarding the release of the site until late 2024.
By that time, he said, “the operational requirements of the DLR had changed significantly”, adding: “DLR now relies on part of the Cable Street land for essential maintenance activities.
“Losing this land would force DLR to undertake maintenance through Network Rail possessions four or five times each year.
“This would create substantial operational risk due to reliance on external approvals and would incur annual costs of at least £500,000, plus additional one-off consultant, leasing, and operational expenses with every possession. Even with additional funding, these ongoing operational risks are considered unacceptable.”
Steven Wilkinson, TfL’s Head of Property Services, said: “We are supportive of the proposed affordable housing development on our land at Cable Street and recognise the positive contribution it would make to the local community by delivering much-needed affordable housing in the area.
“Cable Street is a key operational site for the DLR to maintain its infrastructure, so we and our colleagues at [TfL’s property arm] Places for London are working with London CLT to find the most appropriate way forward to deliver these homes within appropriate GLA funding programmes while also ensuring the DLR can continue to maintain the network effectively.”
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