Developer Countryside Properties and London & Quadrant Housing Trust hope to build a new neighbourhood on a derelict former Ford assembly plant in South Dagenham

The Beam Park scheme includes 50% affordable homes, a new rail station, schools and community facilities on the 29 hectre site which sits alongside the River Beam.

Beam Park straddles the border of two boroughs. Barking and Dagenham Council approved the development but Havering Council refused permission claiming it would harm the character of the local area due to the height of the buildings.

Beam Park in Dagenham

The potential development sits in the London Riverside Opportunity Area, which has been identified as having the capacity to accommodate at least 26,500 new homes and 16,000 new jobs.

The level of affordable housing was secured by the Mayor following negotiations between City Hall and the site’s developers.

London’s Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, Jules Pipe, said: “This is a large, very important site and the application to develop it includes nearly 3,000 homes along with a range of other uses.

“Having weighed up the evidence available to me and given its importance, I have decided to call in this application so it can be subjected to further scrutiny.”

To date most of the schemes called in by the Mayor have been approved by City Hall, often after increasing the proportion of affordable homes.

The Deputy Mayor will consider the application at a public hearing later in the year.