A five-storey block of flats could be built opposite a place of worship in Barking.
Property developer Bhupinder Singh Bance has applied for planning permission to demolish two houses at 133-135 North Street and replace them with the block of flats, opposite Gurdwara Singh Sabha, a Sikh place of worship.
Proposals submitted to Barking and Dagenham Council say the proposed building has been “designed to respect” the neighbouring two-storey houses.
Bance’s company North Street Essex Ltd says it has been discussing plans with the council since 2022.
A planning statement submitted with the application says the developer first suggested a building up to eight storeys high, with 28 flats. But subsequent discussions focused on proposals for a six-storey building.
The planning statement said council officers commented on the “height, mass, bulk and footprint” of the planned building, which would be directly next to a row of two-storey houses in Whiting Avenue.
The developer’s agent NTA Planning Consultants says the “stepped” design of the building aims to make sure its tallest point – at 18.5 metres – faces away from Whiting Avenue.
It says the front of the building, facing North Street, will be five storeys tall, but that it will “step down” to four and then two storeys at the rear.
The planning statement says this design “responds to the transition between the larger scale buildings along North Street and the two storey residential character of Whiting Avenue”.
Proposals say the building would contain a total of 15 homes – a mixture of three, two and one-bedroom flats.
However, the developer says it would not be “viable” for any of these to be set aside as “affordable” housing, claiming this means it would make a loss on the project.
It claims: “No affordable housing can therefore be supported by the development.”
The planning application can be viewed and commented on at the council’s planning website using reference number 26/01196/FULL.
