AC-2024-LON-001877 - [2025] EWHC 2132 (Admin)

In their statement of case for confirmation of the Order, the Second Defendant said that they were the freeholder of the Order land and, subject to the outstanding third-party interests which they proposed to acquire, owned all the land needed to deliver the Scheme. They proposed to deliver the Scheme via the development agreement with their wholly owned housing provider, Populo Living [“Populo”]. The Second Defendant would continue to own the Scheme during and following the development.

The Second Defendant did not consider that there were any funding impediments to acquiring the Order land or delivering the Scheme. They were fully committed to delivering the Scheme, having already spent considerable resources acquiring relevant interests, negotiating to acquire further interests and obtaining the main planning approvals required to authorise and deliver the Scheme.

In paragraphs 5.20 to 5.24 of their statement of reasons for making the Order, the Second Defendant explained how they proposed both to fund and deliver the Scheme. Paragraphs 4.40 to 4.44 of their statement of case addressed those matters in essentially similar terms. The Second Defendant recognised that in order to make the Order, they were required to demonstrate that all the necessary resources were likely to be available both to pay land compensation and to ensure that there was no budgetary impediment to the Scheme being delivered. They said –

“Whilst the viability appraisal for the Scheme suggests that it is not commercially viable, the delivery strategy set out below and in the Cabinet report from 9th March 2023 shows firstly the Council’s commitment to entirely funding (and underwriting the costs of) this project and secondly how the costs could be recovered from the delivery of the masterplan in the future. While the Council intends to recover costs, the Cabinet report reiterates how the Scheme is to be brought forward as a stand-alone project that is not reliant on the viability or future delivery of the masterplan.

The Council intend to retain control over delivery of the project through a Design and Build approach with a main contractor. The Council will remain the Client with Populo Living (“Populo”), a company wholly owned by the Council, providing development management services, overseeing the delivery of the contract.

The Scheme is the first phase of the wider Carpenters Estate masterplan. It will deliver predominantly affordable housing, offering opportunity to decant existing secure tenants and homeowners. The creation of a community and sports centre, as well as delivering significant benefits in its own right, will facilitate vacant possession of a significant land parcel adjacent to Stratford Station and is part of a wider strategy to provide at least 50% affordable housing across the whole masterplan area. As such, while the Scheme is not structured to be commercially viable in its own right, it does not need to be so. It offers significant wider social and economic benefits demonstrating the Council’s commitment to invest in the Carpenters Estate community and generates support for further investment in the masterplan.

In addition to the significant benefits that the Scheme itself will deliver, it is expected to act as a catalyst ahead of the wider masterplan and the Council is committed to funding the project on this basis as agreed at Cabinet on 9th March 2023. As set out in the Cabinet report, the initial masterplan financial appraisal shows how the cost of the Scheme can be recovered from future phases of the masterplan. However, the masterplan has not yet secured planning consent from LLDC and its implementation remains subject to future Cabinet decisions and so Cabinet agreed on 9th March 2021 to bring the JRP scheme forward as a standalone project.

On 9th March 2023 Cabinet agreed to make sufficient capital budget available to make the CPO and implement the Scheme independently of and irrespective of the masterplan outcome.”