SHAPING
THE FUTURE TOGETHER WITH NEWHAM'S COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, PARTNERSHIP & GOVERNANCE
KEY PRIORITIES
Public-Private Partnership
Creating a transparent delivery structure that enables input from a comprehensive consortium of local stakeholders.
Community
Land Trust
Setting up a new body to secure long-term collective benefits and social value to the local community.
Neighbourhood Development Plan
Empowering the local community to shape a positive future through statutory land-use planning.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
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Consortium of private developer(s), public bodies and community organisations to diversify sources of funding and enlarging capacity, therefore improving regeneration outcomes and establishing a joint-up delivery approach.
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Tapping into the local civic eco system of community-led groups and structures in the area, including West Silvertown Foundation, Royal Docks Community Voice and East End Community Foundation, to ensure representation of local needs, interests and ambition.
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Aid consensus-building and broaden the aspirations for the site through an extensive stakeholder network, transparent processes and regular communication & engagement.
Key Considerations
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Proactively establishing clear, transparent channels of communication and engagement to mediate the diverging expectations of different partners and to harmonise varying interests.
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Accommodating capacity-building and upskilling at the grassroots level to enhance power and resource input from community organisations in the regeneration process.
COMMUNITY LAND TRUST (CLT)
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A CLT could take on Silo D as a small-scale and manageable initial project, putting control of the landmark heritage asset into the hands of the local community.
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Potential for a CLT to then expand its focus on other elements of the site. This could include sections of the commercial floorspace in the revitalised Millennium Mills to generate a return, or parts of the new residential development to lock-in genuine affordability in the local housing market in perpetuity and get people on the housing ladder. See St Clements by London CLT.
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Community ownership of assets can act as a catalyst for bringing together empowered local people and strengthening the post-Covid resilience of Newham.
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Creating additional local economic outcomes, including creating jobs, volunteering opportunities and improving employability and skills levels in the local community through the future use of Silo D as a cultural beacon, spaces for start-ups, SMEs and social enterprises across the development, and a mixed-use Millennium Mills.
Key Considerations
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Mitigate potential delivery issues by forming links with existing community organisations to draw on local experience and utilise their capacity & resources.
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Ensure local needs are met in the use of spaces through meaningful engagement, such as community design sessions and charrettes.
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A CLT can acquire each home through a back-to-back mortgage arrangement once they are built, meaning each resident’s mortgage is used by the CLT to buy each home. This will negate the need for the CLT to borrow finance.
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Facilitate permanent affordability by directly linking the sale price of each CLT home to local median incomes.
FUNDING A PEOPLE-POWERED FUTURE
By working hand in hand with existing community organisations and building on their experiences, capacity and resources, the site is in a prime position to attract further inward investment. It can benefit from receiving additional funding streams that may only be eligible to NGOs and other appropriate community-led structures. This will help enlarge the financial capacity of the project to aid its delivery, support the sustainable reactivation of the heritage assets and maximise the beneficial outcomes of regeneration.
NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT PLAN
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Potential production of an initial Neighbourhood Development Plan covering core themes, aspirations and policy interventions on the basis of meaningful community engagement, before completing a second, full plan. See the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Plan.
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This presents an early opportunity to capture incentives to the benefit of the local community, including the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and S106 contributions.
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Financial contributions can be distributed at the grassroots-level to build up capacity and fund projects paving the way towards inclusive growth.
Key Considerations
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Speed up the process by collaborating with Royal Docks Community Voice to progress its ongoing work in producing a Neighbourhood Development Plan.
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Meaningful engagement from an early stage can ensure local voices and needs are captured, helping to produce a plan that is truly by the people and for the people of Newham.