Wapping College campus decision delayed as Council considers community centre
When asked after the meeting if the council actually wants to run the community centre, Cllr Rahman told the LDRS: ‘I don’t know, why not? Let’s see what happens.’
A decision on whether to allow a new college campus in Wapping has been delayed after councillors expressed an interest in a community centre on the site.
Tower Hamlets councillors voted to delay their decision on whether to approve the plans to allow discussions between the council and the developer to take place. However, it is not clear that the authority actually wants to take the centre on.
Property developer Resolution Property said it was ‘disappointed’ by the vote to defer the decision, but that it is ‘committed to working in partnership with the council.’
Resolution wants permission to use offices on Thomas More Square – which it rebranded Moretown in 2017 – for further or higher education. No university or college has yet been confirmed as the occupier.
Its plans also include providing a temporary community space in currently vacant shopping units next to Waitrose.
Councillors considered the application at a strategic development committee meeting on Wednesday (3rd). Planning officers recommended that they vote to approve it.
But committee chair Amin Rahman proposed that they defer their decision so that officers could ask Resolution if it would be willing to offer the community space to the council ‘on a first refusal basis.’
He asked council officers: ‘Do you think the officers could go back to the applicant and speak to them regarding the community centre and see if we could take it on as Tower Hamlets?’
Head of planning Paul Buckenham said this was possible. But he warned that the question of whether the council actually wants the centre is a decision that ‘has to be taken by a different part of the council.’
He also said the committee would not be able to refuse planning permission if the developer didn’t want to offer the centre to the council, as there’s ‘no firm policy basis to do that.’
He added: ‘That’s not something the applicant has offered so far.’
Case officer Holly Ganderton also said that Resolution Property had already been in discussions with another ‘interested party’ to run the community centre.
A brochure uploaded to the council’s planning portal indicated this is the not-for-profit community interest company BioHub.
Officers suggested that Resolution Property’s representative be invited to address the committee. But Cllr Rahman chose not to allow this.
The committee voted by four votes to three to defer its decision.
When asked after the meeting if the council actually wants to run the community centre, Cllr Rahman told the LDRS: ‘I don’t know, why not? Let’s see what happens.’
A council spokesperson confirmed the possibility of taking on the community centre ‘hadn’t previously been considered by planning officers’.
They added: ‘However, it is the committee’s prerogative to raise issues that would make the development acceptable in planning terms.
‘The application was deferred to allow for the discussions with the applicant about the community centre to take place.’
A statement by Resolution Property said it was ‘naturally disappointed by the deferral.’ But it added: ‘We welcome the additional opportunity to engage further with Tower Hamlets Council.’
It said: ‘We remain committed to working in partnership with the council to ensure Moretown continues to evolve in a way that delivers lasting benefits for both occupiers and the wider community.’
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