Aberfeldy New Village being developed by Poplar Harca and Ecoworld

The fate of a proposed East End estate regeneration will be decided by Sadiq Khan after the London mayor called the scheme in.

Plans to demolish 330 existing homes in Poplar to make way for the construction of a new mixed-use development were rejected by Tower Hamlets councillors in February against the recommendation of local planning officers.

The project, known as Aberfeldy New Village, would create up to 140,000 sq m of residential, retail and transport floorspace, including up to 1,582 homes, roughly 39% designated as affordable.

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Source: EcoWorld

The regeneration of the Aberfeldy Estate is a two decade-long job in total

Tower Hamlets councillors complained about the height of the proposals and impact on traffic and sunlight, but officers said such justifications were not valid and that there would be 鈥渟ome issues there that, if we were in an appeal situation, would be very, very difficult to defend鈥.

Last week, deputy mayor for planning Jules Pipe wrote to the local authority to inform them that the mayor would act as the local planning authority for the purposes of determining the Aberfeldy application.

He said the plans would have 鈥渁 significant impact on the implementation of the London Plan鈥 and that there were 鈥渟ound planning reasons for my intervention鈥.

The scheme is developed by a joint venture of local housing association Poplar Harca and Malaysian developer Ecoworld, which is part owned by Willmott Dixon.

Masterplanned by Levitt Bernstein, the new proposals would expand the ongoing regeneration of Aberfeldy Estate, ongoing since 2012.

A public petition against the development has been signed by nearly 800 people, citing the intended closure of an underpass for motorists, though more than 90% of Aberfeldy residents voted yes to regeneration in an October 2020 residents鈥 ballot with a more than 90% turnout.