Barratt leaves Meridian Water regeneration project

Barratt London has pulled out of Enfield council’s £6bn Meridian Water regeneration project, after the council refused to sign up to a ‘poor deal for residents’.

The London borough had been working with Barratt London and joint venture partner Segro to transform an area of 210 acres, which takes in a number of former gasworks sites along the Upper Lea Valley at Edmonton, making it one of the most ambitious regeneration schemes in the country.

As part of the project the council has said the new development will provide 10,000 jobs during its construction phase and 6,700 permanent jobs by the time when the 20-year project is complete.

But in a statement released at the end of last week, a council spokesman said the local authority was ‘simply not prepared to sign up to what we considered to be a poor deal for the residents of businesses of Enfield’.

‘Enfield council therefore informed Barratt that their proposed terms were unacceptable, which has now led to discussions with them ending,’ added the spokesman.

The spokesman added the council will now consider its ‘next steps’ to secure the delivery of ‘high-quality new homes, world-class public spaces and major new job opportunities’ at Meridian Water.

‘We already own two thirds of the developable site. We have Housing Zone funding secured from the GLA,’ he added.

‘We have achieved a planning consent for the first 725 homes at Willoughby Lane and are managing the construction enabling works on-site.  We have developed our ‘Meridian Works’ proposition with Europe’s largest open workshop for makers, creators and artists opening in 2018.

‘And we have secured the delivery of a new rail station at Meridian Water, which will open in 2019.’

In a short statement, a Barratt spokesman said: ‘Barratt London has a long and successful history developing large regeneration projects in the capital, but unfortunately we have been unable to agree terms on this particular scheme.

‘We wish Enfield council well taking the project forward.’

And a spokesperson for the sub-developer on the Meridian Water project, Segro, added it has a strong track record of investing in Enfield.

‘As a sub-developer on this regeneration project, we are disappointed that negotiations have come to an end between Barratt London and Enfield council, but we still hope to deliver the ecommerce centre, which could create up to 2,000 jobs,’ added the Segro spokesperson.

In August, New Start spoke to Enfield’s council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration and business Alan Sitkin about the regeneration project.

He said it was ‘hugely important’ for councils to take the lead in long-term regeneration projects such as Meridian Water.

‘There is a very grave risk that if local authorities do not do this, you will end up with bad spatial imbalances, where certain areas develop and get more and more affluent, and others just get neglected,’ said Mr Sitkin.

‘If you are born in a part of town where all the businesses are congregating, life is great. But if you are in a part of town, which they neglect for their own reasons, then you have a big problem.’