MD2778 Stephenson Street Revenue Expenditure

1.1. Stephenson Street is a 10-hectare vacant brownfield site directly to the west of West Ham station. GLAP appointed BHSEL as its preferred development partner for the site following a competitive procurement process in 2016.

1.2. BHSEL has since secured hybrid planning consent for 3,838 new homes, comprising a mix of affordable, private rented and private sale accommodation. The scheme will also deliver a new science school as well as a range of retail, leisure and community uses.

1.3. Significant new bridge infrastructure will support the scheme, connecting it to West Ham station and the neighbouring community to the east. Berkeley commenced construction of phase 1 in 2020 and will begin to prepare the reserved matters application for phase 2 later this year.

1.4. The project has an approved revenue budget of £670,700 under the following approvals:

• 2013, ADD75: £20,000 – site investigations;

• 2013, ADD113: £15,000 – valuation advice;

• 2014, ADD159: £5,700 – site investigations prior to procurement;

• 2014, DD1219: £80,000 – commercial and legal advice and site investigation work in the procurement of a development partner for the site;

• 2016, MD1645: £330,000 – technical due diligence and legal expenditure; and

• 2018, MD2276: £220,000 – legal expenditure in relation to planning, bridge and school agreements.

2.1. From a development management perspective, this is a highly complex project involving multiple stakeholders. It has required, and will continue to require, significant input from GLAP to negotiate and manage the development agreement and the suite of legal agreements governing the delivery of the project. To support this, GLAP will require additional external legal and consultancy advice across the duration of the project in activities such as:

• agreeing/fine-tuning terms and granting of future phase building leases;

• reviewing and entering ancillary project agreements such as s104 agreements, leases, transfers and wayleaves for statutory undertakers;

• agreeing terms and granting licenses to access future phases for enabling works; and

• design review of future phases as plans emerge.

2.2. This decision seeks £250,000 of revenue expenditure from the Land & Property Budget to obtain this advice over the next five years (2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26). It is not possible to provide an exact profile for this expenditure but spend of £50,000 per annum is anticipated in managing the development agreement and undertaking the activities above.

2.3. GLAP has a retained legal advisor on the project and their fee costs are kept under review by TfL Legal. Any consultancy advice will be procured competitively following GLA’s procurement and governance procedures including the Contracts and Funding Code.

3.1. Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the “Equality Act”), as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under the Equality Act comprise age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and marriage or civil partnership status.

3.2. The purpose of this project is to ensure that the amount of housing, particularly affordable housing, is maximised through the disposal of the site and that the certainty of housing delivery is assured through the development agreement.

3.3. This will help to reduce disadvantages to all groups in society, including those with protected characteristics, by increasing affordable housing supply. This means more people will be able to access good quality affordable homes. This decision is therefore not expected to have a negative impact on people with a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.

Key risks and issues

4.1. GLAP requires ongoing external legal and consultancy advice in the activities outlined at 2.1 above. Proceeding without external professional advice would leave GLAP in a less favourable position in negotiations with stakeholders and potentially exposed to significant legal and/or commercial risks.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2. The Publication London Plan (Policy H1) promotes the increase of supply of housing in general and affordable housing. This project will regenerate a vacant commercial site and deliver a significant number of new homes, including 40% affordable housing.

Declarations of interests

4.3. There are no conflicts of interest to declare for those involved in the drafting or clearance of the form.

5.1. This decision requests approval for revenue expenditure of up to £250,000 for legal and consultancy costs required in the ongoing management of the development agreement, for the next five years.

5.2. The above expenditure will be funded from the GLAP Land and Property budget with an expected spend of £50,000 per annum.

5.3. Funding in future years will be subject to the annual budget setting process.

6.1. Section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (as amended) (GLA Act) gives the Mayor a general power to do anything which he considers will further one or more of the principle purposes of the GLA as set out in section 30(2) which are:

• promoting economic development and wealth creation in Greater London;

• promoting social development in Greater London; and

• promoting the improvement of the environment in Greater London.

6.2. Formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers confirm they have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons in Greater London, promote the reduction of health inequalities between persons living in Greater London, contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and contribute towards the mitigation of or adaptation to climate change in the United Kingdom; and

• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.3. Sections 1 and 2 of this Mayoral decision form indicate that the Mayor has the power to agree to the decision set out above.