Policy information sourced from Barking and Dagenham Barking Town Centre Area Action Plan DPD

POLICY BTC17: TALL BUILDINGS

The Council regards the following locations in the AAP area as ‘sensitive’ but potentially suitable for tall buildings:

  • The area near the junction of London Road and North Street site (see BTCSSA1).
  • Northern end of the Fresh Wharf Estate (see BTCSSA2).
  • Around Barking Station (see BTCSSA3). Suitable locations will be defined in the Barking Station Masterplan and will need to conserve or enhance the setting of the grade II listed Barking Station and the grade II listed Barking Baptist Tabernacle.
  • Within the King William Street Quarter (see BTCSSA4).
  • The Gascoigne Estate (see BTCSSA6).
  • The northern end of the Abbey Retail Park and the existing Tesco site at the junction of London Road and the A406 (see BTCSSA7).
  • The Cultural Industries Quarter (see BTCSSA9).
  • Vicarage Fields (see BTCSSA10) on the station parade frontage.

Proposals for any tall building must:

  • Conserve or enhance the significance of the area’s heritage assets and their setting such as listed buildings, Scheduled Ancient Monuments, Abbey Road Riverside and Barking Town Centre Conservation Areas, and other townscape features of local distinctiveness and heritage value.
  • Be of exemplary high quality design.
  • Take account of natural topography, scale, height, urban grain, streetscape and built form, open spaces, rivers and waterways, and proposals for other tall buildings.
  • Conserve or enhance important views and skylines including key townscape features such as the Town Hall tower.
  • Where they are close to the River Roding, minimise any adverse impact on the biodiversity and amenity value of the river and riverside walk.

All proposals will need to have regard to the Barking Town Centre AAP Urban Design Guidance SPD and (for the station area) the Barking Station Interchange Master Plan SPD. Proposals must also address the evaluation criteria as set out in English Heritage / CABE Guidance on Tall Buildings (2007).

Elsewhere in the AAP area, tall buildings will be resisted unless particular proposals can demonstrate significant regeneration or townscape benefits and do not cause harm to the historic significance of Barking Town Centre and its component parts.

For more information please see the Barking Town Centre Area Action Plan DPD