Rendering of the proposed reserved matters plans, image Credit HTA Design
Plans submitted prior Enfield council prior to Christmas by a joint venture between Enfield Council and Vistry Partnerships propose the second segment of the first phase of Meridian Water, the London borough of Enfield’s largest regeneration scheme. Submitted under the guise of Phase 1b, proposes 676 new across four housing tenures with the amount of so-called affordable housing amended to increase the number of discounted market rents and a decrease for Shared Ownership homes.
The first phase of the Meridian Water master plan referred to as Meridian One will over 900 new homes by 2026. These new homes will be served by the purpose-built Meridian Water national rail railway station which replaced the former Angel Lane station with the Road, which was formerly London’s least used station and was opened in 2019 with over 4 million passengers passing through its turnstiles.
The station as well as acting as an intermediate station for services between Stratford and Cambridge also acts as a new public right of way between the existing communities of East Edmonton to the west and large retail stores and the drumsheds which has been given a new lease of life as an outdoor performance venue.
The station is also on the safeguarded route of the shelved Crossrail 2 as of the last series of public consultations in 2015 originally as Angel Road which has subsequently been superseded by Meridian Water. If Crossrail 2 ever came to fruition it would bring a faster and more direct alternative to the Victoria, Northern, and Piccadilly Lines. It was originally expected to commence works in 2023 with a completion in the first half of the 2030s.
Of the 676 new homes submitted for approval in late 2021; 123 are classed as Affordable Rent, 95 will be for Shared Ownership, 230 for private market sale 228 for the Private Rental Sector, which will be offered through a professionally managed rental organisation, with this being contained within a 30-floor tower.
The largest to date reserved matters application to Enfield Council for Meridian Water seeks to deliver these 676 new homes across a variety of housing types ranging half a dozen multistorey townhouses, mansion blocks for the affordable rent tenured housing as well as two towers over 20 floors for the shared ownership, private sale and build to rent housing tenures.
The consented phase 1a to the west which is currently under construction will deliver 300 new homes which alongside this proposal will deliver a cumulative 976 new homes by 2026. The London Borough of Enfield currently has an annual housing target of 1,876 per annum or 18,760 over the course of a decade, this is well over in excess of the current build rate of 798 new homes per annum.
The local authority currently has in excess of 4,125 households on its housing waiting list with the average wait time for a property being over four and a half years, it is assumed that those on the borough’s waiting list for housing will be given priority when those properties are ready for moving in 2026.
Reserved matters plans developed by project architects HTA Design and Hawkins/Brown include two new public green spaces at Pymmes Wood and Southern Park. Furthermore, a public plaza adjacent to the western entrance of Meridian Water is proposed, which replaces a windswept meanwhile entrance and a narrow access link next to the railway line.
