Beckton Riverside has been approved at City Hall following a mayoral call-in, clearing a major planning hurdle for the redevelopment of the former Beckton Gasworks site in Newham.
Deputy Mayor Jules Pipe approved applications 24/00989/OUT and 24/00990/FUL at the representation hearing on 7th September 2026, subject to prior completion of the section 106 legal agreement.
The outline permission allows up to 320,000 square metres of residential floorspace, described by the GLA as indicatively around 2,900 homes. The Stage 3 affordable-housing table uses an indicative mix of 2,977 homes. The affordable housing position is more complicated than the headline housing number and remains one of the most important parts of the decision.
What was approved at Beckton Riverside?
The applications cover the first major residential-led phase of Beckton Riverside on land south of Gallions Reach and Armada Way, beside the Thames in east London.
The outline application seeks up to 320,000 square metres of residential floorspace. The GLA describes this as indicatively around 2,900 homes, while its affordable-housing table models an indicative 2,977-home tenure mix. The scheme also allows up to 5,000 square metres of non-residential floorspace across Classes E, F2 and relevant sui generis uses, including up to 1,500 square metres of sui generis floorspace.
The Stage 3 report secures a minimum of 2.39 hectares of open space and public realm, including new riverside spaces such as Pier Green and Pier Park. That is the firmer planning-document figure to use rather than treating a publicity acreage for one part of the landscape as the whole open-space offer.
The site is former industrial land with a long gasworks history. That brownfield context is central to the regeneration case, but it also brings the familiar challenges of remediation, infrastructure and viability.
Why did City Hall decide the applications?
Newham’s Strategic Development Committee resolved on 23rd October 2025 that it was minded to grant planning permission, subject to conditions, completion of the section 106 agreement and Stage 2 referral to the Mayor.
The Mayor of London then called in the applications on 27th April 2026. City Hall’s own case page explains the legal effect in straightforward terms: after call-in, the Mayor became responsible for deciding the applications instead of Newham.
That is the important distinction between an ordinary Mayoral referral and a Stage 3 call-in. The Mayor is not simply sending comments back to the borough. The GLA takes over determination of the application and holds a representation hearing before the decision is made.
At the Beckton Riverside representation hearing on 7th September, Jules Pipe heard from the GLA planning team, Newham, the applicant and other participants before approving the proposals.
Planning Geek analysis: Beckton is a useful live example of what Stage 3 really means. A borough resolution can be an important milestone, but it is not necessarily the final decision on a strategically important London application.
The affordable housing figure needs careful reading
The initial affordable housing offer is low compared with the normal London Plan thresholds.
Newham’s application-stage viability evidence records the scheme at about 6% affordable housing by unit and 8% by habitable room. The detailed proposal is for 185 Social Rent homes, equivalent to about 6.2% of the 2,977 homes.
The affordable housing is therefore not a mixed headline package of multiple tenures at the initial stage. The 185-home baseline is Social Rent.
The Stage 3 report records 8.1% affordable housing by habitable room (6.2% by units), with a cascade mechanism capable of increasing provision to up to 20% by habitable room if grant funding is secured.
That higher figure should not be presented as guaranteed delivery. It depends on grant funding and the legal and viability mechanisms attached to the scheme.
The Stage 3 heads of terms secure early, mid and late-stage viability review mechanisms. The GLA document package also includes a draft section 106 agreement, so the completed agreement will remain the key document for the final legal obligations.
Our guides to affordable housing and section 106 agreements explain why the percentage in a committee headline is only part of the story. Tenure, measurement by units or habitable rooms, grant, review clauses and the final legal drafting can all change what is actually delivered.
Why viability matters here
The applicant’s viability case has been a central part of the affordable housing discussion. Earlier financial viability material argued that the scheme could not support the normal policy level of affordable housing without undermining viability, while offering the 185 Social Rent homes and review mechanisms.
This is the kind of case where a simple comparison with the headline policy target can mislead in both directions. A low initial percentage does not disappear because a regeneration scheme is difficult, but neither does the policy target mechanically dictate the final section 106 package where the authority accepts a viability case.
Planning Geek analysis: the practical question is what the completed legal agreement actually secures. If grant can raise the affordable housing offer, the mechanism for doing so matters just as much as the maximum percentage quoted in publicity.
The DLR extension is strategic context, not part of this approval
Beckton Riverside has long been linked to proposals to extend the Docklands Light Railway from Gallions Reach through Beckton Riverside and across the Thames towards Thamesmead.
That transport project is strategically important to the wider Opportunity Area and to the amount of development that could ultimately be supported. But the planning approval on 7th September does not amount to approval or funding of the DLR extension itself.
Transport for London is progressing the DLR proposal through its own process, including preparation for a Transport and Works Act application. The development and the railway are connected strategically, but they remain separate consenting and funding decisions.
What happens after the City Hall decision?
The GLA’s hearing library currently lists the Stage 3 report, which Planning Geek now hosts locally, together with draft decision notices and the draft section 106 agreement. Those documents are important because the final legal position will be found in the completed decision notices, conditions and section 106 agreement rather than the hearing headline alone.
Planning Geek will treat the hearing decision as the key planning decision, while keeping the distinction between that decision and the formal completion of the legal documentation clear.
For the wider policy context, see our guide to the London Plan. We have also explained the practical difference between referral and call-in in our coverage of mayoral planning powers for major applications.
The Planning Geek lesson
For major London schemes, do not assume the borough committee vote is necessarily the end of the determination process.
A Stage 3 call-in changes who makes the planning decision. And where affordable housing is viability-led, read the units, habitable-room percentage, tenure, grant assumptions and review clauses together before deciding what the scheme really secures.
Primary sources
City Hall’s Beckton Riverside call-in and hearing page records the call-in and representation hearing process. The GLA hearing document library lists the Stage 3 report, draft decision notices and draft section 106 agreement.
Created: 9th September 2026
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