Bridge Close's 1,070 homes move ahead, Beam Park station is approved but still unfunded, and Havering's new Local Plan is behind its own timetable.

Planning in Havering right now is a borough building less than half of what the government’s test asks of it, a town centre with two very large council-led schemes finally moving, and a railway station that took five years to approve and still has no construction date. This page sets out where each piece stands, from the council’s own documents, and how to see and comment on the applications that affect your street.

The quick answer

Applications in Havering are decided against the Havering Local Plan 2016-2031, adopted on 17 November 2021, alongside the London Plan 2021, which asks the borough for 1,285 homes a year. A replacement Local Plan is being prepared but sits at the evidence-gathering stage, behind its own published timetable. Meanwhile the big movers of the last year: Bridge Close in Romford town centre won consent for its first 383 homes and a compulsory purchase order followed, the Waterloo and Queen Street estate rebuild got its first-phase approval in February 2026, and Beam Park station was finally approved in March 2026 but is not yet funded or scheduled for construction.

The plan that decides applications today

The Havering Local Plan 2016-2031 was adopted at Full Council on 17 November 2021, replacing policies dating from 2008. Its ten-year housing target is 12,505 homes: 1,170 a year for the first three years under the previous London Plan, then 1,285 a year from 2019/20 under the London Plan 2021, which asks Havering for 12,850 homes over the decade to 2028/29. The council’s own assessment of housing need at the time ran higher still, at about 1,366 homes a year.

The inspector who examined the plan required an immediate review, and the replacement is underway but slow. The council’s Local Plan update page still shows the work at the “reviewing and collecting evidence” stage in August 2026, even though the borough’s published Local Development Scheme timetabled the first (Regulation 18) public consultation for autumn 2025 and submission to the Secretary of State for winter 2026. No revised dates have been published, so the honest summary is: behind schedule, new timetable awaited.

What gets asked for, and what gets built

The gap between target and delivery is the story underneath every big application. On the government’s latest Housing Delivery Test (the 2023 measurement, published December 2024, still the current one), Havering delivered 2,487 homes against 4,094 required over the three measured years: a score of 61%.

Havering Housing Delivery Test: homes required against homes delivered Grouped bar chart. 2020 to 21: 489 homes required (a Covid-adjusted figure), 810 delivered. 2021 to 22: 1,799 required, 627 delivered. 2022 to 23: 1,806 required, 1,050 delivered. Three-year totals: 4,094 required, 2,487 delivered, a 61 percent score. Source: Housing Delivery Test 2023 measurement, published December 2024. Homes required vs homes delivered in Havering Housing Delivery Test 2023 measurement (MHCLG, December 2024), the latest published Required Delivered 2020/21 489 (Covid-adjusted) 810 2021/22 1,799 627 2022/23 1,806 1,050 Three-year total: 2,487 delivered against 4,094 required, a 61% score. The 2020/21 requirement was reduced nationally for Covid. Below 75%, the "presumption in favour of sustainable development" applies, which weakens the council's hand against appeals.
Havering's 61% Housing Delivery Test score triggers the planning system's strongest penalty, the presumption in favour of sustainable development.

That 61% score matters practically: below 75%, national policy applies the presumption in favour of sustainable development, which tilts decisions towards approval when the council’s policies are out of date. It is part of why large schemes keep landing, and why the delayed Local Plan is more than a paperwork problem.

Romford town centre: the masterplan and Bridge Close

The council adopted the Romford Town Centre Masterplan as formal planning guidance on 12 March 2025, after consultation in late 2024. It is the document new town-centre schemes are now shaped against.

The first big test of it is Bridge Close, the council-led scheme on the industrial land between the ring road and the River Rom: up to 1,070 homes, a primary school, health services and a new bridge over the Rom. Councillors granted outline permission for the full masterplan, plus detailed consent for the 383-home first phase and the school, in August 2025, against more than 2,500 objections, most centred on the loss of the Havering Islamic Cultural Centre on the site. In December 2025 the council’s Cabinet agreed to use compulsory purchase powers to assemble the remaining land. What a pipeline like this does to the local market is covered in our Romford house prices page.

Waterloo and Queen Street: the estate rebuild restarts

The regeneration of the Waterloo and Queen Street estate beside Romford station, a joint venture between the council and Wates, cleared a long-stuck hurdle on 26 February 2026 when planning approval was secured for Blocks 9 and 10, the scheme’s first phase: over 107 affordable homes, community space and landscaped public areas, targeted for completion in late 2028. It is the flagship of the council’s wider estates programme with Wates, and the first visible construction will sit a few minutes’ walk from the station.

Beam Park: a station approved but not yet funded

Beam Park, on the A1306 corridor in Rainham, is the borough’s biggest housing growth area, and its railway station has become the borough’s longest-running planning saga. The Department for Transport blocked the already-built-around station in 2021; in March 2026 the government’s New Homes Accelerator programme finally confirmed that a new Beam Park station can be accommodated on the c2c line between Dagenham Dock and Rainham. By then the development around it had over 1,100 homes complete and more than 1,200 under construction, with up to 20,000 homes enabled across the wider corridor.

Approved is not funded. The council’s leader welcomed the decision while warning that inflation has pushed costs beyond the roughly £33 to £35 million committed back in 2020 (the figure is quoted slightly differently by different parties), and by May 2026 the cabinet member for regeneration was stating it plainly: “the project is not fully funded and is not yet scheduled for construction”, with the GLA exploring options to close the gap. No opening date exists, and this page will not invent one.

Also decided this year

Two 2026 decisions worth knowing about, both from the council’s own announcements:

  • Jewson’s Romford expansion was approved on 9 July 2026, the first major application decided under the borough’s new Reform administration: the builders’ merchant off South Street will be demolished and rebuilt, roughly doubling its footprint from 1,314 to 2,652 square metres, with conditions including 31 replacement trees, acoustic fencing and controlled hours (Havering Council, 13 July 2026).
  • The Noak Hill Green Belt enforcement case was upheld on 25 June 2026: the Planning Inspectorate dismissed appeals against the council’s enforcement and stop notices over unauthorised development on Church Road, finding inappropriate development that harms the Green Belt’s openness, with four months given for compliance (Havering Council).

For context on who is deciding: Havering’s administration changed in summer 2026, with Cllr Keith Prince leading a Reform group that has promised “clearer, faster” planning, so the tone at committee is worth watching over the coming year.

How to see and comment on applications

Havering’s planning register runs on OcellaWeb, where you can search every application by reference, keyword, street or date range. One honest limitation: unlike many councils, Havering’s system publishes no weekly list of newly validated or decided applications, so the practical way to monitor an area is to search your road or postcode every week or two, and to check the agendas of the Strategic Planning Committee for the major schemes. Comments on live applications go through the register or to the case officer named on each application.

Frequently asked questions

What is Havering’s housing target?

1,285 homes a year under the London Plan 2021, which the adopted Havering Local Plan carries as its target from 2019/20. The Local Plan’s full ten-year figure is 12,505 homes.

Is Havering building enough homes?

Not by the government’s measure. The latest Housing Delivery Test scores Havering at 61%, with 2,487 homes delivered against 4,094 required over three years, which triggers the presumption in favour of sustainable development in decisions.

What is happening at Bridge Close?

The council-led scheme has outline permission for up to 1,070 homes, a primary school, health facilities and a new River Rom crossing, with detailed consent for the 383-home first phase granted in August 2025 and compulsory purchase agreed in December 2025 to assemble the rest of the site.

When will Beam Park station open?

There is no date. The station was approved in principle in March 2026, but the council itself says the project is not fully funded and is not scheduled for construction. More than 1,100 homes are already occupied in the area it would serve.

What is Havering’s new Local Plan and when will it arrive?

A full replacement of the 2021-adopted plan, required by the examining inspector. As of August 2026 it is still at the evidence-gathering stage, behind the published timetable that had consultation starting in autumn 2025; no new dates have been announced.

How do I object to a planning application in Havering?

Find the application on the OcellaWeb register and submit your comments against it before the consultation deadline shown. Major schemes are decided at the Strategic Planning Committee, where objectors can usually request to speak; check the committee pages on the council’s democracy site.

Sources

Planning positions move with every committee cycle; scheme details and dates above are as published at the time of checking. Always confirm the current status on the linked council pages. Last checked 8 August 2026.