Strategic pivot driven by changes in policy and market environment
Enfield council is planning large land sales at its Meridian Water scheme in a major strategic shift.
The north London authority has promoted the scheme since 2014 and took over the master developer role a few years later after a deal with a consortium of Barratt and Segro fell through.
Since then, it has led on the regeneration of the site, delivering a new railway station in 2019, agreeing a deal with Vistry on the first phase of development in 2020 and achieving outline planning permission for 2,300 homes on phase 2.
Taylor Woodrow is currently delivering strategic infrastructure works, including new roads, utilities infrastructure, land remediation, flood mitigation and two new parks.
With these works due to be completed early 2027, the council said it has re-evaluated its role in the subsequent development of the site, which is intended to deliver 10,000 homes.
A report by Savills, commissioned by the council, said that national policy and market appetite had shifted since Enfield established itself as master developer on the scheme.
It noted that national government policy had been “recast with a renewed emphasis on housebuilding and economic growth”, adding emergency measures taken to boost housebuilding in London.
Meanwhile, the residential and industrial land markets were also found to have changed a lot, with less appetite for “smaller, more speculative, residential-led sites in London”.
While it said the council needed to “continue to have a strategic role in the project”, it should focus on “facilitating further external investment”, which would represent “a shift of focus away from a master developer role where land assembly, planning policy, and infrastructure delivery have been the focus”.
“We would recommend that the Council moves to a leaner model, with a focus on enabling further infrastructure investment, land release, and working with strategic partners,” it said.
The report was presented alongside a report by council officers, which proposed a shift in the council’s land strategy at Meridian Water.
It said that “disposal of sites to the market is considered the best way” to deliver the council’s objectives, particularly accelerating housing delivery.
“This means seeking to bring to the market Sites Phase 2 North and Phase 3 North and Phase 2 South,” it said.
These sites were identified “on the basis that they will soon have the benefit of remediation and completed strategic infrastructure works to service that land”.
Officers considered alternatives, including holding onto the remediated land to secure a value increase, and continuing with the council’s original plan of incremental disposals of smaller masterplan plots.
However, it decided that the former would “also delay the release of land earmarked for residential use at a time when residential development is very challenging in London”.
Regarding the latter, the council report said that major developers were likely to target larger parcels of land that enable them to develop a long-term pipeline. It added developers may wish to “revisit historic master planning and planning consents”.
“The recommendation is that the Council actively promotes and markets larger tranches of land within Phases 2 and 3, with a view to securing purchasers or long-term partners for the accelerated delivery of homes,” the report said.
The council will look for buyers that can “deliver a significant land receipt” as well as having “the best prospect of delivering new development”.
The proposals were approved by the council’s cabinet.
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