PEOPLE are being asked for their views on plans to build over 16,000 homes by 2030 in order to meet their borough's "desperate" need for housing. 

The Redbridge Local Plan 2015-2030, which sets out new homes, jobs and infrastucture planned for the next 15 years, goes out for public consultation today (Thursday, July 28).

Work on the Local Plan started in 2011 and has been described as a “slow and torturous” process by Redbridge Council's leader Cllr Jas Athwal.

To meet the needs of the estimated 65,000 people expected to move to the borough by 2030, the plan proposes building 16,845 homes across five “investment and growth areas”.

The London-wide housing target set out by the Mayor of London requires each borough to build at least 1,123 homes a year.

But council officers have estimated that as many as 2,132 will be needed year on year to meet the needs of Redbridge’s rapidly growing population.

Cllr Jas Athwal said: “We are in desperate need of new housing and must carefully manage where development takes place and the form it takes by having a robust plan in place.

“We have said it time and time again – doing nothing is not an option.

“We must direct growth to the most appropriate places to provide much needed homes while making sure any development is sympathetic to the surrounding areas.”

There has been mass opposition to the council’s plan to release Oakfield Playing Fields in Barkingside from the green belt and build 600 homes, a school and other facilities there.

Plans to build 800 homes across Wanstead and Woodford, possibly seeing Wanstead High Street double in height, were dropped last year due to uproar at lack of supporting infrastructure.

To submit your views on the Local Plan, you can fill out an online response form, call 0208 708 2570 or get a copy of the plan from the Redbridge Council website, your local library or by appointment from the town hall.

There will also be information sessions across the borough throughout the consultation period, which ends in September, before the plan goes to an independent planning inspector for final approval.

For more information see the Redbridge Council website.