The Pan London Secure Children’s Home, situated on the 14-acre Thames Water depot in Lea Bridge Road, will look after 24 vulnerable young people aged between ten and 17, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

ARTIST’S ORIGINAL IMPRESSION – THIS IS SUBJECT TO CONTINUED DESIGN DEVELOPMENT, Credit: London Councils

Waltham Forest Council will formally oversee the design and construction of London’s only secure children’s home.

Top councillors agreed to take over responsibility from Barnet Council at a cabinet meeting this week, after a yearlong review.

The Pan London Secure Children’s Home, situated on the 14-acre Thames Water depot in Lea Bridge Road, will look after 24 vulnerable young people aged between ten and 17.

First proposed in 2022, the project is being overseen by the local government collective London Councils and funded by the Department for Education (DfE).

Council deputy leader Ahsan Khan said on Tuesday that Waltham Forest was “well placed” to oversee the project, and its track record on building new housing and schools showed it had a team that could “deliver complex projects on time and within budget”.

A spokesperson for London Councils added the council’s previous experience would “mitigate the potential risks and some of the challenges that arise when delivering complex multi-authority projects”.

A total of £3.7million has been allocated to cover the cost of designing the home, surveys and consultants.

Fellow deputy leader Clyde Loakes added there was “definitely a need” for such a home to support the “most vulnerable of Londoners”.

There is currently no such unit in London, which means vulnerable children are relocated outside the capital. The project team says this leads to them becoming isolated and struggling to access support in the community.

Waltham Forest agreeing to become the official development manager does not mean the secure home has been approved, nor that the council will handle the day-to-day management.

The London Councils spokesperson added: “The development and implementation of the operational arrangements, including the appointment of the organisations that will run the provision, will continue to be managed by London Councils.

Council officers will be heavily involved in the development of the plan but it will still need to go before a committee of elected Waltham Forest councillors for formal approval.

Despite the in-principle support from top cabinet members, it has been met with resistance from local campaign groups.

A representative from Save Lea Marshes attacked the validity of secure children’s homes, arguing they “deprive children of their liberty” and “isolate them from their families and communities”.

She told councillors during a brief address on Tuesday: “We are concerned this is the wrong project in the wrong place. Not out of so-called NIMBYism [Not In My Backyard] but out of genuine concern for young people and genuine democracy.”

She added: “This is a top-down proposal that doesn’t consider the wider community or more humane ways of preventing young people being put in these facilities in the first place.”

The former waterworks has also been eyed up by a charity for a community-run swimming park.

A sketch showing the proposed wild swimming park, Credit: East London Waterworks Park

The government-owned land is not for sale, the Housing Ministry previously said, but the East London Waterworks Park group has put forward its own informal plans for an open-water pool and café.

It is classed as metropolitan open land (MOL), which the charity argues would be inappropriate for a secure home compared to a nature park.

Chairwoman Abigail Woodman said: “We think the only and best use for the site is East London Waterworks Park, a biodiverse park for everyone, which will significantly strengthen the green corridor in the Lea Valley.”

Councils are required to ensure MOL sites are protected from “inappropriate” development except in “very special circumstances”. Developers who want to build on MOL must also prove there was no other suitable site.

London Councils has so far been tight-lipped about why it chose the land from a shortlist of 70.

A formal planning application was due to be submitted to Waltham Forest Council last September, but it was put on hold that month so the DfE could review the project.

With the scheme now delayed by 13 months, London Councils says a new timeline will be unveiled in due course.

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