James Cracknell explores the progress made so far at the council’s flagship housing project, as well as the growing problems that plague it

The strategic infrastructure works now ongoing at Meridian Water include the creation of a new park around two streams

Meridian Water is Enfield Council’s flagship housing scheme, spanning 85 hectares in the south-east corner of the borough.

Until a decade ago the Edmonton regeneration zone was still dominated by industrial sites, including a gasworks that had closed 40 years earlier. Taking inspiration from the success of the Olympic Park site, which also utilised declining industrial land within the Lea Valley, the idea for Meridian Water was to capitalise on the area’s transport links and potential for high-density housing.

The original masterplan published in 2013 envisioned 5,000 homes, but this was doubled to 10,000 a few years later as ambitions grew and the need for housing became more acute. The first work to be completed at Meridian Water was the clearance of the gasworks in 2015, which would later become the housing site known as ‘Meridian One’. Another key milestone was the opening of Meridian Water Station in 2019, but while this was expected to be the catalyst for the whole regeneration project, construction of the first homes did not begin until two years after it opened – and four years later only a few hundred have been completed.

Fears are now growing that issues around the project’s finances could spell trouble for Meridian Water’s future – the council last month confirmed a “comprehensive review” was being conducted by real estate experts Savills, with the outcome expected this summer.

The progress made to date

Work on the first 301 homes at Meridian One is due to be completed by the end of 2025

The gold-panelled rail station opened in June 2019 at a cost of £47million. Shortly afterwards, a railway link to Stratford was completed and allowed extra shuttle trains to serve the station.

At Meridian One, 268 homes have been completed, with this set to rise to 301 by the end of the year. The first residents arrived in September 2023, with a block of social-rent homes having been completed and people on the local housing waiting list given priority. Across Meridian One as a whole, 977 homes are due to be built by the end of 2027, as well as over 2,300sqm of leisure, retail, employment, and community spaces. Half of the homes will be designated ‘affordable’, with half for social rent and half for intermediate rent. Alongside the homes, a large new playground opened in January, including a skatepark.

Construction also recently started on Meridian Two in Leeside Road, another ex-gasholder site. Here, 274 homes in four tower blocks of up to 16 storeys will be built – with an impressive 100% being designated affordable. Outline planning approval for the wider second phase was granted five years ago and includes 2,300 homes, although Meridian Two remains the only site so far to gain detailed planning permission.

It’s not just about homes, however. Enfield Construction Skills Academy opened in April 2023 and aims to train around 500 people per year, enabling local people to develop the skills they need to access good-quality work, including at Meridian Water itself. The academy is run by Capital City College Group.

Orbital Business Park previously occupied the central part of Meridian Water, where a new public park is now planned around the Pymmes Brook and Salmons Brook which both flow through the site. The business park was closed in 2022 and levelled in 2023 – it is now a hive of activity, as a series of ‘strategic infrastructure works’ are underway. A central spine road will soon bisect the site, with a bridge over the River Lee Navigation, while new pedestrian and cycle routes are also built. The aforementioned streams will be released from their concrete channels.

Meridian Water is currently home to a number of ‘meanwhile’ sites, designed to provide an income for the council while plans are drawn up for the homes that will later be built on them. Among the temporary occupiers is Troubadour Studios, which has built three studios totalling 6,000sqm – Marvel and Netflix are among the production companies to have filmed there. Another meanwhile site is the old Ikea store, which has swapped flat-pack furniture and Swedish meatballs for DJs and dance music. Drumsheds, as it is now called, is currently London’s largest nightclub with a capacity of 15,000 people.

The costs, the delays, and the risks

Work recently started on Meridian Two, the first part of the second phase of development at Meridian Water

The council has bought up huge tracts of land, funded by borrowing, in order to control how Meridian Water is developed. It has also invested money in some of the infrastructure and other projects, with total public borrowing set to reach around £500m by the end of the year. Eventually, this money has to be repaid, and the plan is to do this by selling each site for a decent profit.

However, the council’s 2025/26 budget report warned: “Due to slippage in the Meridian Water programme the timing of the disposal and associated receipts has now been delayed beyond what was originally assumed […] As the cost of the asset is significantly increasing, this is now posing a significant risk that the eventual disposal proceeds will not cover the cost of the outstanding borrowing.”

While there is no firm timeline of exactly how fast Meridian Water will be built – at least not a public one – it’s clear there have been significant delays. In the early stages, between 2013 and 2018, the original idea was that while the council would play a key role in overseeing the regeneration project, it would “take a regulator/facilitator role” while leaving most of the development – and the risk – to a “traditional private sector led/funded model”.

But this approach began to go wrong in October 2017, when the first proposed deal with a master developer, Barratt Homes, fell through. The council claimed the “proposed terms were unacceptable” and decided it was better to walk away. A second proposed deal was also ditched, in July 2018, amid fears that Pacific Century Premium Developments would end up building “luxury” homes and selling them abroad to investors rather than local people.

The council then made a pivotal decision – to take on the role of master developer itself. This approach would have many benefits, particularly with the greater ability to control the type of housing being built, but it also meant taking on significant risk.

This risk has since materialised. Firstly, there was the turmoil of 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, oil and gas prices spiked, and Liz Truss tanked the economy. Interest rates shot up, construction costs spiralled, and taking on a load of debt to fund new housing suddenly became a much less appealing prospect.

These external factors have been compounded by some poor decisions. Take, for example, the decision to submit plans for two tower blocks at Meridian One, of 24 and 30 storeys high, with only single staircases. It was already clear by 2022 that the laws around fire safety would be tightened in response to the Grenfell Tower disaster five years earlier, and a requirement for two staircases in tall buildings was being discussed by the government. But the council went ahead, won permission for its plans, and was then forced to U-turn just six months later when the new regulations were confirmed. It meant going back to the drawing board.

There have also been delays to the strategic infrastructure works (SIW), with the council having to ask the government for more money in 2023 once it became clear the previous £170m package would be insufficient. While an extra £25m was eventually granted, a previous plan to expand rail capacity at the station was ditched.

In recent months, further delays have come to light. An update report presented to councillors on a scrutiny panel last month revealed: “Due to the large number of incidents encountered on site, including the uncovering of radium gas cannisters and the incorrect position of the canal wall boundary on the plan drawings, the legacy issues regarding the canal wall has resulted in the need to go back into planning for the SIW and bridge B1 redesign.”

There have also been legal issues, after illegally moored boats and unauthorised dwellings were discovered within the area being developed by Taylor Woodrow as part of the SIW. Eventually, a number of people were taken to court in February to be removed, including a man said to be living in a shed. Under the terms of its contract with Taylor Woodrow, the council was forced to pay compensation for the delays, which it now says amounted to £61,000, despite earlier warnings it could rise to £400,000.

Delays such as these not only add costs in the short-term, but also affect the long-term financial viability of the project, as evidenced by the council’s recent admissions. One other indicator of difficulties is the slow sale of private homes at Meridian One. Two-and-a-half years after first going on the market, several flats remain unsold – with the sales website operated by Countryside Homes suggesting some flats are now going for prices around 16% lower than those first listed in October 2022.

The civic centre also recently revealed that another council-owned site, Meridian 13, was marketed to developers last year but “due to challenging market conditions we received no viable bid”. Given this site’s close proximity to Meridian Water Station, the lack of interest is a significant concern.

The missing masterplan

The original Meridian Water masterplan is nine years old and has been out of date for at least five years — The original Meridian Water masterplan is twelve years old and has been out of date for at least eight years

The original masterplan for Meridian Water was published twelve years ago, before the overall target was increased to 10,000 homes and before the council made the decision in 2018 to take the lead on the project.

There have been repeated calls to publish a fresh masterplan ever since, to help scrutinise the project and the huge sums of public money being spent on it, and despite councillors being repeatedly told it would be presented to them to discuss, such a document has still not been made public.

The simultaneous work being done by the council on its Enfield Local Plan has complicated matters. The plan earmarks housing quotas on sites across the borough up to the year 2041 but, instead of allocating 10,000 homes to Meridian Water, it only allocated around 6,400.

Without seeing the masterplan there are a number question marks that remain over some of the sites at Meridian Water and how many homes they are set to deliver. Much of the land in the east is designated as strategic industrial land (Sil) by the Greater London Authority, meaning they cannot currently be used for housing. It’s not clear whether the council can still reach its 10,000 homes target without the Sil land, which likely explains the lower housing allocation in the Local Plan. There is then the question of what might happen with the former Ikea site – reports suggested in 2023 that up to 3,000 homes could be built at this location, but no firm plans have been published since and it’s not clear whether any developer has agreed to purchase it.

The council has acknowledged that a new masterplan does at least exist – but still refuses to publish it. Matt Burn, of campaign group Better Homes Enfield, has used the Freedom of Information Act to try to force the council’s hand. After an FOI was refused, Matt appealed, and a tribunal ruled late last year that the council should provide him with the information requested. While some additional files have been provided, including a 172-page ‘vision’ document, the masterplan remains missing – for now.

What the politicians say

Ergin Erbil gets digging at Meridian Water, the council's flagship housing development — Council leader Ergin Erbil gets digging at Meridian Water

Invited to comment for this article, council leader Ergin Erbil said: “We continue to build homes for local people at Meridian Water. This project is one of many examples our commitment to invest in Edmonton. We’re going to build 10,000 homes over 25 years. Alongside this, we’re creating thousands of jobs through this project and new commercial and leisure facilities.

“Meridian Water will also be home to new schools, parks, and improved transport links. We’re creating job opportunities through skills training and apprenticeships, helping local people gain new skills, opportunities, and employment.

“Given that the project will take 25 years to complete, it’s important that it can adapt and change to reflect economic shifts, new funding opportunities, and the policies of the council. This project is one of the largest projects of its kind in London.”

The Dispatch also approached Lee Chamberlain, the opposition Conservative group’s housing spokesperson. Regarding the financial issues with Meridian Water, he said: “It is an appalling situation. When interest rates shot up they had to reign in the borrowing but they are now back into old habits.

“When it comes to Meridian Water in particular, it hasn’t been a realistic approach and they have just borrowed the money without any real assurance. It was made clear by officers that it was a high-risk option – rather than getting developers in to do it properly. Clearly it has been beyond the grasp of the council.”

If the Tories take control of Enfield Civic Centre next year, what might they do differently?

“Get a grip on it. On day one we will go through the books and work out where the problems are, what is holding things up and where we can make changes. It is a brownfield site and needs to be developed but we will have to take stock – it is clear the approach the council is taking is wrong.”

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