This has been the year E16 CLT moved from plans on paper to things you can see, touch and stand in. We opened a community garden at Fords Park Road, prepared a business plan to bring the old youth centre back to life, and signed an agreement to lease with Newham Council for nine genuinely affordable homes at Blake Road.
None of this would have happened without our members, our volunteers and our partners. Community land trusts are slow, patient work. This year shows that patience pays off: land in Custom House and Canning Town is now coming into community hands, to be used for the benefit of local people for generations.
Thank you to everyone who has given their time, ideas and energy. I hope this report gives you a sense of what we have achieved together, and what comes next.
Paul Regan, Chair
Figure 1 Mayor Forhad Hussain at the opening ceremony
About E16 CLT
E16 Community Land Trust is a Community Benefit Society registered with the Financial Conduct Authority. We develop assets that are owned, designed and managed by the community in Custom House and Canning Town.
Anyone with a connection to the area can become a member by buying a £1 share. Members vote at our AGM and can stand for election to the Board. We now have over 250 members.
We work in partnership with the People’s Empowerment Alliance of Custom House (PEACH), Newham Citizens (part of TELCO, the East London chapter of Citizens UK), London CLT and Young Minds.
The Community Garden at Fords Park Road
The highlight of our year was the official opening of the community garden at 65 Fords Park Road on 11 July 2026. A site that had stood unused is now a green, welcoming space for everyone in E16.
We hold the garden under a tenancy at will from Newham Council. Over the year volunteers cleared the site, prepared beds and paths, and made it safe and accessible.
The garden was transformed by an extraordinary gift from Young Minds. The mental health charity donated its 2026 Chelsea Flower Show garden to us, and it has been replanted at Fords Park Road. A garden designed to support young people’s wellbeing now has a permanent home in a community that needs it.
The opening day brought together residents, volunteers, partners and guests to celebrate what the community has created.
Figure 2 July opening of the Community Garden
Thank you
To our volunteers. The garden was built by local people. Thank you to every volunteer who dug, planted, carried, watered, cooked, organised and turned up on cold mornings. You have shown what a community can do when it owns its own space.
To Veolia. We are very grateful to Veolia for their grant of £11,000 towards the community garden. It made it possible to prepare the site to receive the Young Minds garden.
To Young Minds. Thank you for choosing E16 as the home for your Chelsea Flower Show garden. It is a gift that will be enjoyed for many years.
A business plan for the community centre
We are preparing a business plan to refurbish the former youth centre at 65 Fords Park Road as a community centre. The two-storey building, a former pub, has been empty for years and is in poor repair, but it has real potential.
The plan builds on the feasibility study completed in March 2025 by Almanac with planning, Passivhaus and cost advisers. It proposes a low-cost refurbishment that keeps the existing structure and includes:
– a café and multi-use room for meetings and exercise classes
– a community kitchen able to cook for 50 people
– a children’s playroom and baby-changing facilities
– a large first-floor space for workshops, classes and events
– rentable offices and hot desks to bring in income
– a library of things, fix-it station and food co-op storage
The business plan will show how the centre can pay its own way through room hire, rented space and café income. We expect to need to raise over £500,000 for the refurbishment, and the plan will be the basis of our funding bids.
Blake Road: nine new homes
In March 2026 we completed an agreement to lease with Newham Council for the old garage site at Blake Road, E16 4NE. This is a major milestone: it secures the land for the community so we can build nine genuinely affordable homes.
Key terms of the agreement:
– once planning permission is granted, the Council will grant E16 CLT a 250-year lease
– no premium or purchase price is payable, and the rent is a peppercorn
– homes will be sold on CLT terms, with prices linked to local median incomes rather than the market
Our architects, Citizen Design Bureau, have developed a scheme for nine homes. We took it to a pre-planning meeting with Newham’s planners, who gave favourable advice. This gives us confidence to move towards a full planning application.
Thank you to Kate Gould of Thea Ltd for her legal advice, and to Rowan Mackay of Community Led Homes London for technical support throughout.
Looking ahead
Our priorities for the coming year:
Blake Road – raise the funding needed to submit a full planning application, and find a housing association partner to build the homes.
Community centre – finish the business plan and start fundraising towards the £500,000+ refurbishment.
Community garden – keep the garden growing with a regular programme of volunteering, events and activities.
Membership – recruit more members and volunteers from across Custom House and Canning Town.
| Paul Regan | Chair |
| Gemma Taylor | Treasurer |
| Naciimo Cali | Secretary |
| Mabel Amponsah | Board member |
| Boglarka Filler | Board member |
| Lawrence Talabi | Board member |
| Caroline Verdant | Board member |
| Patrick Crowe | Board member |
Advisers: Kate Gould, Thea Ltd (legal); Citizen Design Bureau (architects, Blake Road); Rowan Mackay, Community Led Homes London (technical).
Partners and funders: Newham Council, Young Minds, Veolia, PEACH, Newham Citizens / TELCO, London CLT.
A summary of our finances is set out in the accounts presented to the AGM.