Mega-church appeal fails

Plans for an 8,000-seat "mega-church" in east London have been rejected by Communities Secretary John Denham.

A planning application from Kingsway International Christian Centre was refused by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation in February last yearafter objections from Havering council and the local community.

The church appealed and a three-week planning inquiry took place in March.

The council said the site, in Rainham, is a key regeneration area in the Thames Gateway and should be developed as a business park.

The same argument was presented successfully this year to the Government, which had considered putting a prison there.

The effect of such a large venue on the local environment, roads and residents was also a concern.

Mr Denham agreed with the inquiry inspector, who had cited the poor access and conflict with employment policies.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in