Barking and Dagenham Council is set to decide on the future of Vicarage Field Shopping Centre, a key site for regeneration in Barking town centre. The shopping centre has been described in council documents as an inward looking, mono-use facility not fit for a modern town centre.

The council's Cabinet met on Tuesday to discuss a proposal that could pave the way for the redevelopment of the shopping centre. The council currently owns the freehold of the Vicarage Field site, while Lagmar (Barking) Ltd, an affiliate of PineBridge Benson Elliot, holds a leasehold interest and manages the shopping centre.

Councillor Cameron Geddes, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, addressed the importance of the site to the town centre's future: Obviously Vicarage Field is vital to the regeneration of Barking Town centre. It has to happen and it will happen eventually. He acknowledged the challenges faced in redeveloping the large site, noting previous proposals that did not come to fruition. A key reason previous plans failed was the requirement for compulsory purchase orders. The new proposal aims to address these challenges by focusing on land within the existing freehold and leasehold boundaries, avoiding the need for compulsory purchase orders.

The redevelopment of Vicarage Field will involve residential development and commercial development, potentially concentrating on food-related businesses. The council aims to sell the freehold interest to facilitate investment, subject to planning permission being granted. The sale of the freehold is subject to planning permission being achieved, which the council hopes will support the objective of redeveloping the site in a timely manner.

Cllr Geddes stressed that the council would remain the planning authority and would expect high standards for any development on the site. He stated: We would remain the planning authority and we're only going to sell once planning permission is granted, so we only sell if it looks like a realistic possibility of this developer coming forward... we are the planning authority the planning authority and planning committee will expect certain standards that have to be there, this is not our town centre it will need to be of a certain quality.

While there is no guarantee of progress, Cllr Geddes expressed hope that this approach would kickstart some progress on the long-awaited redevelopment. He stated, I honestly don't think the council could do much more other than lowering standards which I think the community would not want to support and wouldn't want to be doing that so I think this is the best way forward on Vicarage Field at the moment it's still going to be long term but I hope this will kickstart some progress thanks.

Occupancy at Vicarage Field is currently high due to short-term lease arrangements with low rental levels. However, the report pack states that if market rents were applied, vacancy rates would probably increase significantly.