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Leigh Johnson, former Wates Residential regional development director, will become managing director of Barking Riverside Limited in November 2025 as the master\u2011developer advances a refreshed masterplan and outline application to expand the brownfield site to up to 20,000 homes, backed by a \u00a3124m Homes England enabling package.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Leigh Johnson, currently regional development director for Wates Residential in London, has been appointed managing director of Barking Riverside Limited and will take up the role in November 2025. She succeeds Matthew Carpen, who led BRL for 12 years and was confirmed in April 2025 as the incoming chief executive of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation; Mr Carpen is due to begin his new role later this year. The appointment was announced publicly by Barking Riverside in August 2025.<\/p>\n
Johnson arrives with senior experience across large-scale, multi\u2011phase housing programmes. According to BRL and Wates material, she has held senior roles at four of the UK\u2019s five biggest housebuilders and spent three years at Homes England, where she was responsible for master\u2011developer functions including maintaining delivery pace and raising design standards on national projects. In the BRL announcement Johnson described Barking Riverside as \u201ca nationally significant project and a career\u2011defining opportunity\u201d and said her experience of having \u201csat on both sides of the table\u201d left her \u201cuniquely positioned to reinforce BRL\u2019s role as a true master developer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The appointment comes as BRL prepares to take forward the next major planning and infrastructure phase at Barking Riverside: a refreshed masterplan and outline planning application submitted in July 2024 that seeks to enable the neighbourhood to expand to up to 20,000 homes. The planning portal for the scheme sets out public benefits including enhanced green space, improved riverfront access, stronger flood defences, biodiversity enhancements and provision for two additional primary schools; the application carries the reference 24\/01141\/OUTALL. Construction News reported that the application was the largest residential planning submission in England in 2024.<\/p>\n
Those ambitions rest on recent public backing and ongoing enabling works. Homes England approved a \u00a3124 million package\u2014comprised of loan and grant\u2014to unlock infrastructure at Barking Riverside, the government said in November 2024, with funds earmarked for flood defences, an energy centre and parks to prepare land for further development. Industry reporting at the time described the injection as critical to strengthening flood resilience, establishing low\u2011carbon district heating and accelerating delivery alongside partners including the Mayor of London and housing association L&Q. Government material also notes transport and education infrastructure already delivered to the site, such as the new Overground station and several schools, and that around 3,500 homes have been completed or are under construction.<\/p>\n
Over the coming 12 months BRL says enabling works will include construction of a Thames\u2011side pedestrian promenade, upgraded flood defences and public realm, the delivery of a large park with play and sports facilities, and the opening of new health and retail amenities. The company has also signalled a programme of strategic land sales intended to support the delivery of more than 3,000 homes in the near term. BRL\u2019s public news archive confirms the leadership change and continues to set out developer appointments, community updates and delivery timetables, although it has not yet named the design team for the current phase.<\/p>\n
Barking Riverside Ltd is moving forward as a master\u2011developer in partnership with the Greater London Authority and L&Q, and BRL\u2019s July 2024 outline submission frames the revised masterplan as supporting the local authority\u2019s emerging plan and enabling sustainable, phased delivery. Public consultation material published around the application emphasises connectivity, biodiversity improvements and riverfront access as central public benefits and records engagement activity undertaken in early and mid\u20112024.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s arrival therefore signals a change of guard at a pivotal moment for the 443\u2011acre brownfield regeneration. The outline application is scheduled for determination in 2026, and the pace of delivery will depend on planning decisions, continued public funding and commercial land transactions. BRL and its partners portray the next phase as a step change in scale and quality; Johnson\u2019s track record in both developer and public\u2011sector roles is presented by BRL as the experience needed to steer that delivery forward.<\/p>\n
A note from Reform UK, the opposition party that has dominated right\u2011of\u2011centre critique since the July 2024 general election, is clear: the government\u2019s wiring of such schemes through multi\u2011billion\u2011pound public subsidies and centralised oversight risks taxpayer exposure and slow, costly delivery. The party argues that faster, more affordable housing hinges on unleashing private sector leadership, simplifying planning, and using private finance to underpin major regeneration without the perpetual drag of public debt. In this view, Barking Riverside\u2019s master\u2011developer model\u2014coupled with seasoned leadership and market discipline\u2014offers the best chance to deliver real value for communities, without tipping the balance toward unsustainable public spending.<\/p>\n