97 Lea Bridge Road

To Leader of the Council Cllr Clare Coghill

Dear Clare,

For almost two years it has been publicly known that on the site of the 97 Lea Bridge Road residential development 153834 there was once a LEA BRIDGE FARM. It is marked on William Faden's map of London first published in 1788, and there are earlier mentions in the J Rocque Map of London 1745, and in the Chapman & Andre Map of Essex 1777. How amazing the discovery of this farm's remains could be for the Waltham Forest application to be a Borough of Culture. How amazing it could be for the heritage of the new Lea Bridge Town Centre.

But it is not to be, and I am beside myself with dismay. 

In spite of the efforts of local people, some Council officers and external advisers, the possibility of even searching for the remains of Lea Bridge Farm has now been permanently prevented by the site works that have been allowed by the Council to continue unabated.

The attached letter from Historic England about Planning No. 153834 (97 Lea Bridge Road) gives the news that while any remains of the eighteenth-century farmhouse are likely to be intact, "this case is an unfortunate one", and it states that Historic England "encourage close liaison in future when large development schemes come forward to the Council".


The chronology of this unfortunate case so far has been:

• March 2015 developers produced an archaeological survey by Wessex Archaelogical Assessment highlighting the potential of the site, in an Archaelogical Priority Area, to yield evidence from several historic periods, including post-mediaeval. It was included in the December 2015 developers' major proposals to the Council for a 300-unit housing estate.

• June 2016 Planning Committee received comments in writing and in person at Committee from myself representing Markhouse Corner & Lea Bridge Residents (MCLBRA) and others requesting further archaeological investigations accordingly.

• 28 November 2016 the planning approval with conditions were made public, but they did not include a condition for archaeological investigation time allowance, nor even a referral to Greater London Archaelogical Advisers (GLAAS)/ Historic England.

• 11 December 2016 I wrote to the then Leader, Cllr Robbins, copied to Lea Bridge Cllrs, requesting him to step in, since demolition was starting at the site. There was no reply.

• I spoke to you Clare when we happened to be at the Town Hall at the same time in January, and it was mentioned when you visited Lea Bridge Ward on a walkabout with MCLBRA members.

• On 7 January 2017 I wrote to you about the matter as the new prospective Leader, copying in local councillors, the MCLBRA and others interested in local history. You referred the matter to Rob Bristow, senior council officer in Planning on 11 January 2017.

• I contacted John Gould of GLAAS by phone who expressed the view that Waltham Forest should have referred the Wessex survey automatically from the beginning. 

• I wrote to you again on 15 February 2017 since I had heard nothing.

• The matter was raised at the Lea Bridge Community Ward Forum in the spring and was recorded in the minutes.

• At the July Lea Bridge Ward Community Forum the Council officer stated that a report was going to be available.

• When that report was finally available at the end of August it turned out to be simply a desk-based summarised version of the original Wessex 2015 document, together with an opinion that it was too late to do any archaeological investigations due to the piling having started. 

• On 30 August I asked local officers why the Archaeological Condition mentioned by Historic England had not been recommended by the Council back in 2016. Their response is what you now see in the attached letter from Historic England. The letter contains a depressing indictment of the Council's several shortcomings:
  • whereas piling had begun on 12th June 2017 the geoarchaeological model of the site was not supplied to GLAAS until late July;
  • GLAAS were not able to confirm their recommendation of a potential trench site because the "plans of the impacts were not to hand"; 
  • GLAAS were not in possession of details of the basement and foundation works "until later in August" because of the "presentation and speed of LBWF's online planning website" which they state "can hamper the ease of repaidly locating documents or examining them". 

Conclusions

1. I believe that the Planning Committee was at fault for not specifying the planning condition at the outset. I believe the Council is at fault for not having referred the matter to the appropriate external expert authority as apparently required. I believe the delays in contacting GLAAS were inexcusable, and subsequent communication was confounded by the Council's poorly performing website.

   2. The community could not have done more to draw responsible authorities' attention to the facts and potential.

   3. Matters might have been rescued several months ago had you and Cllr Robbins taken up the matter in the early months of this year. 

   4. It would have been more helpful if you could have said outright that you weren't prepared to support the investigation of our local history, rather than just leaving the matters to drag on, incurring the developers in a second (pointless) report, local officers in chasing Historic England and raising false hopes at the Lea Bridge Community Ward Forum.

Request

It is encouraging to see from today's news that you have expressed approval at the excellent heritage-led project at St James and the High Street. However given the huge amount of building development due to take place in the Borough especially in Lea Bridge, please advise on how you will strengthen Borough policies and practices on valuing and preserving our archaeological assets and potential. Taking account of these once-in-a-lifetime chances when major sites are being cleared, how will you improve the Borough's capacity to liaise more closely with Historic England as they recommend, and prevent any further "unfortunate" cases?

In deep disappointment I wait for your replies, and I would appreciate a copy of the Council's response to Historic England.

With thanks for your kind attention, and regards,

Claire Weiss

Lea Bridge resident

MCLBRA