Look for Section 6
Looking through the Planning Application for the Mall it becomes clear the scheme is designed for the benefit of those paying rent for the 538 flats in a 34 and 26 storey block alongside Selborne Road opposite the car wash. They will have a roof top Winter Gardens and other gardens coming to 2,593 sqm with a lounge with wonderful views.
Meanwhile the larger number of Town Centre users will loose 5,437sqm of open space so the shopping centre can be extended with an additional 43 flats. The 4,800sqm left for the community is split between a community facility inside the development 2,225sqm (haven't found the details of that yet!) and the open space which will be 2,575sqm.
It is good to know the architect had his/her priorities in the right place as under IMPORTANT VIEWS it states "Optimising height to create views over Walthamstow Wetlands to the west and London City to the south". Just to rub our noses in it they tested their ideas "to make sure they make a positive contribution to the existing and evolving townscape"!
C&R have not only refused, over the last 4 years, to engage properly with the community but have totally ignored them during the development of this new scheme. The Access and Design Statement says the community was consulted in October 2019 when they tried to fiddle the planning process using the Section 73 procedure. Having been stopped from doing that they decided to submit a whole new scheme, very similar to the old one, but with no community consultation. The Planning Officers and the GLA officers were consulted but not us!
The result is we are allowed to keep the avenue of lime trees, but the Town Square is now very pokey and from the pictures looks very crowded when only a handful of people are around!! Hardly Covid 19 friendly!
This shows the trees which will go:
This is an aerial view of the end of the avenue of lime trees going towards the High Street:
So we've been completely shafted by our glorious Labour council. They ignore local opinion and their own consultations and force through the first application, then force through a different scheme without bothering with any consultation whatsoever. Isn't local democracy wonderful? Why do we bother having a council at all? Wouldn't it be simpler to just let the GLC decide everything and stop paying the wages of a puppet assembly in Waltham Forest?
ReplyDeleteWe need to act fast. It isn't easy with Social Distancing but we must not allow them to do this without opposition. Nancy Taaffe has proposed an ope air public event, inviting other campaigns around the Borough, at the end of October. I support that Idea!
ReplyDeleteThere are just so many things wrong with this ... not least of which being the environmental, social and aesthetic impacts. Bring on the public event on the 24th!
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