Strettons to become an hotel

 

The Strettons office at the junction of Hoe Street and St.Mary's road is to become an 11 storey hotel and 5 storey office block. Not only is this an inappropriate site for such a development as it is almost inaccessible for construction traffic and it is totally out of scale with the surrounding 2 storey Victorian Terraces.
Please send in your objections to the Planning Department before the 8th December 2018.

Planning Dept: dmconsultations@walthamforest.gov.uk

Strettons wrote in 2017 saying it would be a Premier Inn and be 13 Storeys and this is the image I produced then to object to it.

After extensive consultation with the planning officers and limited consultation with the public they have reduced it by 2 storeys to 11.

It will now look like this but whether it will be a Premier Inn is not mentioned in the planning documents.

View from Selborne Road gyratory junction

View at the junction of St Mary's Road and Hoe Street

View down St Mary's Road

Below is the Civic Society's objection to this development:

Brett McAllister

Development Management

The Magistrates

1 Farnan Avenue

London E17 4NX

Dear Mr. McAllister,

Application No: 183632

189-203 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 3AP

It is unusual but this application has been well presented and public consultation has been better than normal but no real effort was made to engage the community hence only 23 responses.

1.     Construction Issues

a.     Neighbouring developments – In the WSP document Outline Construction Logistics Plan Paragraph 3.2.2 and 3.2.5 refer to neighbouring construction sites. It is prepared to “assist in the assessment of freight consolidation opportunities and cumulative impacts of construction operations in the area”. As a construction company has not been appointed this seems over optimistic!

b.     Other sites – If the C&R Town Centre development goes ahead, which is due to start in 2020, and go on for at least 5 years the Hoe Street area will be heavily congested with construction traffic. Juniper House is also up for development and this will create more construction traffic. Currently this part of the Town Centre has been a building site for at least 2 years waiting for the gyratory system to be completed and Walthamstow Gateway. No sooner will they be completed and Central House will start in March 2019 and go on until June 2020. Juniper House will start in 2019 and go on well into 2020. There are plans to rebuild Walthamstow Central which will also become a building site for many years. All this means residents of this area will have experienced building site conditions for 10 years or more. This is unacceptable and makes Central Walthamstow a very unattractive place.

c.     Central House has very limited access which means St Mary’s Road and Stainforth Road will have to bear all the construction traffic. Church Hill is limited to 7.5 tonnes so this will mean increasing the number of lorries to service the site. This area was held up by the council as a great Mini Holland success. The quieter roads created will now be the main routes for the construction traffic meaning the Mini Holland expenditure was a waste of public money.

d.     The corner of St Mary’s Road and Hoe Street is a major pedestrian route to the station so what restrictions are going to be put in place to protect pedestrians trying to get to the station?

e.     St Mary’s Road is a dead end with Victorian terraces either side so how is the construction traffic going to turn around and what plans will be in place to ensure one way traffic to allow the lorries in and out of Stainforth Road?

2.     Design

According to LBWF Urban Design Supplementary Planning Document paragraph 5.7.3 states:

In some places within the borough, such as some Victorian or Edwardian terraced streets, the character is very distinct with strong building ‘rhythms’ and a prevalence of unifying features, materials and detailing. New development should therefore take these into account in the design response, by seeking to reflect the prevailing scale, proportion and detailing of buildings, albeit not necessarily by way of a pastiche response to context.

How can an 11 storey modern glass and brick tower block come any way to meeting this requirement? Another tower block so close to Hoe Street is going to change the whole nature of the area and overwhelm the existing 2 storey Victorian Terraces in St. Mary’s Road. This is the road that leads to the historic Walthamstow Village visited by hundreds of tourists! This cannot be allowed to happen and is contrary to council policies.

3.     Fire Precautions

a.     Grenfell - After the Grenfell disaster it is vital a proper analysis is made of how the emergency services will access this very restricted site. Until the Grenfell Inquiry is completed we don’t believe any tower blocks should be built until it is fully understood why the regulations allowed the Grenfell disaster. A fire at this very congested point would have a massive impact on the whole Town Centre and the risk is too great so this development should not be approved.

b.     Fire Safety - It is up to the planners to make sure the design of this building meets the necessary fire precautions such as a fire lift and sprinkler systems etc. Plans need to be in place to show how evacuation of the building can be achieved and how the emergency vehicles can access it and get the necessary water supplies to fight a fire.,

4.     Transport

a.     Victoria Line Congestion - Between Tottenham Hale Station and Walthamstow Central there are over 5,000 apartments being constructed or in the planning process. The Victoria Line is already at capacity with trains every minute. This hotel with no car access is going to create a lot of tube journeys and will just help to congest the line even further. There is no more capacity in central Walthamstow for buildings that create additional tube journeys. People moved to Walthamstow because it was cheap and it was easy to get into central London. Now the tube is getting dangerously overcrowded before many of the new properties are completed and TfL have no plans for increasing the capacity of the line. The council must stand up to the GLA and demand a stop to these developments as the transport infrastructure cannot cope with the forth coming demand.

b.     Road Network - Hoe Street is often jammed with traffic as it is a major route through the Borough. This development cannot be accessed from Hoe Street without blocking the road and the buses. The only access to it is through quiet residential streets which have been made quieter by Mini Holland. This scheme cannot be built without destroying the environment of the local residents and having a significant impact on the people living on the route of the construction vehicles from the North Circular up Chingford Road into Hoe Street. Thousands of residents along the route will have their lives disrupted by all the construction traffic trying to head to the Town Centre for the various developments that are being proposed. As noted earlier this is going to go on for over 10 years.

5.     Servicing the Site

a.     Construction Traffic - Very severe restrictions will need to be put on the construction traffic to ensure the Town Centre does not jam up and the lives of the residents in the surrounding roads is not made a misery. All construction staff will have to arrive at the site on public transport which will just congest the buses and tube more. The Planning Committee will need to see a fully worked up transport plan to show how the construction traffic will be managed and which streets disrupted.

b.     Hotel Traffic - many people arrive at a hotel by taxi as they have luggage to be carried and it is not clear what route the taxis will take and how many extra vehicle journeys this will take. They cannot be allowed to drop off in Hoe Street as that will just add to the existing congestion.

6.     Overshadowing

The Daylight and Sunlight Study show that over shadowing is an issue but is played down with words like “The results confirm that the proposed development does not fully comply with the BRE numerical recommendation.” Why should some residents lose their light just so that Strettons can fund a new office? This is wrong and further proves a tower block in this location is not acceptable.

We urge you to reject this plan as it is out of keeping with the existing low rise Victorian terraces, is too congested a site and access is only through existing quiet residential streets. This is a bad scheme for the Town Centre and for the adjacent residents.

Yours sincerely,

Adrian Stannard

Planning Watch