Tuesday 30 June 2020

HOMEBASE Update 2

I met the architect this morning from JTP and they are anxious to get residents views on what we want built on the Homebase site. I have sent in the following so feel free to take bits and submit them with your own views.

Consultation

JTP Architects

The first deadline is 6th July

On the 15th July at 6pm there will be a Zoom meeting where he will present his vision for the site based on our comments.

There will be a further chance for comments until the 27th July.

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SUGGESTIONS FOR THE HOMEBASE DEVELOPMENT


1.      Creation of a Holistic Community
a.      A holistic community that thrives and a street scene that is attractive and low level should be the aim.
b.      A community of families on low to medium incomes with jobs locally so they don't have to travel far for work.
c.       With the council developing their Family Services this site is ideal for family homes sandwiched between 2 schools, the forest and Wood Street shopping centre.
d.      Any building must complement the surrounding Victorian terraces and flats along Fulbourne Road and not be higher than 5 storeys.
e.      Houses should be built and not flats. With thousands of flats being built in Waltham Forest more family homes are desperately needed to house families properly. After the recent pandemic families stuck in flats have had a horrendous experience.
f.        At least 50% of the development to be Social Housing. How is London going to manage without people on low pay rates doing vital jobs?
g.       Workshops are needed to provide jobs (artists/artisan bakeries etc) that have gone from the area as the council has allowed residential to replace industrial/commercial sites. This has meant people now have to travel further for work.
h.       
2.      Sustainable
a.      A development that wins awards for its environmental achievements and sustainability.
b.      Buildings which have been properly constructed and need minimum maintenance.
c.       Safe and attractive pedestrian routes to be established throughout the development.
d.      It needs a children’s play area to ensure an attractive active curtilage.
e.      Latest environmental standards have to be adopted to ensure the proper environmental improvements are provided i.e. heat pumps/solar etc. A Neighbourhood power plant to be considered.
f.        Electric car charging points to be generously provided.
g.       No car parking to be allowed and the existing parking on the entrance road to Homebase to be banned. Instead appropriate space for Club Cars i.e. Zip Cars to be allowed for.
h.      Landscaping and planting to be of the highest standard and contracted to be maintained for the first 5 years until it is established.
i.        As much of the existing mature trees and planting to be kept.
3.      Services
a.      The capacity of Woodside School and Bremer school will have to be increased to allow for the increase in population along the Forest Road corridor.
b.      Health Centre capacity including GPs need to be increased to serve an increased population.
c.       Gas, water and electricity supplies to be adequate.

Tuesday 23 June 2020

More flats.....

The latest Planning Apps list 2 sites of interest.

201240

19 HOE STREET E17 4SB
At last a development has come along for this disused petrol station just up form the Bell pub which has been neglected for many years.

17 Flats

Existing site




200820

82-92 VALLENTIN ROAD
The existing garage offered a vital service for residents and will be sorely missed. They refused to sell when the adjacent site was developed so presumably Covid 19 has beaten them!

With Colvins having closed, Homebase to close at the end of the year and now this garage the number of useful shops in the area is dwindling fast!

17 flats







Monday 22 June 2020

HOMEBASE Update 1




JUNE 21st 2020
Over the weekend Inland Homes distributed a leaflet to residents of Wood Street and Chapel End Wards. As usual it is spin by the developer trying to make out they want to listen to residents views. The reality is they have usually made up their mind well before contacting residents! This is a typical case of ticking a box but not interested in our views. What is even worse is our councillors have not been informed about what is going on!

It was also announced that the Homebase store would close by Christmas.

Hombase to close

Inland Homes Leaflet

LBWF _ Homebase site

The leaflet from Inland Homes says they will be "holding engagement activities to gather ideas for this site" up until 6th July - that is just 2 weeks for us to put in our suggestions!! On the 15 July they will run a zoom presentation of "their vision". Deadline for any further comment will be 27th July.

That might have been believable except they then go on to say the Planning Application will be submitted in August!  Do they think we are really that stupid! It takes many months to get architects to draw up plans and these days vast numbers of consultants reports have to be submitted as well. If they were serious about listening to our views even August 2021 would be hard to meet!!

The EIA is looking at a development of 700 homes in 18 storey tower blocks so I assume that is the plan they have ready to submit in August!

Their leaflet shows the boundary of the land they own but the council wants to redevelop Willow House and the accountancy company site should also be taken into the development so a proper holistic plan can be put forward.

18 storey tower blocks is not what the Wood Street Area Action Plan was suggesting if the Homebase site ever came up for redevelopment.

Wood Street Area Action Plan

Draft Local Plan

Get on to your councillors and find out what is really going on!

Previous Blogs

EIA

Site Ownership

Cabinet Report

Tuesday 9 June 2020

E-Scooter Parliamentary Inquiry

A Parliamentary Inquiry is being held by the Transport Committee into the impact of e-scooters. Having been hit by one today it made me realise how dangerous they can be. My evidence is below and I suggest if you agree with me you submit your comments to the committee which is accepting evidence up to the end of June.

E-scooter inquiry


Transport Committee Inquiry
E-Scooters – Pavement Nuisance
9th June 2020
Having been nearly hit by an e-scooter today while walking in Epping Forest and having observed the dangerous way they are used on pavements and roads I would like the committee to consider the following points regarding the use of e-scooters:

1.     Silent - They are virtually silent and because of their speed they are not noticed until it is too late to get out of the way. Luckily today my arm was just knocked as it came up behind me at speed and did not stop. A bit closer and I would have been injured. There was no excuse for it being so close to me as the forest path I was on was very wide. It just shot past me and carried on as if I was invisible.
2.    Pedestrians – pavements are becoming more difficult to negotiate as more cyclists seem to think they now have a right to use the pavements as well as cycle lanes. On the whole cyclists on pavements behave reasonably and are slower than e-scooters, but e-scooter riders are oblivious to the dangers of hitting the elderly or children who, rightly, assume they should be safe on pavements.
3.    Roads – I have seen e-scooters on the roads going very fast in 20mph zones with no thought for other road uses. Not only do the e-scooters create dangers for their riders but also for other road users and could well be the instigator of major accidents. As a car driver I am well aware of how difficult it is to see them or to predict what their next maneuver will be.
4.    Safety Equipment – unlike cyclists the riders wear no safety equipment and seem to be oblivious to their own safety and to other people’s safety.
5.    Highway Code - There is no sign of them obeying the Highway Code which in itself is a danger as motorists, in particular, expect other road users to comply with the code, to say nothing of the fact it is a legal requirement.
6.    Speed – some of the more expensive models can go at 50mph which makes them a lethal weapon, not a mode of urban transport.
7.    Cycle Lanes – from my experience scooters in cycle lanes are as much of a danger to cyclists as they are to motorists on the roads and pedestrians on pavements. I do not believe they are a compatible form of transport for this country.
8.    Singapore’s Experience – last year, when visiting family in Singapore, I came across e-scooters and where there are very wide empty cycle/pedestrian lanes I could see the attraction of them. Having said that Singapore Government was widely advertising they had to be licensed and various regulations applied. See APPENDIX below which I have found on the web and sums up Singapore’s experience very well.

In summary I don’t believe e-scooters are compatible with our transport network and will in fact create many horrific accidents. They have no environmental benefit compared to cycles and should be banned in the UK.



Save Lea Marshes Newsletter

Welcome to the May edition of the Save Lea Marshes Newsletter. What a month it has been. On the positive side: the swifts are back - there're more than a dozen flying over my immediate neighbourhood and I've seen them back in the sites of previous nests; we've been treated to more birdsong and wildlife sightings - deer have been spotted on Walthamstow Marsh; and SLM and a whole host of other local groups and individuals have worked together to prevent a licence being granted for three years for a dance music festival near the Waterworks wildlife reserve. Please see https://www.saveleamarshes.org.uk As well as successfully winning, credit is due to the way different organisations and individuals worked collaboratively across borough boundaries and beyond (our website gives a list of these).
On the negative side: the sunny and warm weather has drawn more people to misuse our precious open spaces - using the Lea for swimming by the Friends Bridge between Hackney and Leyton Marshes (not a good idea for health reasons and because it disturbs a nesting kingfisher) and lighting barbeques and leaving litter in the Waterworks area.

"HAPPY MAN" TREE

This is a plane tree estimated to be over 150 years old with at least another 50 years of lifespan, sited opposite the "Happy Man" public house on the Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney. After a long debate at the L.B.H. Planning Sub-Committee, last month, councillors finally agreed that it could be sacrificed in order for the next phase of the re-construction of the estate to take place. The developers, Berkeley Homes, argued that they had listened to the ideas of local residents to avoid cutting down the tree, but there seemed to be a disagreement about this, with local residents saying they were in the dark about the final position before it went to committee. The developers argue that the area will get more green space and more trees but didn't seem able to accommodate a little space for this tree in their plans claiming that it affected the numbers of dwellings that could be provided. Now there is an encampment that has been set up. See https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/04/20/woodberry-down-locals-fight-save-happy-man-tree-destruction-developers/target. Repeating the argument again: a mature tree has a bigger effect on the environment than do newer trees.
Another casualty of 'lockdown' the Hackney Citizen is no longer able to print copies and is appealing for donations to keep going - so any generous supporters of the free press out there...

WOODLAND..

Continuing the tree theme, one of my SLM colleagues has flagged up a TV programme on how to re-forest, allowing woodland to regenerate naturally and not on a mass scale which often leads to diseases. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jf8c and don't forget Springwatch is back. Our cat (who is a voyeur and thankfully, hasn't caught anything in her 8 years apart from the odd insect), and I are happy!

ONE MORE THING ABOUT TREES ..

Who are these people that think it is OK to tie exercise bands around trees to do their workouts? Brains over torsos, please, people!

"LEA MARSH TO GLEAMING TOWERS" ..

A forty-minute talk, with slides by Claire Weiss to the Leyton & Leytonstone Historical Society, was presented on Zoom last week, replacing a scheduled live event. For those who missed it, you can catch it on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV8etUBqijQ.

DISTANCE WALKING..

Hackney and Walthamstow boroughs have both put together walks for people getting their daily exercise. For Waltham Forest Wards see https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk and go to the newsletter and for Hackney you can download all of the guided walks at https://www.lovehackney.uk/keep-active.

MOWN AWAY ..

As I type this newsletter, the green space around the block of flats opposite my home has been mown for the third time since lockdown and now looks like a desert! Meanwhile, Plantlife are currently (from 23 to 31st May), running their "Every Flower Counts" programme to encourage counting how many bees you can see on your lawn.. see https://plantlife.org.uk.

GRASS SNAKES AND MORE..

No, not talking about Dominic Cummings, but the other slithery kind of creature, that has been spotted in the River Lea. For the full story on the subject of the healing effects of nature go to https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/05/027/josh-loeb-is-nature-healing/?utm_medium= email&utm_term=0_7f5b69838e-ccbb9fcae11-142020245/.

LESS PLASTIC..

Our friends at Plastic Free Hackney are doing an on-line workshop on the top ten tips for reducing.. its free, but you have to book. It happens on Thursday 4 June from 2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. go to www.plasticfreehackney.com.

and finally, am I the only miserable person who truly hates barbeques? Not only are they causing a problem in our parks and open spaces, with fire risks and litter, I find the smoke and smell of them in my neighbourhood really horrible and invasive. I can't understand why people don't cook inside and bring it out to enjoy. Sufficient evidence exists to support food being cooked to death on barbeques as being bad for our health, including cancers - for example see Medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321884 and why do we tolerate the bad air they produce in London's smokeless zone? Moaning tone off....

Object to the Gas Works Development

Gas Works Planning Application

Gas Works SLM Objection

Building works resume after pandemic

Signs of Waltham Forest getting back to normal:

Town Hall
Markets to Reopen
Electoral Boundaries Review
Marlowe Road
Coppermill Neighbourhood Mini Holland
South Grove
Blackhorse Road Junction
Mandora
Hylands Road
Lea Bridge Gas Works Planning App
Gas Works
Central Parade
Whipps Cross Hospital