Planning Application Updates

 As I have mentioned before lockdown does not seem to have impacted the planning process as we are overrun with planning applications!

Planning Application Search

Here are some of those of interest:

1. Ice Centre  194162

Utube Meeting of Planning Committee

The LVRPA gave a presentation to the Planning Committee last week. Follow link to see the meeting. The Committee has got into an interesting situation as they rejected the secondary school on the Thames Water site in Lea Bridge Road because it was on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL). The LVRPA wants to build the new ice rink on MOL so how will the committee wriggle out of that one?

2. Gas Works Lea Bridge  201329 - adjacent to Jubilee Park

This if for 573 flats in 18 storey blocks. Local residents have been objecting so it will be interesting to see who wins the battle!

Petition

3. Town Hall 192584 and 192585

If you search Town Hall on the Plan App search site many applications come up so if you have the time you can find out what they are doing!!

4. The Mall 202051 and 193420

C&R have decided not to replace like for like after the fire damage so there are some changes on the Selborne Road side. It is now over a year since the fire. This is NOT the major application we are still expecting for the Mall expansion and 30 storey tower blocks.

5. 4-10 Forest Road Walthamstow London E17 6JJ

Temporary change of use for a fixed term of one year from student accommodation providing 353 student rooms (use class Sui Generis) to 180 single person residential co-living studio units (use class Sui Generis) together with approved commercial floor space (900 square metres). Remainder of accommodation (173 rooms) to be retained as student accommodation (use class sui generis). Development would not involve material alterations to the external appearance of the building, approved under planning permission reference 172336 dated 19March 2018.

6. Whipps Cross Hospital 201548 - Demolition of Nurses Home

The nurses home site is where the Barts Trust want to build the new hospital.

7. St.Mary's 181681 and 201912 - adding an extension and details of the archaeological investigation and protection of 8 trees during building work.

8. Wood Street Station Bridge 201870 - Mural under bridge

Save Lea Marshes Newsletter

 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: SLM newsletter <Newsletter@saveleamarshes.org.uk>
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2020 at 11:51
Subject: SLM NEWS AUGUST 2020
>

THIS IS THE SAVE LEA MARSHES AUGUST 2020 NEWSLETTER. A MONTH, TRADITIONALLY SHORT OF NEWS IN THE MEDIA BUT NOT THIS YEAR...

SLIPPERY PRESENTATION..

Our lead story this month is the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority's (LVRPA) Ice Centre plans. SLM and others have been anxiously waiting for news of when the LVRPA's application will be going to the Waltham Forest Planning Committee since it was postponed in March.  We have seen some increased activity by the Authority via further consultation meetings and new information being put on Waltham Forest Council's planning application portal.  The likelihood of the Ice Centre proposal's  going to Planning Committee soon was heightened in the last few days, with an email from the Council announcing that there would be an on-line pre-application briefing on Thursday 20 August.

Pre-application meetings are held for large applications either before the application is  submitted or before it is determined by the planning committee.  Such briefings are normally open to the general public and will be used by the applicant to provide information.  Only  Planning Committee members can ask questions.

The meeting has been put on Youtube and can be accessed by going to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXiFSTtuN0

As you will note if you view the video, the LVRPA's presentation is heavily overlaid with arguments as to why the Ice Centre is deemed by them to be important, rather than whether such a large industrial building should be build on Metropolitan Open Land (which is in legislation the same as Green Belt). This is despite the fact that the International Olympic Committee itself says in its own guidelines that "industrial and brownfield sites should be sought in the first instance for ice centres".

Members did ask some very good questions, e.g. about the size of the car park and how could this be justified.  The response to this was that the new Ice Centre as a regional facility needed to be able to accommodate users and visitors from Essex and  Hertfordshire, whilst also being a local centre for local people.  (This being the case, we wondered, why not go for a more connected Olympic site in Eton Manor or on another LVRPA-owned site in Enfield?)

Other wobbly comments on this cutting edge of an Ice Centre included a response to a member's question about the need for a gym inside the building when there are lots of other gyms locally.  The answer was that it was an important part of the LVRPA's Business Plan...

Another member's question was on young people and the location of the Ice Centre on the borders of Hackney and Waltham Forest and how this might exacerbate postcode gang conflict.  The reply was along the lines of it 'not having been an issue in the past'.  Young people's provision has been put forward as a strong argument for the Ice Centre by the LVRPA and no-one would deny that provision for young people in our boroughs is or should be a priority, but whether a £30m-plus ice centre, rather than a properly supported youth service, is the answer is open to question.

GASWORKS..

Those following the Berkeley Homes & Partners development on the edge of Jubilee Park can also view a pre-planning briefing on the same Youtube link above.

Again, members of the Waltham Forest Planning asked some good questions, including whether the low amount of so-called affordable housing was all in one block or "pepper-potted" around the development.  The answer came that they would be in the part of the site first to be completed and would be nearest the park (so having to put up with the noise and disruption of the rest of the construction work). There are two large towers 17 storeys high near the entrance of Jubilee Park that are supposed to act as a gateway to the project but I wonder whether they have given any thought to the views from the surrounding areas?  Last year SLM featured the Motion Buildings on Lea Bridge Road as part of our "Blots on the Landscape" competition. I think it is rather fitting that the buildings have been given that name, because wherever you look on the Marshes, the buidings seem to move with you...

RIGHT TO ROAM...

A new campaign to  extend the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act in England has been launched, so that millions of people can have easy access to open space, and the physical, mental and spiritual health benefits that it brings.  See https://www.righttoroam.org.uk

RACE, CLASS AND ECO SYSTEMS..

"How racism and classism affect natural eco-systems" is a research paper by Jake M. Robinson, University of Sheffield, on how inequality between humans also harms the birds, the bees, the microbes and the trees.  See https://theconversation.com/how-racism-and-classism-affect-natural-ecosystems-144751

AND FINALLY ..

There's been a strong showing of concern about the cleanliness (or lack of it) of our rivers recently.  On Twitter, London Waterkeeper, Thames 21 and Feargal Sharkey have been among the organisations and individuals who have been long campaigning for cleaner water and stopping water companies such as Thames Water from offloading sewage into our rivers.  Please support them.  SLM is trying to do its own bit by questioning the plans of the LVRPA Ice Centre proposal to use reedbeds to filter discarded ice water from the building into the Oxbow on Leyton Marsh.  Given the chemicals and the flakes from paint markings used in Ice Hockey, which would be regularly skimmed off the surface of the ice, it doesn't exactly sound safe for our wildlife, particularly if something goes wrong.

Changing Street Scene

 I have compiled a series of presentations about the changing street scene in Waltham Forest based on my library of photos built up over the last 20 years. Forest Radio has kindly agreed to host them so please follow this link to access them:

FOREST RADIO

The first one was not recorded but I will be arranging that in due course.

ONE - Bremer School, Nita and Dellwood Villas plus others - still to be recorded

TWO is about Essex Brewery and South Grove area of Walthamstow

THREE is Walthamstow Town Centre

FOUR is the Lea Bridge area

E Scooter Trial Scaled back

E-Scooter Trail scaled back

Juniper House Update

Bow crane collapse

Juniper House Details

Let's hope this crane on the Juniper House site has been properly installed!!

Texaco Garage Forest Road

Is being upgraded with a upgraded Coop store 

Spruce Hills

5 Spruce Hills Road, E17 4L

183568

A bit of good news up to a point! The land beside Waltham Forest College, 5 Spruce Hills Road E17 4LB, has just started the construction of 12 flats. The original application for 16 flats was submitted in December 2016 but rejected due to public pressure. Eventually its height was reduced by one floor and approved with 12 flats. It could have been worse. Looking at the plans it looks as if it is far enough away from the college not to impact on the view of the magnificent college building too much!