From: SLM newsletter <Newsletter@saveleamarshes.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2020 at 11:51
Subject: SLM NEWS AUGUST 2020
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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?
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/
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.
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