SLM News

 

SAVE LEA MARSHES

Hello and welcome to the latest news from Save Lea Marshes! We hope you are keeping well.

This newsletter will be slightly different as it mainly consists of a request. We would like as many people as possible to object to the latest planning application for the building of 23 and 26 storey flats next to the marshes!

Lea Bridge Station Site Development

This application, for the 'Lea Bridge Station Sites Development', is clearly an inappropriate development on a flood plain that will adversely affect the openness of the marshes. It will also destroy a pocket park of 125 trees - 122 of which will be felled! https://builtenvironment.walthamforest.gov.uk/planning/index.html?fa=getApplication&id=51719

To object, please write to: dmconsultations@walthamforest.gov.uk

Subject: Objection to Planning Application 212685 – Lea Bridge Station Sites

Here are a series of points you can make:

1. The Lea Bridge Framework is still under consideration and no planning application for this area should be brought forward until it is complete, otherwise it is rendered useless. Similarly, the application cannot rely on the Emerging Site Allocation because it is part of the Draft Local Plan and is yet to be fully scrutinised.
2. The Planning Statement states that the development will provide publicly accessibly green space yet it will destroy existing green space at Orient Way Pocket Park, home to 125 semi-mature and early-mature trees. If Waltham Forest Council is serious about its commitment to the climate emergency, then it should be safeguarding mature trees because of the important role they play in mitigating the effects of climate change. New trees are not a substitute for mature trees and new green space is not a substitute for existing green space.
3. The fact that there is no social housing planned is unacceptable.
4. The proposed development will have a detrimental impact on air quality during construction and, when complete, by increasing the number of people living in the area with cars and removing the mitigating effect of the trees in the Orient Way Pocket Park.
5. The Planning Statement says that the site is not affected by tidal flooding. However, the site is situated on the flood plain of the Lee Valley, which will be increasingly subject to flooding. The Planning Statement acknowledges that parts of the site are indeed at risk of fluvial flooding. Our floodplain should not be developed; it should remain undeveloped and permeable.
6. Building 23-storey and 26-storey tower blocks in this location constitutes significant over-development, especially as the location is not identified as a location for tall building development in the adopted Development Plan.
7. Astonishingly, the Planning Statement claims that these tower blocks will have a ‘moderately beneficial impact’ on the Lee Valley Regional Park and other open spaces. This is clearly contrary to any reasonable understanding of openness.
8. Waltham Forest Council has declared a Climate Emergency and this over-development on a flood plain runs contrary to combating climate change locally.

Please make your objection as soon as possible. All relevant objections should be considered. If you would like more information, or to read our full objection, please visit our website: https://www.saveleamarshes.org.uk/2021/09/27/object-to-the-lea-bridge-station-sites-development-to-stop-more-towers-surrounding-the-marshes

Community Planning Alliance

Because of inappropriate developments such as this one springing up with alarming frequency all over the country, a group called the Community Planning Alliance has been formed. The CPA is a very dynamic new community planning campaign which Save Lea Marshes joined soon after it was formed in April 2021. Some other groups local to the Marshes are also members. It now has over 500 affiliated groups

Affiliated groups can be found by clicking on the map: CPA Google Group

We have attended several online sessions and follow them on Twitter @CommunityPlann1 and on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3zLtJ4P

It has a temporary website https://grassrootscampaigns.weebly.com/news.html and has started to make its presence known in the national media https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/04/nimbys-nature-destruction-wildlife-developers.

The campaign has recently been contacted by the Good Law Project and had discussion about how the two groups can work together. The CPA has just elected a management committee and officers and asked for volunteers to become regional representatives. Save Lea Marshes responded to the last request and Julian Cheyne is now the Regional Representative for an as yet undesignated region in East London. The precise role of Regional Reps has still to be defined so they are feeling their way and welcome any thoughts on how to proceed. In broad terms they will act as a channel between local groups and the national organisation, offering support and contact for local groups by linking them to this wider network and its resources and providing feedback from local groups to the national campaign to help it develop the campaign, its focus and its capacity to assist local groups.

If you are interested in finding out more or joining the alliance, feel free to contact Julian using our email: leamarshes@gmail.com or contact the CPA directly: communityplanningalliance@gmail.com.