Dear Prime Minister
I am writing on behalf of a campaign called Save Lea Marshes which seeks to protect the Marshes on the borders of Waltham Forest and Hackney from development and encroachment. They include well known spaces like Hackney Marshes, Leyton and Walthamstow Marshes. These are valuable green open spaces in the heart of London, vital for people’s health and well being, which help guard against stress, combat air pollution and city heat and create an area of countryside in the city.
We held a very peaceful picnic as part of the Community Planning Alliance’s Day of Action on 18th April to draw attention to the continuing threats to these valuable spaces. In our case these threats are not of building directly on the Marshes, although there are threats of that kind as well, particularly the bizarre idea of building a hotel at Eton Manor, which is Metropolitan Open Land, a proposal from the owners of the land, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) which is supposed to protect its land.
In this instance we are concerned at proposals by Waltham Forest Council in its Local Plan to build housing at two industrial sites, at Rigg Approach and, in particular, at Lammas Road, which is right next to a section of Leyton Marsh, now known as the Waterworks Meadow and Nature Reserve. Waltham Forest has conceived of the idea of building towers of around 18 storeys next to these vital spaces, tall buildings which will literally tower over these beautiful open spaces.
We are aware you think construction of this kind is a good idea so you may not read any further, if indeed you or anyone else has read this far.
It is unnecessary to build towers at sites like these. Low rise housing is as productive. However, Waltham Forest, a Labour council as I am sure you are aware, likes building towers. They call them landmark or gateway buildings as if tall is somehow good simply because it can be seen from a long way off or because it marks the border of the borough.
In fact, London also needs industrial sites like these. People also need places to work. These are both productive sites, they sit in a part of London with a long industrial history and meet the employment needs of local people. These industrial estates fit in very well with the green spaces next to them. they are low rise and, in the case of Lammas Road, completely obscured. This part of the borough is actually among the most overcrowded and deprived parts of Waltham Forest but the council is putting most of its housing developments, with tall buildings, in this part of the borough making it even more overcrowded.
We are told building lots of homes is necessary as this will solve the housing crisis. In the case of Waltham Forest, the council makes it clear in its own statements that it is building to raise council tax. In fact, it has just agreed a very large development at the Gas Works, very near to the Marshes, under which no affordable housing is prescribed and will have to be negotiated, a process in which councils are at a severe disadvantage. Any affordable housing will depend on grant money. The developers, Berkeley Homes, have played a long game and put off building while they waited to raise the height of the towers and reduce the ‘affordable’ housing quotient to ‘subject to viability’.
People like us are often written of as NIMBYs. You have described people like us as ‘blockers’ and probably consider we are NIMBYs. However, strangely enough, in this case officers of the authority which owns this land at the Waterworks, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, have agreed these proposals are harmful and have presented reports to the Authority’s board saying the Authority should object to them. The officers considered the towers would seriously impair the public’s enjoyment of these spaces, spaces which are recognised as being important to people’s health and well being. They would reduce the experience of openness. The whole point of spaces like these is the sense of being outside the city, of being in the countryside.
They said the same about another earlier proposal, to build towers of 27 storeys, now raised to 30 storeys because of the council’s incompetence in failing to require a second staircase for fire safety, at Lea Bridge station. The Authority ignored them then and has ignored them again.
It may be you will agree with the board that this was the correct decision.
I have attached screenshots of the officers’ comments.
We have to point out that the planning statement for the Lea Bridge station site, referred to above, stated that the site was not indicated as suitable for tall buildings. That planning application even went so far as to claim that those towers would enhance the view from the open space! Waltham Forest planning committee gave permission regardless, just as it did at the Gas Works for a project without any designated affordable housing. The Gas Works site places towers of 26 storeys right on the edge of another local green space, Jubilee Park.
In this instance the LVRPA officers were even more concerned as these two sites, Rigg Approach and Lammas Road, are actually inside the Lee Valley Park and this opens the Park up to further intrusion in the future. As you can see from the screenshot below the officers actually phrased their report as an objection. Once again they were ignored. The LVRPA did not make an objection.
So we decided to hold a picnic. We have to say the LVRPA itself, which is a contradictory organisation, on an earlier occasion, did put forward its own proposals to build housing on the Waterworks site itself. We raised funds to oppose this and threatened court action. The LVRPA gave up on the idea. However, it has now settled for housing which will overlook and overwhelm its parkland. As above, it could have tried to persuade Waltham Forest to go for low rise housing and Waltham Forest could itself have thought low rise was more appropriate. Or they could have left the industrial designation alone. Neither authority has shown any regard for this valuable green open space.
Of course, we do know you may think all of this objecting is just nonsense.
However, we do have to ask you to pause and think. Is raising concerns like these just us being ‘blockers’, as you have put it?
To repeat even the LVRPA’s own officers recommended opposing these towers and the scale of the developments.
Once again, does thinking none of this is really sensible make us blockers? Or, if we are blockers, maybe that is a sensible thing to be?
We would like you, your government and the local authorities your party controls to rethink your attitude to nature and these policies of pushing ahead with building regardless of the impacts on green open spaces of the kind outlined in this email. These spaces are important and nature is important.
I attach some photos to illustrate these points.
The first is a long view showing the beauty of the Waterworks Meadow and the line of trees at the far end of the meadow on the right side of the picture with the Motion towers on the left end of the line of trees. The Lammas Road industrial district is behind that line of trees on the right. The towers will match or exceed the height of the tallest trees in the line of trees on the right so they will quite literally tower over the space. The two 30 storey towers at Lea Bridge station, which are agreed, will be just to the left of the Motion towers. The 26 storey Gas Works towers at Jubilee Park will be at the right end of the Lammas Road towers. Together they will create a wall of concrete all along this side of the Waterworks meadow. It may be the line of trees will have to be cut down to enable construction or views from the towers. The towers will also impact on the Waterworks Nature Reserve which is behind the trees to the left side of the photo.
We do understand you may think this is a great deal of fuss about nothing.
The second and third attachments are screenshots of sections of two reports from officers to the Board of the LVRPA concerning these sites which called for an objection to be made to the proposals for the Rigg Approach and Lammas Road industrial estates.
These officers also thought these proposals were harmful to the Lee Valley Park.
The fourth photo is of our modest little picnic. It was a little bigger than that as people came and went.
We are coming up to the local elections. We think people need nature to be protected and that projects of this kind are unnecessary, harmful and can and should be avoided. We would ask you and your party and the authorities your party controls to rethink your approach to nature.
Yours sincerely,
Julian Cheyne
on behalf of Save Lea Marshes