Council consulation – get involved!

Go on Weds - you get to use stickers, woo!

OK, so there’s a new council consultation on Walthamstow town square and the Arcade site taking place online (follow the link and then choose the questionnaire on the left) and also this Wednesday in central Walthamstow (26th Jan – click the link for times and locations).

Except it isn’t. About the town square and the Arcade site, that is. Almost all the questions and ideas relate to how to rejig the town square, gardens and bus stations.

They tinker with stuff at the edges of the Arcade site, but the consultants have clearly been briefed not to sink their teeth into the site proper. Because a housing association is working on a design for a development there as we speak.

The council is making the same mistake as last time, when they spent a fortune on a Prince’s Foundation public consultation on Walthamstow town centre but didn’t let them touch the Arcade site. This is another massive missed opportunity to get the public involved in shaping plans for the site, and a u-turn on council promises.

Anyhoo, do please take part in the consultation. But as well as answering their questions do make your own points about the Arcade site (there’s plenty of opportunity to add comments). And while you’re at it, you may wish to tell them not to include a multiplex but to use the development to support a refurbished EMD cinema.