Thursday 21 April 2011

Walthamstow 2.0

At last the new Walthamstow town centre masterplan from Gort Scott (yes, yet another masterplan!) has been unveiled and is available online.

First impressions? Largely good ideas but they feel like pipe dreams - funding hasn't been identified so there's a sense that the council will cherry pick a couple of ideas it likes while ignoring the holistic vision.

Also unconvinced that expensive long-term ideas like removing the Hoe Street gyratory system or removing the bus station to make way for more open space will ever happen. So we definitely wouldn't want to see The Mall expand into a large section of the Town Square Gardens if there's no guarantee that we'll get more green space back in return. (And no, getting a poxy triangle of space by Tesco that used to be bus parking doesn't count!) Active frontages to make better use of existing buildings is a great idea though. And the scale of proposed development is generally reasonable, as long as the quality and content is good enough.

Now, who's going to start the "save the Town Square Gardens" campaign?

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Tuesday 19 April 2011

Save the date, save the cinema!

Join us on Weds 18th May and show the council you care!
It's official: one month till the council decides the fate of our cinema!

Please put the date in your diary NOW. Weds 18th May - meet up 7pm on the Town Hall steps (Forest Road, E17) and then inside for the planning meeting.
 
Make sure the council planning committee knows you care on the night they decide the future of our beautiful Grade II* listed cinema.

For more info see... www.mcguffin.info

www.savewalthamstowcinema.org

www.facebook.com/saveourcinema

www.twitter.com/saveourcinema

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Monday 18 April 2011

Consultants "disappointed" with WF Council, join back of the queue!

Consultants Gort Scott were due to unveil the conclusions of their Walthamstow Town Centre masterplanning consultation online by last Friday. Hurrah!

Sadly this morning their blog tells a classic Waltham Forest Council story. We quote: "We had intended to post a summary of the draft masterplan onto this blog  today. However, due to the Borough not having signed-off on the content, they have asked us not to post anything yet. We are disappointed that this is the case and it is unlikely that we will be able to issue material before Tuesday... Apologies on our behalf, we are working to resolve this."

Straight-talking consultants? We like! Look forward to reading their proposals. If they ever get signed off, that is. After all, the council never did publish the conclusions of its "healthy living hub" consultation.

In theory, the results should also be on display at the library from 3pm tomorrow (Tuesday) till 8pm on Thursday 22nd April.

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