St Modwen chairman: “Council asked us for tower”

Sir Anthony Glossop, chairman of St Modwen, told Fight The Height campaigners that “[Waltham Forest] council asked us for a tower… they wanted something that would put Walthamstow on the map”. He added that he would personally prefer something more in keeping with the surrounding area, but that tower blocks had been the done thing when Ken Livingstone was Mayor of London.

We’d long suspected that the council had driven the high-rise plans, but this was the first time anyone involved had admitted it. The revelation came when the affable Sir Anthony came over to chat to us after St Modwen’s AGM in Longbridge. During the meeting, campaigners had challenged him on St Modwen’s unpopular tower block plans in both Walthamstow and nearby Upton Park. And beforehand we had handed shareholders joint flyers for Fight The Height and Friends of Queen's Market.

Other highlights of the meeting included the lack of dividends - although directors still enjoyed their fat salaries and pensions - and Sir Anthony describing the property market being worse than anything he’d ever seen.

A comedic note came from a local Longbridge resident asking whether or not the supermarket due to be built there would be an Asda. Here we go again, Sir Anthony must have thought (the supermarket famously pulled out of Queen's Market after a FoQM campaign) only to discover that she specifically wanted an Asda. Not any other supermarket but specifically an Asda. Sir Anthony suggested she could have the one that East Londoners didn’t want. As corporate AGMs go, it was hilarious. OK, you probably had to be there…

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All those in favour........

Over 300 people turned out on Sunday at a public meeting in support of the EMD. It was good natured and informative event. Time and again members of the local community spoke passionately about the value of the EMD to Walthamstow as a cinema, and their fears about any scheme in which the UCKG proposed to share a small portion of it.

Notable highlights included;

• The transparently vacuous and nonsensical excuses given by the UCKG for not attending the public meeting


• Councillor Macklin's forthright condemnation of the Council's decisions throughout the EMD and Arcade saga, followed by the recollection [by other people] that he was party to those decisions and didn't ever oppose them.


• Councillor Wheeler's rambling riposte, in which he appeared to support pretty much everyone, especially if they want a swimming pool in the town centre and a running track in the sky above it.

The meeting concluded with votes on 4 key issues;

1. Would the community prefer a revived EMD to a new multiplex - 100% in favour


2. Do the community wish to proceed with the UCKG plan for shared use - 100% against


3. Should the council pursue a Compulsory Purchase Order, and take control of the EMD building - 100% in favour


4. Should the council agree a land swap with the UCKG; exchanging the EMD for facilities elsewhere - 90% in favour and 10% against

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Barmy £35m plan for Arcade site... please send a quick email TODAY!

The council's latest barmy decision is to plough £35m of public money into a new Arcade scheme including a swimming pool. See this story in the Walthamstow Guardian... including many comments from frustrated residents!

While we prefer a pool to a Primark, the decision to stick with developer St Modwen means the unpopular tower block design will probably change very little. Especially as the council seeks to recoup its (read: our) money by flogging off flats. The council's even going to fund St Modwen to the tune of £500,000 to develop the plans. So yet again tonnes of money are being poured into a scheme in which the developer can't lose - but we, the public, will lose out no matter whether the plans go ahead or not. Also the council finding £35m to bail out its tower block plans undermines its claims that it can't find the monet to help save the EMD cinema.

We think the council should instead genuinely go back to the drawing board, without being tied to a developer, genuinely consult residents about what we want, and consider the fates of the Arcade site and the EMD together.

Anyway, the council cabinet made the decision last night to go ahead with this barmy plan, but was split along party lines. If four local councillors insist on it, the decision can be called in to full council next week for debate - and that would see a good chance of it being overturned. Or any five local councillors could ask the mayor to call an extraordinary council meeting. Both of these options could see the decision sent back to cabinet for reconsideration.

So... please fire off a quick email TODAY to your local councillors - visit this council web page to find out who they are - simply asking them to please call the Arcade site decision in to full council. This will be particularly effective if your councillors are either Lib Dem or Conservative (the Labour guys were in favour of the plan).

Oh and please do email your councillors. Don't just assume someone else's councillors will do the job! These guys care about votes - so the more emails they receive, the more chance of them calling it in, and the more chance of the decision being overturned.

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Arcade News

The WF Cabinet are soon to decide if, and how, they will press on with the Arcade development. Presently they are planning to move Pool and Track [but not the Track part] onto the Arcade site. For the detailed report follow;

http://www.walthamsoft.com/wwcc/documents/ArcadeCabinetReport%20March2009%20final_1%20_2_.pdf

Our concern major concern is that they still hope to recoup 30-40% (i.e. £10-14m) of the budget through the residential units, and if so then - you guessed it - we're talking another unpopular tower block plan!

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Council U-Turn on EMD

The deal being done behind closed doors between the UCKG and Waltham Forest Council is finally out in the open, and sadly, but unsurprisingly, the best interests of the local community have been sold up the river.

The "new" proposals are for the venue’s main auditorium (Cinema 1) to be used exclusively as a church, while some [small and inaccessible] remaining space may be adapted to create a 250-seat venue, which UCKG claims could be used to provide facilities for conferences, cinema, theatre and meetings. Alongside this, the adjoining carpet shop and Victoria pub would be closed and converted into UCKG ‘training rooms’ and ‘youth centre’.

We say "new", because to all intents and purposes this is exactly the same proposal which the council once deemed to be both "inappropriate and unviable with regard to the needs of the local community".

What has changed? Well, in the intervening years the UCKG have allowed the building to crumble to such an extent that it became Category A on English Heritage's At-Risk Register, English Heritage leant on the council, and demanded that they address the degenerating state of their Grade II* listed cinema. And now, forced to face-up to the difficult issues that the EMD presents, the council look likely to take the line of least resistance, and cave-in to the UCKG.

Of even greater concern than the wholly inequitable division of the EMD between the church and the community, is the precedent which the UCKG have already set in similar community "share" schemes. For more detailed information follow the links from the McGuffin EMD article at http://www.mcguffin.info/ but in short, a few years ago the UCKG persuaded Lewisham council that their proposed church in Catford would share its space with an independent cinema and community centre. However, once planning was agreed the UCKG made sharing all but impossible, and with that the cinema and community centre dissolved, leaving the UCKG with the whole space.

Nice work!

With the Arcade development going down the pan, this is surely the council’s opportunity to stand up and be counted, take a lead in regenerating the town centre and successfully develop something for everyone in Walthamstow.

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Arcade: back to the drawing board

At a council meeting last week – and as reported in this week’s Walthamstow Guardian - councillors finally admitted that the Arcade plans are no longer going ahead as planned.

The good news is that we might end up with, say, a swimming pool instead of a Primark. (Although this could turn out to be yet another pipe dream that vanishes when the council takes a long, hard look at its budget.) Meanwhile the bad news is that plans still probably include a tower block built by the same developer, there’s no suggestion of taking this opportunity to genuinely involve the community in the new plans, and the council still seems hell-bent on including a multiplex instead of refurbishing the EMD cinema next door and linking it to the Arcade.

Here’s the Fight The Height statement on what came out of the meeting:

"While we welcome the chance to rethink the Arcade site, Fight The Height still has some major reservations about the council and its plans.

"Firstly, the council is still partnering with St Modwen. Despite changes to the retail part of the plan, it would appear St Modwen are still planning a residential tower block that will be out of keeping the low rise character of Walthamstow and against the recommendations of The Prince's Foundation report on Walthamstow.

"Secondly, the council is still playing its cards way too close to its chest. This should be a vital moment to engage with the community on making the site work and be popular for everyone in Walthamstow. Instead, Cllr Wheeler was forced into admitting changes to the plans only to other councillors at two meetings where the public had no voice (and with no advance notice of the meetings). And there has been absolutely no public dialogue on the changes - just a terse announcement to other councillors.

"Finally, we're disappointed in the entire council - not just Cllr Wheeler - for the level of debate at Tuesday's meeting. Councillors appear mostly concerned in simply getting something, anything on the Arcade site. But most councillors seem to have given up caring what actually will go on - a cinema, a swimming pool, a hotel, a tower block - who cares as long as it gets built seemed to be the general attitude of Tory, Liberal and Labour councillors alike.

"The final resolution councillors voted on merely asked the cabinet to look at 'innovative ways to proceed'. We would much rather the council uses this opportunity to evaluate more carefully what will really work on the site now, and for many years to come; rather than just sign up whatever they can now. After all, what's a year or two more of an empty site after so many years?! A proper solution for the site would genuinely bring regeneration, wouldn't tower over the market and would bring a solution to the EMD/Granada cinema issue, rather than leaving it to rot."

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RESIDENTS DEMAND ANSWERS ON DELAYED TOWN CENTRE DEVELOPMENT

Walthamstow residents have called on the council to lift the veil of secrecy from the town centre development after a similar scheme in Hertfordshire collapsed last week.

St Modwen, London Borough of Waltham Forest Council’s preferred bidder to redevelop the old arcade site on the corner of Hoe Street and the High Street, last week pulled out of a scheme to redevelop Hatfield town centre in Hertfordshire after funding for the project fell through.

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council last week confirmed that plans for a brand new town centre would be scrapped after failing to attract £25m Government funding needed to make the project viable.

Fight The Height’s Barry Coidan said:

“All the economic and financial assumptions that underpinned the Arcade scheme have been shot to pieces. All we ask is that Waltham Forest Council tells its tax payers, in detail, with specifics, how the development of the Arcade site is affected by the current economic environment.”

Residents who have joined together to oppose the town centre development are now asking:
· By what date is St Modwen required to lay the planning application before Council?
· Is there scope for any extension?
· As a result of the current financial downturn are there any significant changes to the original outline proposal?
· If so what?
· If St Modwen withdrew what alternatives do the Council have in mind?
“We think these are reasonable questions,” Barry Coidan continued.
“Our councillors have no excuse for keeping us all in the dark.”
The Arcade site has been empty for a number of years and a previous scheme to build a library on the site fell though after a deal between Waltham Forest Council and developers collapsed.
Hoardings on the site claim that planning permission would be sought in Spring 2008 with work beginning a year later, but so far no application for planning permission has been made to Waltham Forest Council.Fight the Height argue that the planned 18 story tower block is unwanted and out of keeping with the surrounding area, and that current proposals for a huge Primark and multi-screen cinema will put independent traders out of business and destroy any hope of reopening the historic EMD cinema.

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Enough is Enough

On Radio 4s Today Program this morning Councillor Loakes made clear the Councils priorities;

"Its about protecting the quality and the offer of the town centre. ... Enough is Enough"

Hear, hear. We couldn't agree more.

Granted, he was talking about the council's takeaway outlet plan; ' Fastfood Undermining Can Kickstart - Universal Popularity', but nonetheless what is good for the Goose, should also be good for the Arcade Site, the EMD cinema and the Big Screen.

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St Modwen in the firing line

The proposed redevelopment of Hatfield town centre by St Modwen, was called into question at a fractious public meeting last week.

From the council there was;
"We can't produce something which we haven't got funding for."

and from St M we had;
"The project could be smaller than originally planned".
How much smaller was not divulged at the meeting, but if its dependent on the funding they haven't got, then possibly smaller like a cheap Lego model which has seen better days and is missing a quite few pieces.

Still, Hats off to Hatfield Council and St Modwen for standing up to be counted, and shouted at, which is a lot more than Waltham Forest have managed in recent months.

News on our own development is quieter than a hibernating tortoise, in a soundproof box [but with air holes in it], and in the race to wake up and do something useful I know who my money is on.

To read more about the Hatfield meeting go to;
http://www.whtimes.co.uk/content/whtimes/news/story.aspx?tbrand=HertsCambsOnline&tcategory=newslatestWHT&brand=WHTOnline&category=News&itemid=WEED05+Dec+2008+17%3a53%3a10%3a897

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Arcade site hoardings become that little bit more honest

We'd like to shake the hand of whoever made this new amendment to the Arcade site hoardings (and no, we honestly don't know who did it!).
By changing an R to a D, St Modwen has been outed as "The UK's leading degeneration specialist". We couldn't agree more. Signing a development agreement on a big site in the heart of Walthamstow, then leaving it as rubble potentially for years because of the recession, is really dragging down our area. It's literally a waste of space and it's about time the council did something else with the site.
The new improved hoardings are even better than when someone added a comment on a sticker a while back - after the caption "This image is indicative and does not resemble the final scheme" someone quite reasonably added "So what is the point of it?"
Anonymous graffiti people of Walthamstow, we salute you!

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Trashification and Zombification

Click on the picture above to view, in full, Rowan Moore's [Evening Standards Architecture Critic] castigation of the Olympic Big Screens, and the damage he believes they will do to urban public space. Click on the second picture to read Barry Coidan's letter to the Standard pointing out that contrary to LOCOGs [Largely Overpaid Consultants of Gibberish] claims about Big Screen popularity, no official consultation ever took place in Walthamstow, but all recent surveys suggest the Big Screen is decidedly Pasonica Non-Grata.

Interesting aside; 'Walthamstow' was not recognised by the Blogger Spell Check. It suggested 'Wealthiest' as an alternative. Not sure?!

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St Modwen Credit Crunched

"It's Credity and It's OOOhhh SOOooo Crunchy", but if you're a 'brownfield land development specialist' its not especially tasty.

Like lots of companies, which have to borrow heavily in order to make speculative investments, St Modwen are feeling the pinch. Their shares have fallen by over 50% in the last year and, as a result, its borrowings of £470 million are about £100 million more than its worth.

Back in July [before everything went the shape of pears] Bill Oliver [Chief Executive of St Modwen] said that "We will no longer sell any residential land because of a lack of buyers. We put four or five sites [Can't think where that might have been .. Ed.] on the market in spring time and found that national house builders were no longer bidding. There is long-term value there and so we won’t sell into a market that isn’t there".

Which suggests that, even back then, they were not likely to be investing in a large scale retail and residential development like the Arcade Site. In their most recent report to share holders [October 1st] they have said;

"The residential land market remains virtually non existent. We do not expect this market to recover for some time, and are planning our business accordingly."

to which they add, for good measure;

“Cash management and cost control are priorities at this time, and the necessary decisions are being taken to maintain the long-term potential of the business.”

Which, you would think, should put the kibosh on building a monstrous monument to the 'good old days' when credit was cheap, and more storeys meant fatter wallets.

Its not all doom and gloom for lovers of St Ms style in brownfield land grabs. No, even though they are;

"being very selective in the acquisition opportunities we pursue".

They will instead be pursuing

"a number of development agreement opportunities where the initial requirement is to put in our skills rather than cash."

Surely no council would be dumb enough to buy these skills, ......................would they?

Still, it would be interesting to know what LBWF are planing to do now. However, I fear we may be greeted as per, by a protracted silence, a whistling wind and a few tumble weeds rolling down the street [or litter, if the Kier contract is not quite 'embedded' in your street]

For all the latest St Modwen misery check out their FT slot

http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=uk%3ASMP

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One bit of River Lea saved from tower block hell

Seven Storey Tower Block - REFUSED
The council has refused an application for a horrid cluster of tower blocks.
Essex Wharf - three seven-storey blocks near Lea Bridge Road, would have overshadowed a beautiful section of the River Lea. It has been refused for various reasons: Its unsightly impact, dominating the landscape, the poor quality of the 'affordable' living accommodation, unsustainable local transport provision, and the negative environmental affects on the neighboring Lee Valley Regional Park. Of course the developers might well appeal the decision, but with the current property slump, fingers crossed that they don't!
There are a number of other towerblocks planned beside the Lea near Tottenham Hale and alongside the general Olympic (over)development that is fast transforming the riverside further south. We've won one battle....... but there's still a war going on.

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Big Shot Property Developer visits Walthamstow

"THE ARCHERS" [Radio 4] COME TO WALTHAMSTOW
Last week property developer Matt Crawford [normally found concreting over farmers fields in Ambridge, or converting the barns of struggling tenant farmers] paid a visit to Walthamstow. Ostensibly he was here to meet his real mother [he was adopted at birth], having tracked her down to an old people's home in The Stow. This first meeting didn't go very well, and to the strains of wailing sirens, the old girl told him he needn't bother visiting again.However, passing back through Walthamstow, wide-boy Crawford [no stranger to making a quick buck from forcing through unpopular and controversial developments] could not have failed to be impressed by the gargantuan tower block, gaudy cinema and hopeless retail development proposed for the Arcade Site by St Modwen. As the Dog Track faded into the distance, one can only assume that he was salivating at the opportunity, and maybe tempted to make another visit to see his long lost mum. Move over St. Modwen, the big boys from Borchester Land are in town.

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Queens Market go to City Hall

FtH representatives Barry and Anita supported the Friends of Queens Market [FoQM] outside City Hall where they were petitioning Boris. Here is Barry's report; embedded on the front line.

"A hard core of supporters gathered outside City Hall on a Wednesday morning. We were in good spirits, attracting the attention of busy office workers striding along the Thames walkway to begin their day's toil. When I arrived at 8:45 am a large crowd of Chinese tourists were happy snapping each other with Boris's Bunker as a backdrop. Anita my fellow FtH campaigner arrived shortly thereafter and we fell to discussing the joys and challenges of living in Walthamstow. Anita steadfastly held one end of FtH's banner – no idea who held the other.
The FoQM banner had been unfurled and stretched across a section of crowd barrier. As protesters we naturally stood behind it. By 9:15am a small, tight group of us were quietly explaining their concerns to interested passers by and to a couple of reporters from "The Guardian". They aim to visit the market and do a follow up piece.

Overhead a helicopter hovered and security guards, cleverly impersonating security guards, kept a watchful eye on our small knot of campaigners. Then the megaphone revv'd up, with FoQM organiser Pauline Rowe, quietly haranguing the seagulls and the Thames barges as they passed by.

Apparently the area around City Hall is a non leafleting zone. Surprisingly the FoQM banner stretched across the crowd barrier was classed as a leaflet so it had to be removed. Also we weren't allowed to hand out leaflets but if someone asked for one that was ok.

By 9:30 am, about 10 people had stopped to ask what we were doing there (and why weren't we in an office somewhere doing something useful). An attractive young woman asked me what's it all about and then went on to express her dismay at what was happening to Shepherd Bush with its massive shopping mall overhanging the Green there.

As Mayoral Question Time at 10 am drew near the FoQM activists were briefing and being briefed by their elected representatives. And then they marched in an orderly fashion into the beating heart of London's politics to hear Mayor Boris lay out his policy on dropping lumps of concrete haphazardly on London's thriving communities.

I'm afraid, having got up rather too early for me, your reporter sneaked off for a late breakfast before attempting the rest of the day's challenges."

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Ugly tower blocks... beautiful art!

Visit the E17 Art Trail 6-14 September to see dozens of local artists, many of them exhibiting either at home or in quirky locations. In particular, do check out two artists whose work is inspired by the Fight The Height anti tower block campaign:
Valeria Bateson has a window display at 25 West Avenue Road - the picture above left is part of her artistic exploration of the impact of tower blocks, present and potential, in our local area (open every day within daylight hours).
Alke Schmidt is one of many artists exhibiting in The State of the Borough 2008 at Wood Street Market, 98 Wood Street (open 10am-5pm most days; closed Thursdays and Sundays). The picture above right is part of a collage she's exhibiting. Oh and there's a rumour that our tomato-throwing antics from the June demo may be featuring in another artist's piece at the same exhibition... so you might be immortalised in a work of art!
For more info see the E17 Art Trail website.

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Fancy becoming a planning geek?!

Over years of campaigning, we've discovered that not only is it too late to fight developments when the bulldozers arrive, it's also sometimes too late when they apply for planning permission.
Why? Because months, often years, earlier the council has agreed a planning policy which sets in stone what will happen. For example, a policy might mark out a particular area for development, dictate what the housing density should be, maybe even state that a specific site is suitable for a tall building. Once a policy is agreed, it's extremely hard to fight applications that fit it.
So... if you like getting into the nitty-gritty of the policies that will shape Walthamstow over the coming years, check out the council's new online "consultation portal" where you can read draft documents and comment on them. Anyone can register to comment... so please do! (a couple of the consultations end Monday - but there will be others in the near future)
Hmm, sounds a bit boring - why should you?! Well, we can promise you that other interested parties - especially the big developers who are planning tower blocks for Walthamstow - will be all over the website leaving detailed comments. This is one of those times where we need to fight them at their own game.
Don't worry, we'll still be chaining ourselves to bulldozers too ;-)

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Comment on the Giant Telly

Democracy seemed absent in the decision to erect a giant telly in Walthamstow Town Square. But at least the BBC website is giving the public the chance to comment on the screen. It'll be interesting to see whether your opinions are published...!
Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens/get_involved.shtml to tell them what you think of it.

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March to Save Our Stow

Join the march on Saturday 16th August to try and save Walthamstow's world-famous dog track from housing developers. Meet outside the track at 12 noon for a march to Walthamstow town square.
For more on the campaign visit https://saveourstow.wordpress.com/
To sign the petition visit http://www.petitiononline.com/savestow/

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Council turns giant telly on

The "screen on the green" – the Olympic "Live Site" giant telly plonked on Walthamstow town square gardens, with the childrens' play area directly behind it, flickered into life today, after a last-minute planning hearing by the Waltham Forest Planning Committee. The committee agreed to 16 hours a day operation, seven days a week, 7am to 11pm, until at least the end of 2012.
Despite the Director of CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) calling the screens "intrusive" and suggesting our town square could become "an outdoors Currys", as well as fierce arguing from the Cleveland Park Residents' Association representative, a local dad and a Civic Society member, councillors rejected limiting the hours to "when something good is on" and also rejected a formal six-month review. Mainly due to "computer says no" counsel from two of Waltham Forest's Planning Officers.
Councillors did ask the Olympic arm of the council (the applicant in this case) for a (non-binding) six month review of how the screen was doing. And asked also that the review included local community representatives and ward councillors.
More news on the six-month review and how intrusive the screen is in action soon…

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Giant telly: object now!

ACT NOW if you object to the giant telly in Walthamstow Town Square broadcasting (with sound) 16 hours a day, every day of the year, for the next four years.
Please send a quick email to Rachel.Jagger@walthamforest.gov.uk with your objections. She must receive them by the morning of Tuesday 5th August for them to be considered by the planning committee that night.
The screen already has planning permission. That battle is lost. But the applicant (the council) was told to return to the planning committee with revised operating hours. Instead it has (rather arrogantly, in our opinion) sent a letter attempting to justify the original operating hours proposed. These are 7am-11pm - the screen would be broadcasting both video and sound for all those hours. And it wants to start on Friday 8th August!
The truth is, the contract with the BBC (as yet unsigned) insists on those hours. But there is no real justification for them. And plenty of reasons for concern.
Our proposal is that the hours are approved... but only for six months. That way the screen can prove itself through the Beijing Olympics and beyond. Or else our concerns will be proven to be valid. It's called giving them enough rope...
OBJECT NOW!
Below are two documents to download: a detailed objection that has been sent in by the Cleveland Park Residents' Association. Plus a template to make it easy for you to write your own objection letter/email. It basically says that you support the main points in the CPRA objection and then gives room for you to add your own comments/points (which is important - the council will take your letter far more seriously if you personalise it).
Deadline: morning of Tuesday 5th August at the very latest.
CPRA objection letter
Objection letter to personalise

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Giant telly - the fight continues

If the sight of the huge Olympics-funded telly in Walthamstow Town Square being built is hardening your resolve to fight the height... then good! We're going to need everyone to get involved when it comes to opposing the tower block plans.
Meanwhile, there is still something worth fighting regarding the screen. The screen got planning permission on two conditions. One that it was only until 2012. The other was that the insanely long proposed operating hours, of 7am-11pm every single day of the year, were rejected - the applicant (the council) had to return with revised hours.
And guess what? They have now applied for approval... with the exactly the same operating hours!
So... watch this space. We'll be posting details of how to object ASAP. Meanwhile the application number is 2008/1087/RSM if you want to check it out at the town hall for yourself.

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St Modwen posts £20m losses

If you heard a high-pitched sound on Tuesday, it was probably the world's smallest violin playing for Arcade developer St Modwen. Thanks to the property market collapse, it posted £20m losses for the first half of the year (last year it posted £65.1m profit in the same period). It has written £54.6m off its portfolio in what it describes as the worst period for the industry in almost 20 years.
Quoted in this Telegraph article, St Modwen says: "For residential land, there is currently no genuine market, as the major housebuilders are unwilling to invest in land until they can see the way ahead more clearly."
Meanwhile this BBC News story says that St Modwen is delaying its housebuilding plans in Longbridge. This comes just days after it announced it's delaying a development in Hatfield (see story below).
Again this suggests we will face delays (or maybe even get a reprieve - after all, St Modwen doesn't own the land yet) for the Arcade...

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St Modwen delays elsewhere, demands money from council

We'd already heard that St Modwen (the company behind the Arcade site plans) was delaying developments elsewhere. But the incredible news is that according to a local newspaper story St Modwen say their Hatfield town centre plans will be delayed by two or three years... unless they council makes "a substantial investment" to help make up for the flailing property market.
Is this the shape of things to come in E17? We've already seen written proof that Waltham Forest council is going to receive barely more in the St Modwen deal than the £4m they have already spent on the Arcade site. If they spend any more, they will have made a loss... in order to bring an unwanted tower blobk to our High Street.

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Boris advisor: Towers will not be allowed in inappropriate locations

Good news: We had feared that Boris Johnson was about to backtrack on his pre-election pledges to oppose tower blocks in low-rise suburban London. But yesterday his senior planning advisor Sir Simon Milton said tower blocks must fit into the "local context" and will not be allowed in inappropriate locations, even if they have "wow-factor architecture". He said Boris will favour "high-density development" but not necessarily "high rise".
Read the full story in the Evening Standard.

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ITV coverage of our demo

At last... here's the ITV coverage of our first demo (on 1st June). Sorry, it took ages for someone to find the time to do all the technical stuff to put it online! But if you haven't seen it already, it is worth the wait.
If the video is jerky then we recommend hitting play, then hitting pause for a moment, and then play again.

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Planning Magazine story

Planning Magazine recently ran a little diary piece on our June 1st demo, which you can read here. You need to subscribe to read the whole thing - or just click on "Read more..." below where we have pasted a copy of the story.

Diary - Planning, 13 June 2008
Developers got a fruity local response over retail plans for Walthamstow town centre last week.
More than 200 residents, using tomatoes supplied by local traders, pelted effigies of the developers behind plans for a major scheme in north-east London.
Residents and market traders are up in arms over St Modwen's proposals for an 18-storey tower, a Primark store and a Vue multiplex cinema. The site is directly next to Europe's longest daily open market.
"The development will cast a shadow over Walthamstow, devastate the market and kill off any hope of bringing back our cinema," says Caramel Quin, co-founder of the Fight the Height campaign. It is calling on the developers and the London Borough of Waltham Forest, which owns the site, to reconsider the proposals.
"This is being done to 'regenerate' the area, according to the council and St Modwen. If they won't reconsider, we'll be asking mayor Boris Johnson to call them in," Quin adds. Could this see the first test of Johnson's election pledge to veto tall buildings?

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Please help our sister campaign!

Friends of Queens Market are also fighting St Modwen, the developers behind the Walthamstow Arcade tower block plans. And they are fighting to save their own historic East End market (Queens Market in Upton Park) from being blighted as a result! In short, we have lots in common and we must help each other...
St Modwen has recently submitted a planning application for Queens Market. And it will see tower blocks of up to 30 storeys, while the market is halved in size. Increased rents for stallholders will mean collosal changes to this ethnically diverse market that helps huge numbers of families on low incomes eat healthy food. (Sound familiar? it'll be Walthamstow market that's threatened by St Modwen's next planning application!)
Anyway, FoQM have checked with Newham council, and it turns out that residents from other boroughs can send in objections to the plans. Please download the two files below, which make it very quick and easy to object, and SEND YOUR OBJECTION TODAY!
And when it's our turn to fight a planning application from St Modwen - which could be very soon indeed - we hope that the good people of Upton Park will return the favour.
Downloads:
FoQM objection info
Objection letter template

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Giant town square telly approved :-(

The bad news is that this week the council planning committee ignored public opinion (39 letters of objection and a number of public speakers) and approved plans for the Olympic-funded giant telly in Walthamstow Town Square, backing on to the children's play area.
The only tiny bits of good news are that...
1) Rather than being there forever, the screen only has planning permission from this summer till summer 2012, after the London Olympics. So if it's unpopular, too loud, vandalised or otherwise a failure then we can hope the council won't grant planning permission for it to stay.
2) The insanely long operating hours of 7am till 11pm every day of the year were not approved. Instead the applicant will have to come up with revised operating hours and return to the planning committee with them for approval. So we will have the opportunity to lobby for shorter hours (i.e. only switch it on when there's something genuinely worth watching!) and for the sound to only be switched on when appropriate. This would also result in energy savings - by our estimates, the screen would have the same carbon footprints as 59 households if switched on for the proposed 18 hours a day.
Oh, and finally, one councillor made a big thing of the fact that there weren't many people in the public gallery - suggesting that this meant no-one cared! We don't really see why people should have to spend their evening watching a council meeting, at which they're not allowed to speak, in order to prove that they care. But if this is the way that the councillors see it (i.e. they might have even voted differently if they had a bigger audience) then it's essential that a huge number of us turn up when it comes to the planning applications for tower blocks in Blackhorse Road, the Arcade site, etc.

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