Writing to local faith groups

 I wrote to four local faith groups yesterday per the below

stopthetescotoxictowers.blogspot.com

Andy Walker                                                                             

120 Blythswood Road

IG3 8SG 

07956 263088 andy.walker@talk21.com @andywalker1945

 

                                                                                                                                    28^th January 2022

 

Dear

Homebase High Rise Development – request that you host a meeting

I am part of a loose coalition of like minded people across political parties campaigning against over development per the attached leaflet about the Tesco development.

The Homebase development was passed by Sadiq Khan on the 24^th January 2022. An appeal can be made to Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State responsible for housing per the attached letter from Keith Prince AM. To be clear, I do not speak for Keith Prince or anyone else pictured in the attached leaflet.

It is a very high bar for the Secretary of State to call in an application, the key ground being it is of national importance. Should your faithful be sympathetic, I would like to meet with them to discuss why this application is of national importance and why your faithful should also write to the Secretary of State.

Should you wish to hold a meeting, I will contact other campaigners who are part of the coalition in the hope of getting a cross party platform of speakers.

 

Tesco Development

The decision for this development is to be made by Sadiq Khan shortly and I would like to discuss this development too.

 

Regards

 

Andy Walker

Redbridge Trade Union Party

Standing in elections for the Trade Union & Socialist Coalition

Enc Letter from Keith Prince & 2021 leaflet

Letter from Keith Prince AM to Secretary of State

email: keith.prince@london.gov.uk                                                                    Our ref: KP/FG Date: 26 January 2022

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities   Via email: publiccorrespondence@cabinetoffice.gov.uk       c.c.: pcu@communities.gov.uk

Dear Secretary of State

 

Request for call-in of Planning Application

Former Homebase Retail Warehouse, 706-720, High Road, Goodmayes

London Borough of Redbridge – Ref: 0680/21

 

As the London Assembly Member for Havering and Redbridge I am writing to urgently request that you call-in or direct refusal of the above application.

 

This follows the decision of the London Borough of Redbridge to approve this application on 22 July 2021, subsequent referral to the Mayor of London, and the Mayor’s decision on 24 January 2022 to allow Redbridge Council to proceed with granting the application.

 

The scheme has received significant objections from local residents, a number of local community groups, the London Wildlife Trust and the borough’s own conservation officer.  It raises a number of national planning policy issues, including heritage, the economy, design and character, infrastructure, and housing need and choice, which would merit your intervention and further consideration.

 

The proposal, at up to 20 storeys, would tower over the surrounding area, harming the character and amenities of the surrounding low-rise suburban area, as well as the local townscape along the High Road.  Not only would this cause unacceptable overshadowing to a number of neighbouring properties, it would also fail to supply sufficient daylight and sunlight to future occupiers of the new development. T he design of the scheme would be fundamentally at odds with the traditional architecture in the surrounding area.

 

The type of housing proposed would be overwhelmingly one and two bedroom properties, with just 11% of the new homes having three bedrooms.  This would fail to provide sufficient housing choice to families, especially in view of London’s significant long-term overcrowding problem, where at least 8% of homes are considered overcrowded.  The borough’s housing officer noted in their response that that they “would wish to see 4 bed flats and more 2 bedroom/4 person and 3b/6p flats, rather than 2b/3p and 3b/5p as provided.”  The scheme would also fail to supply a sufficient level of children’s play space as required in the London Plan.

 

As noted by the borough’s conservation officer in their objections, the scheme would cause harm to several important heritage assets in close proximity to the site.  These include St Cedd’s Church, Al-Ihsaan Academy and the Bungalow Estate conservation area.  It would also adversely impact the local Gurdwara.

 

The site was designated in the Local Plan as suitable for a major retail development of 2,500 sqm, along with a smaller housing development of 179 units.  The current scheme, being predominantly housing with a much smaller commercial provision, would therefore harm the local economy and represent an unacceptable loss of retail use to this area.  This would be further exacerbated when considering the cumulative effects of a similar local scheme at the Tesco Extra site in Goodmayes (local ref: 4309/19). Indeed, the scale of development proposed in this area would pose significant challenges to local infrastructure, without sufficient mitigation to meet these impacts.

 

In addition to this, the lack of car parking provision in this scheme would create substantial overspill problems for the local road network, with adverse consequences for traffic, congestion, air quality and local amenity.

 

For the above reasons I would therefore urge you to give immediate and urgent consideration to calling-in this scheme or directing refusal in order to avoid these severe impacts to the local area.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keith Prince AM