I, like T. E. Pettitt, writing in the October 14 issue on Spitalfield Market, was completely taken in by the Labour turn around, and, likewise, did not think it necessary to organise a petition of residents to oppose this development.

The members of Etioe, Simonds, and Wiseman Roads residents' association, campaigned for a freight road which would alleviate the traffic problems in Church Road, Oliver Road, and side roads, caused by increased industrial development.

The planning committee, recognising the problem, voted unanimously that the freight road be urgently pursued, and this was endorsed by full council, which eventually faded into obscurity when money was mentioned.

It is unbelievable, therefore, that after recognising this problem, the same councillors supported a development of six day working round the clock with provision for parking 1,800 vehicles-- a development which would entail heavy lorries and juggernuats operating through the night, lifting the GLC lorry ban, which was designed to give some respite to residents who have to endure this problem all day long.

Only the Liberals made a case for the residents. It was noticeable that the Leyton labour councillors, who we only expect to see at election times, were not present to argue a case on an issue which would have a devasting environmental effect on the residents they represent.

The arguments made by both parties in support were ludicrous, i.e. that the only problem would be the traffic between the unsocial hours, and that most of Spitalfields traffic were already operating in these roads.

The objection by Newham Council that it would close Stratford Market, thus transferring the traffic to this side of Romford Road, was not considered, or conveniently ignored.

The classic example was that the development, ready by 1988, would link up with the M11, which according to our local MP would not be ready until 1996.

I have reservations on the number of local jobs which will be created, in a move three miles across London. The deep concern must be the effect of this additional traffic on the viability of local industry continuing in this area.

K. CHAPLIN, Levton.

What is not generally known is that the scheme endorsed by the council's Planning Committee and put forward by the Spitalfields Development Group is only one of a number of such schemes now being floated by property developers.

None of these can go ahead before an Act of Parliament is enacted to allow the present Spitalfields Market to move to a new site, which well may take some time.

What all these development companies have in common is a desire to "cash in" on the release of a prime area of land near the new financial centre of the City of London. Their concern and interest for what happens in Leyton is minimal. They are engaged in the perfectly legal business of exploiting supply and demand.

But Labour councillors are expected to have other yardsticks. For them to accept such a scheme on conditions that some double glazing be offered to residents on the line of the traffic generated by the market, plus a few minor improvements and an indeterminate small number of jobs, is astonishing.

I asked the Labour members on the Planning Committee to read their 1986 Labour manifesto and the section headed "Labour's aims for the environment."

The only way this new market could meet that criteria is if the new M11 link road was tunnelled through Leyton, as proposed by the Link Road Action Group, and then the market was constructed to fit in with it.

I see that Labour councillor John Walsh has also questioned another decision by the Planning Committee to agree that the old Leytonstone football ground be used for housing, when we have such little open space in that area of the borough.

Councillors, you say in your Labour manifesto on "parks" that "we will look for opportunities to provide such simple amentities." Well -- what about Leytonstone F.C. Football Ground?

Now I know that Labour councillors want to do their best for local people, despite problems of cash shortages and ratecapping, but please look at your manifesto again on "Labour's approach to planning." What about community involvement in the decision making?

All of which begs the question -- should short term and sectional considerations take precedence over wider public concerns, including the environment? Please take these questions to local people.

JIM YOUELL, Secretary, Leyton Communist Party.

YOU published in last week's Waltham Forest Guardian a letter from Mr Petitt of 7 Ruckholt Road, about the Spitalfield's planning application.

Mr Pettit said: "I made a point of seeing Harry Cohen MP briefly last Thursday evening ... he said "I am sorry I wouldn't know what to advise you. I honestly wouldn't ..."

He went on to describe me as ... "an MP who can't give us any advice."

Mr Pettitt collared me as I was leaving a local public meeting, and I had to pursue my Parliamentary commitments, but I then did take time to explain that the local council's Planning Committee has delegated powers regarding planning approvals and that once made these were not reversible.

I advised him, however, to continue his campaign and gave him examples of cases where planning approval was subsequently not pursued by the applicant because of the strength of public feeling.

That weekend I noticed an article in the Observer that said an Act of Parliament may be needed for the change of site of Spitalfields.

I made enquiries the next day of the House of Commons Library and notified Mr Pettitt that I was following this line of inquiry and that there may still be opportunities for public representations to be made on this matter.

I then received his letter containing the slurs I have mentioned and feel somewhat aggrieved that he has misrepresented my position and my advice to him. I had previously sent to the planning chairman Mr Pettitt's protest petition immediately I received it. I also made quite clear to him my position on Spitalfields (via a copy of my letter to the planning applicants), that whilst welcoming the new jobs involved, I am very concerned at the effect of the increased traffic on local residents in the current proposal. It is plainly ludicrous to regard this as a failure to help constituents.

HARRY COHEN, MP for Leyton.

WALTHAM Forest Council is sticking to its guns over plans to move Spitalfields Market to Leyton, despite massive public protest.

But opposition councillors at last Thursday's council meeting described the move as an "environmental disaster for Leyton."

Alliance councillor Bob Sullivan condemned the plans to move the bustling market from the City to Tempie Mills Works -- the former engineering works and railway land in Ruckholt Road.

And he criticised the Labour councillors who, he said, had failed to listen to public opinion.

"What really annoys me is that this Labour Party prattles on about giving locals a say in the decision that affect their lives and yet not one resident has been asked their opinion," he said.

"They're pure hypocrites."

Mr Sullivan also disputes the promise of valuable jobs for local residents.

"The idea that it will create jobs is a fallacy. The traders will bring their own workers with them," he said.

Traffic would also worsen as a result of the new market, he added.

"The traffic is already bad there and this move will mean there will be heavy traffic on the road from the early hours until mid-afternoon, six days a week."

Planning implementation committee chairman Richard Slack denied claims that the public had not been approached.

"There was an exhibition for four days at Leyton Town Hall and the plans were advertised frequently in the press, so it is very difficult to see what further one could have done," he said.

Labour councillor Bill Dennis told the Guardian last week, that the decision had been forced on them as they could not oppose the plans on environmental grounds.

A government circular had been sent round saying environmental hazards could not be considered at the expense of new jobs, he said.

Council took 'best option' on market

A TOP councillor has answered his critics after howls of protest over the controversial plan to move Spitalfields Market to Leyton.

Through the Guardian, Councillor Richard Slack, chairman of Waltham Forest Planning Implementation Committee, stands by the council's decision to grant planning permission for siting of the market at Temple Mills,

Opposition councillors have described the move as an "environmental disaster for Leyton".

Mr Slack points out that consent was granted, subject to agreements being signed to secondary glazing long the A106 and to provide help in providing workshop accommodation.

He says that any appeal against the council NOT granting consent would have been successful, according to council officers.

"The consequence of this could have been that we wouid have got the market but without any planning gain i.e. without the secondary glazing and this was too serious to risk."

Another plan put forward to try to move the market to Stratford which, if successful, could mean Leyton getting the traffic and not the economic benefit, says Mr Slack.

If Temple Mills were not developed as the market, it's likely fate would be to be developed as a hypermarket by a retail consortium, says Mr Slack, as the council does not own the site and will never be in a position to do so.

And he fears not only would this generate traffic, but have' a "devastating effect" on any attempts to revive shopping in Leytonstone or at the Baker's Arms.

Mr Slack claims his committee did not have an easy decision but took the best option available.

He disputes allegations that the item was discussed as an "emergency", "In fact it was one month over the standard eight-week period in which determination should take place."

And he refutes the claim there was no consultation.

"The four day exhibition in Leyton Town Hall was widely advertised and visited and comments made were reported to committee."

I AM very grateful to Harry Cohen (MP for Leyton) and Councillor Jo Brind for making it clear just how little Leyton will benefit from Spitalfields Market arriving on our doorstep.

The double glazing and all the road repairs are only necessary because 150 lorries will thunder down our roads every night on their way to Spitalfields.

Even then it was only the intervention of the three Liberal councillors for Leyton, Simon Banks, Bob Sullivan and myself, that ensured all of the properties most severely affected by the market would be offered secondary glazing.

Dozens of houses in Ruckholt Close and Dunedin Road were neglected by Mr Cohen in the "deal" he did with the City and their developers.

What is most shocking, however, is just how cheap Mr Cohen and the Labour councillors were to buy off.

The so-called benefits offered to Leyton will cost the developers less than £¹/2m. Compare this with the £7m-plus offered to the market traders to persuade them to move-- or the £100,000 offered to every trader in the present Stratford Market to convince them that Spitalfields moving to Leyton would be in their interests. Leyton was, indeed, sold very cheap.

Where Councillor Brind is right, is in saying that the Liberals fought the market all the way. We fought in Waltham Forest Council and we fought in the House of Lords, where we came close to winning.

How Councillor Brind can say we did not have the City on the run is beyond me us he did not once come to the House of Lords to support the ordinary Leyton people we were representing. Like all his Labour colleagues including Harry Cohen Councillor Brind deserted the people who elected him.

Finally, both Mr Cohen and Councillor Brind mention the Labour council's strict litter control. Surely this is some sort of joke?

Neither of them can have walked down Leyton High Road recently and seen the piles of litter along its whole length. There is no litter control in this borough and nor will there be while Labour rules in Waltham Forest.

DAVID WORSFOLD (Cllr),
Liberal,
Leyton Ward.

THE Spitalfields Development Group is expected to start work on providing secondary glazing for 650 plus homes in surrounding roads, next July.

Waltham Forest planning chiefs hope to "bring the date forward but whatever, expect secondary glazing in place before the wholesale market starts operating in November,

The move provides some of the first tangible evidence of the success of the council's policy of negotiation instead of confrontation, says Jo Brind, the Council's Planning Committee chair.

All in all the Group is expected to contribute more than £2m improving the local environment and creating jobs.

Overall benefits include £680,000 for a new signal controlled junction on Ruckholt Road; £350,000 to provide a workshop to start up businesses, as well as £450,000 for insulation and secondary glazing of local housing.

The company has also agreed to make a contribution-- possibly £450.000 towards the financing and construction of a sheltered housing scheme in Dames Road, Leytonstone.

Other important cash benefits are; £30,000 to landscape part of Leyton Marshes, near Temple Mills, £45,000 for a weighbridge, and agreed purchase of a 600 metre long strip of land from British Rail to be given to the council.

Locals get fruits
of veg market

DEVELOPERS have agreed to spend £2.1 million in compensation for building the new Spitalfields vegetable market in Leyton.

The cash will be spent on extra glazing for hundreds of residents, environmental improvements and a job-training scheme.

The developer, SDG Ltd, has also agreed to contribute thousands of pounds to a sheltered housing scheme proposed by Leyton MP Harry Cohen.

All the details of the package were included in a special, binding agreement ratified at last Wednesday's meeting of Waltham Forest Council's planning committee meeting.

Committee chairman Jo Brind said the deal vindicated the council's decision to approve the development, on the old waggon works site at the Temple Mills rail yards.

"There was no way we could s1987 Spitalfields Market moving in," he said. "But we ensured we got the best deal for people living in Leyton."

The deal includes:
* Secondary glazing to offset extra noise for more than 650 homes-- £450,000.
* A new signal-controlled junction in Ruckholt Road and a lorry weighbridge-- £725,000.
* A sheltered housing scheme for elderly people in Dames Road, Leytonstone £450,000.
* A small business workshop £450,000.

The developers will also buy a strip of land from British Rail and donate it to the borough for a footpath alongside the River Lea.

Further environmental improvements will cost £25,000, while a training scheme for six local employees will add £80,000 to the bill.

SDG plans to start work on the glazing work next summer and has pledged that it will be complete when the market opens for business in November 1990.

David Callaghan reports on the Spitalfields development

WORK on the huge indoor Spitalfields Market at Temple Mills, near Leyton, is well underway.

Traffic on Ruckholt Road is already being diverted through cones as the workmen have started laying the controversial market's concrete foundations.

Residents living in Ruckholt Road and Ruckholt Close had opposed plans to move the wholesale market from a site near Liverpool Street to Leyton.

But the developers won the day and the spitalfields Market Bill now only needs Royal Assent, after passing through Parliament. Waltham Forest Council has already agreed the detailed plans.

When the market is finished around the end of 1990 or the beginning of 1991, it will take up 366,000 sq ft in total. A car park, the main market, administrative offices and catering facilities for the traders will all be built.

Some concessions were wrung from the developers, such as double glazing for more than 600 residents to shield them from the noise of delivery lorries thundering past.

Council planning chairman Jo Brind has applauded the Spitalfields Development Group for "contributing more than £2.1m to improve the local environment and create jobs".

This cash injection includes:

• £680,000 for a new signal controlled junction on Ruckholt Road;

• £350,000 to provide a workshop to help start up businesses;

• £450,000 for the secondary glazing.

Funds will also be provided for:

• A sheltered housing scheme in Dames Road;

• Efforts to landscape part of Leyton Marshes, near Temple Mills;

• A weighbridge to ensure there are no overweight vehicles;

• Some landscaping around the shopping centre in Grove Green Road;

• A footpath along the River Lea between Leyton Marsh and Lea Bridge Golf Course, which is of special nature conservation interest.The developers have agreed to sponsor training for six local employees on site and help to pay for a council-run training scheme.

by Chris Watson

LONDON'S famous Spitalfields fruit and vegetable market has taken one step closer towards its new home in Leyton.

Last week the City Corporation's Policy Committee approved the move of the historic market, part of the London scene for 300 years, to the 30-acre site in Temple Mills.

Now there are two more hurdles left to overcome before the market, with its promise of hundreds of jobs and prospering for the local economy, comes to Waltham Forest. :

Next month the Policy Committee's decision will have to be ratified by the Corporation's Court of Common Council. If this is granted the City Corporation will call for a Bill in Parliament giving it permission to move the market. But this' could take another year and it would be 1989 before the market came to roost.

Last year Waltham Forest Council granted planning permission for the 300,000 sq ft building which will house the market, amid fears from residents nearby that the market would be an environmental nuisance.

The council managed to build into the contract provision for 600 homes in the Ruckholt Road and Grove Green Road areas to have secondary glazing, in an attempt to quell the alarm.

But fears have also come from market traders in neighbouring Newham, whose council fought hard to get the market to Stratford.

They claim that Stratford will be unable to compete on fair terms with the larger and more efficient Spitalfields.

Arthur Hutchinson, Chairman of the Market Traders Association, believes that both Leyton and Stratford can only benefit from the move.

He said residents in Leyton would be surprised how little noise the market would create-and said it would be "no noisier than Orient on a Saturday-afternoon."

He knew nothing of plans. to reduce disturbances to local residents by installing secondary glazed windows.

Said Mr Hutchinson: "We have been at the present site for over 300 years and we got on very well with our neighbours."

He went on to issue a welcome to Stratford traders worried that they could be put out of a job. They were welcome to trade under the same roof, as they could only benefit from the expertise of the Spitalfield's traders.

In the long run, he said, they would all end up in the same place.

Waltham Forest Economic Development Chairman Chris Dunn also welcomed the move and said: "I think the council's planners should. be congratulated on their part in bringing a major job creating opportunity to Waltham Forest.

"Although at first the market will bring many of its 1,100 jobs with it, there are bound to be many chances there for local people in time.

"There will be substantial spin-offs for local firms.

"I believe the new market will be a major boost for the economy in the Leyton area, where unemployment is particularly high."

AT an extraordinary annual general meeting last Thursday, members of the Spitalfields Market Tennants Association voted unanimously in favour of moving to an improved site.

The overwhelming support given to relocation plans is just in time for the Corporation policy and resources committee which meets on September 10 to decide the future of Spitalfields.

Three schemes have been proposed for the site-- two involve relocating the market and the other plans to keep the market at its present site but 10 metres below ground.

Traders stressed that a new site must be well served by modern road links and provide improved facilities.

Speaking after the meeting, chairman Arthur Hutchinson said: "My members and fellow traders have at all times expressed an enthusiasm for relocation to an acceptable site."

He added. "I hope the overwhelming support is seen as positive encouragement to the Corporation who are currently considering plans for the market."

AROUND 600 local homes will soon be double-glazed for free to protect them from noisy fruit and veg lorries.

The offer is part of a package agreed with Waltham Forest Council when it gave developers planning permission to relocate Spitalfields Market.

The 300-year-old market is expected to move to Temple Mills, Leyton, in December.

Now the council is writing to residents along the A106 link through Leyton and Leytonstone, inviting them to apply for double glazing or other noise insulation worth up to £1,500.

The developers also agreed other measures to lessen the impact of the new market on local people and the environment, including a grant of £350,000 to start up workshops for small businesses, a new junction from the market site into Ruckholt Road and landscaping for the area.

Further concessions were granted on Leyton MP Harry Cohen's insistence when the Bill allowing the market to move went before Parliament.

Under the new deal, Spitalfields will now operate a training scheme for 10 per cent of all employees on the site, put £25,000 into environmental improvements at Grove Green shopping centre, and contribute to the cost of a sheltered housing scheme in the Leyton area.

01-527 5544 Ext 6310

Ptease quote ref PPI/DAJ/59/24

Date 13th March 1990

Dear Councillor Brind

SPITALFTELDS VEGETABLE MARKET : "DOUBLE GLAZING"

Further to my letter dated 4th January 1990, please find enclosed a copy of the letter (and enclosures) being sent out this week to the 515 households which have given preliminary indication of interest in noise insulation.

As regards other works along the A106 trunk road, perhaps I could draw to your attention the following:-

a) work on the new junction into the Market is now substantially completed;

b) work has now started on the special maintenance work along Grove Green Road, Warren Road, and Ruckholt Road, which will reduce noise and vibration caused by traffic using the road. This is expected to be finished next month;

c) work is also under way on the environmental improvements at the local shopping centre in Grove Green Road: this will also finish next month;

d) work will start towards the end of next month on environmental improvements in the Leyton High Road shopping centre;

e) re-painting the railway bridge over Grove Green Road will start shortly.

Yours sincerely,

Robert W Bennett

Chief Planner

01-527 5544 Ext 6310

Ptease quote ref PPI/DAJ/59/24

Date 2 April 1990

Dear Councillor Brind

SPITALFTELDS VEGETABLE MARKET : "DOUBLE GLAZING"

Further to my letter of 13th March 1990 (and following on from the Royal Assent to the Spifcalfields Market Bill), there has been progress in recent weeks on various items which you may wish to note.

The Spitalfields Development Group has now made payments to the Council under various headings in the agreements which have been made with the authority. These payments are:

(a) £350,000 towards the workshop scheme under way at Brunner Road, E17

(b) £450,000 to the sheltered housing scheme to be built by East London Housing Association at Dames Road, E7

(c) £45,000 for a weighbridge (for use for enforcement work against overweight vehicles) and towards environmental improvements in the Grove Green Road shopping centre

(d) £81,000 for a training scheme for 'market-related' jobs to be run by the Economic Development Unit.

The noise insulation contractor - Alpine Double Glazing - has now been selected by the developer, and approved by officers on the Council's behalf under the terms of the legal agreement . Six companies were invited to tender, and four submitted full bids; the Alpine tender was the lowest, at about £1,300 per unit.

The noise insulation exhibition was held over four days last week at the Leyton Assembly Hall and was attended by about 380 residents. The exhibition comprised two sections - one from this office dealing with the principles of the scheme, and the other provided by Alpine showing the types of windows available, Venetian blinds and the ventilator unit.

The exhibition was successful in the sense that it gave people a good general idea as to what is on offer, although necessarily there will be considerable variation between one property and another. We remain concerned that many residents are under the impression that they were to be offered replacement outer windows, and that the secondary inner windows in the scheme are somehow inferior.

To clarify the position - replacement double glazed windows of the types which are widely advertised are principally designed to provide thermal insulation. Effective noise insulation is achieved by having a wide air gap between panes of glass - hence the secondary windows.

As at today's date we have received some 270 acceptances of the Council's offer of noise insulation-- Alpine's surveyors have been in the area for some two weeks now, 'measuring up' individual properties, and the first installations are expected in the second week in May.

Yours sincerely,

Robert W Bennett

CHIEF PLANNER

Further to my letter of 2nd April about the Council's offer of noise insulation to properties along the A106 trunk road, you may wish to note that up to the deadline on 11th April we had received acceptances from a total of 395 households. This figure represents some 76% of the households who had expressed preliminary interest in the scheme, slightly higher than the response rate to similar noise insulation schemes elsewhere in the borough.

These acceptances have now been passed on to the contractor (Alpine Double Glazing) whose surveyors will be visiting all the properties concerned in the next few weeks.

Under the terms of the legal agreement with the Council, the developer is required to complete the noise insulation before the market opens, which is now likely to be in November.