The vote at LBWF was on party lines with the Labour Group, who have a majority of one including the chair, voting in favour of housing on this site. Despite very strong arguments (see LVF report of meeting) including a waterways expert (Del Brenner) who described the Lea as one of a handful of strategic waterways in the UK, pointing out that this was a key Leaside site, the decision had clearly been made before the meeting began. Only one of the Labour councillors who were members of the committee spoke and the Chair made it clear there was no other option. Cllr Pye (Cabinet Member for Housing) made it very clear that the objective was to cram in more housing because a tiny number of flats would be available to people on the council's housing waiting list.
Despite both public galleries being full, some very strong arguments from objectors including the Lea Valley Regional Park, all opposition was ignored and this important gateway site to Walthamstow Marshes will now be ruined by 4 blocks of 5 to 7 storey blocks for 124 residential units. One very powerful argument (put by LVRPA's representative) was that Essex Wharf is not on the edge of the park but in the middle, totaly surrounded by the the park.
Conservative Councillor Alan Siggers revealed that the section 106 agreement (planning gain, basically a bribe but legal) is worth £1.2m. Hackney and the LVRPA share about 10% of this. Considering most of the problems resulting from the site (traffic generation, schooling, etc. etc.) will be borne in Hackney not Waltham Forest this seems very unfair. The prime concern of the Labour councillors appeared to be housing the homeless but it is absurd to believe, given the huge scale of the local housing crisis, that a very small number of units, many let on an equity shared basis and therefore out of the reach of the poorest, will have any impact in a borough where the committee was told there are 16,000 on the housing waiting list.
SPECIFIC SCHEMES 5 Land Disposal-- This is a one off capital receipt from the sale of land at Essex Wharf.
Appendix A (Capital Programme) reveals that the sale raised £150k for LVRPA (about the same amount LVRPA is wasting on the new stables).
