The Conservative Councillor who spoke revealed that the section 106 agreement which has been offered to the council as planning gain 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 unreasonable. 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 equity 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. On 4 Jan 2011, at 22:02, ADRIAN STANNARD wrote: WALTHAM FOREST CIVIC SOCIETY The Planning Committee this evening voted 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 from the Tories and Lib Dem the decision had clearly been made before the meeting began. Only one of the 3 Labour councillors spoke and the Chair made it clear there was no other option. Cllr Pye (Cabinet Member for Housing) made it very clear that any sort of housing was acceptable. 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. This does not bode well for the Walthamstow Station Car Park development with at least 84 residential units and the Arcade site with at least the same number which still have to come before the Planning Committee. A sustainable community is not one which just lives in flats, but one that has space to move around, can go to school and has access to medical treatment. There is a desperate shortage of Primary School places in Walthamstow and that has just got a whole lot worse now that the Labour group have decided housing is paramount over all other considerations.