Willowfield Planning brief ignores residents views

Back in March BAG organised a well attended public meeting about the propsed Willowfield school development. At that meeting Cllr Robbins promised to convey to cabinet the unanimous opposition of all stakeholders (residents and parents and teachers) to plans for the school to be higher than 3 stories, and for housing either next to or above the school.

On Wednesday 19th May the Planning Brief for the Willowfield school development will be presented for approval by the cabinet and surprise, surprise THAT PROMISE HAS BEEN BROKEN.

Planning brief (PDF) / Summary of responses (PDF)

The glossy planning brief (see above) talks about the potential opportunity to:
“incorporate residential accommodation above the school building on the Blackhorse Road frontage.”

It also fails to mention the absolute opposition to a towerblock school, instead noting: “the potential to create a dramatic gateway or landmark development”

“It is anticipated that the main built element of the school could be three-storeys or more in height. Locating the higher elements towards the northern edge of the site will limit any impact upon the more sensitive residential uses to the south”

BAG have written to Cllr Robbins and other members of the council to register the anger of residents and parents at their views being ignored – the letter is below:

To contact Cllr Robbins: email or Tel: 020 8496 4841

Dear Cllr Robbins

Re: Item 6 – Blackhorse Rd development / Willowfield School

I write on behalf of Blackhorse Action Group, the Residents Association which covers 2000 homes in the Hawarden Rd, Blackhorse Rd, Edward Rd, and adjoining areas.
Blackhorse Action Group is extremely disappointed to note that the strongly expressed views of residents, parents, and school authorities, have been totally ignored, particularly in relation to the two most central issues of not allowing a high rise school, or housing on the site.
We therefore urge cabinet members to reject the paper outright.

As you know, BAG organised a well attended public meeting on this issue at Willowfield school during the consultation period on the draft planning brief. The meeting was attended by numerous council officials, and by cabinet members Cllr Chris Robbins and Cllr Terry Wheeler.

In response to the evident strong feelings on the part of all stakeholders (residents, parents and teachers), and unanimous opposition to housing on the site and to any high rise development, Cllr Robbins promised our meeting that he would convey to cabinet this unanimous opposition of all stakeholders (residents and parents and teachers), and reassured us these were a ”very unlikely scenario’.  Cllr Terry Wheeler made similar soothing noises.

So we are extremely dismayed to see that instead,  the report which Cllr Robbins presents to cabinet for approval:
1. omits the key concerns raised by residents – see section 6.6 of the covering report, which supposedly lists residents concerns raised, but doesn’t mention either ‘height’ or ‘housing’, which were the two overwhelming concerns (alongside travel) raised by residents, parents, and school, with all sides expressing total opposition to high rise schools, and to housing on the site.
2. ignores the total opposition of all stakeholders and explicitly leaves the door open for housing – section 3.3 (7) of the planning brief states “There may be an opportunity to incorporate residential accommodation above the school building on the Blackhorse Road frontage.”
3. far from saying that it is a ‘very unlikely scenario’ as councillors have assured all concerned local stakeholders, actually seems to suggest the case for the school is actually contingent on housing going ahead:

“The vision for the proposed new site, set out in the Interim Planning Policy Framework (IPPF) is for residential development. It is recognised that the development of a school on the site could be viewed as an alternative use to that which is stipulated within the IPPF. As such, the Brief recognises the potential to incorporate an element of housing within the proposed scheme, although this would be dependent on site constraints etc. The proposed new school will also provide a range of uses, including the use of the building outside of school hours as a community hub and provision of 55 post-16 places. The development will retain a broad range of functions that will fully utilise its value. Furthermore, mixed use development opportunities should be investigated within the redevelopment of the existing Willowfield School site, as a means of addressing any loss of mixed use opportunity. Accordingly it is considered that a strong case can be made to support development of the site for a new school.”

4. lists only ‘site constraints’ as a possible reason for not having housing there, ignoring the overwhelming concerns that stakeholders expressed at the meeting around safety, education, and simple common sense that this is a very bad idea!
5. explicitly leaves the door open for high rise, stating (section 5.19 of the planning brief report) that the building ‘could be three stories OR MORE’ (my emphasis), ignoring again the overwhelming opposition from all stakeholders to such plans.
6. On transport, outlines 3 random key options which appear to have been constructed without any direct input from residents.
In other words the report seems to have ignored our key concerns.

We hope that the submission of a planning brief which the council is well aware does NOT reflect the strongly held views of – or promises made to – all key stakeholders, is just an oversight by the relevant councillors and officials.

We ask that the planning brief be withdrawn and revised so that it explicitly does not permit high rise development (which would be totally out of keeping with the historic and low rise character of the area, and would provide a poor learning environment as well as impacting negatively on residents and on protected and very environmentally sensitive areas).
We further ask that it is revised so that it explicitly acknowledges that housing on such a site would be considered unsuitable given its new proposed use and the amount of space available, and that policies which seem to neccessitate housing are in fact subject to, and likely to be, revised so they don’t any longer (as the consultant said at our meeting).
We are aware this report is early stages, but guidance on mass (eg height) and use (eg housing) are in fact clearly stated as key parts of the planning brief and the brief has ignored our comments totally on both.

If the council insist on approving this planning brief, which they are well aware does NOT reflect the views of consultees, we will work to ensure the plan is referred to both the GLA and the government office for london and to further mobilise opposition.

BAG feels strongly that all residents, including our children, have the right to good quality, suitably designed services that meet local needs and involve local service users throughout their design process.  The current planning brief and report before you seem to actively oppose this vision.
Yours sincerely

Michael Leigh
Chair, BAG