OTHER REPORTS ON THE PROTEST

Walthamstow Guardian coverage as “600 residents protest at council plans”

McGuffins organised the vigil and took pictures on the night

BBC News report on “Fight to save Hitchcock cinema”

Telegraph piece on the fight to “save cinema where Alfred Hitchcock saw first films”

The Independent tell the story of “Hitchcocks Old Gem”

This Is London report on protests to stop church that believes “illnesses are caused by “demons” that must be exorcised”

The London Paper on the “council’s desperate to rush the plan through”

MORE NEWS ON EMD FIGHT
The Archipelago of Truth accuses local politicians like Stella Creasy of using the “deceptive little politician’s phrase “open for the use of all the local community” which is “not the same as having a cinema as envisaged by the McGuffins, ie the EMD restored in all its glory and showing flicks in the main hall in all its glory“.  BAG notes that under the UCKG plans the building would not be open to all the community (unless of course they want to go to a church service).

Visit the UCKG message boards to read their enlightened views on the dangers of homosexual and Muslim members of the community!!
No you havent clicked on the BNP site by mistake, these are the views Labour & the Lib Dems prefer to the repeatedly expressed wish of Walthamstow residents for the building to remain a church.

The Walthamstow Town Centre big screen was plugged in at lunchtime today (6th August) with environmental health officers overseeing the turn on.  Officials wandered around the square to test what the sound levels were like at various points. Workers in Nat West bank told them they could hear the TV in their upstairs offices but it “wasn’t intrusive“. A small child commented “Mummy Look at the massive telly!”

Permission was granted by the council for the screen to broadcast video and sound of major sporting events, cultural activities and council information between the hours of 7am and 11pm. Keep your eyes peeled for a big advert informing passers-by they can have a pee in McDonalds.

The Waltham Forest Guardian reports that “Officers urged councillors to vote in favour of the proposals, saying that the screen would put Walthamstow on the map“.  So stand by East17, coach loads of tourists are heading this way to watch BBC News24 on a big screen. Much better than having something silly like a globally famous dog track putting us on the map!

Councillors voted six to three in favour with a review committee to report back on the screen in six months.

(pic below) Environmental health officers ask “where’s the remote control I can’t hear Huw Edwards from here?”

“New York, New York, It’s a wonderful town” (youtube clip)

Walthamstow Town Centre’s the place to be on Saturday the 12th July for a free open air big screen showing of the classic Hollywood musical “On The Town“.

Starring Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett and the music of Leonard Bernstein, it features some of Hollywood’s most celebrated dance sequences and routines. The film follows the exploits of three young sailors looking for love on an eventful day’s shore leave in New York.

The event will commence with a live appearance by the John Garfield Swing Band performing classic songs of the period including their own tribute to Frank Sinatra.

Bring blankets, picnics, friends and dancing shoes for a relaxed evening of movie magic under the stars of Waltham Forest! A licensed bar will be available on site.

For more info visit the McGuffins website.

45 GRAND TO SPEND

If you had a few thousand pounds to improve your area, what would you spend it on? That was the question put to residents at the Walthamstow West Community Council this month. Each of the four wards in Walthamstow West have £10,000 to spend this year, along with an extra £5,000 to spend on projects that cover the whole ward (Total: £45,000).
Residents have until June the 23rd to submit their ideas (see here for details). In previous years the money’s gone on projects as diverse as Basketball hoops for kids to a charity providing motorised scooters for the elderly. So what would you spend up to £10,000 on? You can suggest smaller ideas, i.e., ten £1,000 ideas might get chosen.
A youth project? Benches for the town centre? Its up to you.

My own unnecessarily flippant suggestion was a fish tank for St James Street Library – the one in the main library was a snip at £7,263 – there’d even be a few thousand left over for … oh what’s that other thing libraries are meant to have…?

Groups can apply for funding for projects which will benefit residents, with a deadline of August 4th.

BLACKHORSE ROAD NEWSLETTER

One resident brandished a copy of the June “Blackhorse Lane Newsletter” (Read here) and questioned why the council were forcing “super-high density” tower blocks into the cramped space by Blackhorse Road tube (with no community space or gardens) when redevelopment’s at Sutherland Road & Paper Mill boasted community gardens, and much lower heights.

WILLOWFIELD SCHOOL

At a previous community meeting BAG asked why the council preferred building the new Willowfield School on a greenbelt flood plane (Douglas Eyre Playing fields) rather than at sites opposite its present location or on the same site as the George Monoux College?
Simon Newland, Head of Capital Strategy & Planning has this reply:

The Council has undertaken an extensive search for sites, which meet requirements for a school site for a 900 pupil school. This search is continuing. One criteria is that the site is reasonably close to the current school site. Monoux College is not. All the land adjoining the current Willowfield School site is heavily developed and owned by a range of different parties. The Douglas Eyre Playing Filed has a number of disadvantages, but in terms of location and access to open space and playing fields, would be very suitable for a school.
We have provided thousands of pages of information to various local residents under Freedom of Information Act, linked to the Blackhorse Lane Action Group.

BIG SCREEN / BIG NOISE?

Not content with chairing the community council, Philip Herlihy also knocked up an “artists impression” of the big screen planned for the grass by the children’s play area in Walthamstow Town Square. Despite 39 letters of objection, the screen was conditionally approved this week although planning permission is only until the Olympics.
The 7am to 11pm operating hours were rejected, and new times will now have to be resubmitted (I imagine the operators submitted such ridiculously long operating times in a bid to look as if they are being flexible by cutting them down).

BLACKHORSE ROAD CYCLE RACKS

At Januarys Community Council meeting Stella Creasy asked if Tfl could both install more and fix the existing cycle racks at Blackhorse Road tube station. A resident expressed his shock at the council’s response that a secure shed would cost a quarter of a million pounds!!

Here’s the response in full:

Gina Harkell, Principle Transport Officer:
We could replace the existing stands with Sheffield stands but we have been bidding for funding from TfL every year for the past four years for a secure bike shed here. One of our arguments is the poor condition of existing bike stands so we are loathe to put in new ones as this will reduce the strength of our argument. We think our best chance is to build the new shed with Section 106 funds as part of Blackhorse Lane regeneration. A secure shed would cost about £250,000 as it would need to be built on the embankment.

Visit the excellent unofficial Walthamstow West Community Council website for details of the next meeting, and minutes for previous community councils.

With leaflets winging their way around the area, the first part of BAG’s campaign against the 23 storey (230ft high) tower block at Blackhorse Road is also well under way and we have to say a big thank you to all the appalled and mostly unaware residents who have submitted comments. PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING (see a selection below the form)!

TO STOP A 23 STOREY TOWER BLOCK BEING BUILT AT BLACKHORSE ROAD WE NEED LOCAL PEOPLE TO SUBMIT THEIR VIEWS, ALONG WITH THEIR NAME AND EITHER AN EMAIL OR HOUSE ADDRESS. WE CAN THEN PROVE TO COUNCIL PLANNERS THAT THE LOCAL COMMUNITY WANTS MORE THAN JUST HUGE TOWER BLOCKS.
WE WILL NOT CLOG UP YOUR EMAIL OR DOOR MAT WITH JUNK! ALTERNATIVELY BECOME A MEMBER OF BAG HERE.

Here’s a taster of the comments you’ve been sending us (we’ve shortened some to fit. Please let us know if we’ve altered the meaning in any way!):

“I know housing is short,but this is the most stupid thing I have heard for a while…its hideous.”

“I’m especially concerned that there seems to be nothing socially useful to the wider community being planned. we need facilities for the young people, shops, green spaces. somewhere to eat would be nice!”

“It seems to answer a brief that called for the design of a sink estate. It needs to be stopped in its present form and redesigned to reflect the nature of the surrounding houses and neighbourhood.”

“Will be out of keeping with the areas renowned Warner style of two-storey terraced dwellings“

“I will do all that I can to help stop these ludicrous plans.”

“Offers nothing to the existing community. It will put further strain on transport to have thousands more people living in the tower blocks”.

“We simply don’t want to see these monstrosities… huge ugly buildings that will look out of place in this community. We are worried about the additional traffic, both foot and mechanised that will be part of this”

“This is not an acceptable development for the area. Tower blocks are an awful addition… but also have been the cause of much social living discontent, that is why most of them have been knocked down. No logic to this.“

“If this is really what is planned… then this is appalling, and will cause serious problems for the area. How can the plans have gotten this far without addressing the issues of capacity, services etc?”

“I agree with developing the area but only with low rise accommodation (4 stories max)“

“Too many blocks built in a small area and will add to overcrowded transport.”

Please keep them coming! Here’s the Fight the Height Demo on BBC News, for more pics visit our flickr site.

OTHER POSTS ON THIS SUBJECT (CLICK BELOW)
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It’s at noon this Sunday, 1st June in Walthamstow town square so why not combine visiting the demo with a trip to the farmers market (10-2pm).

Buy some organic preserves, and preserve the Victorian skyline at the same time!

“When a resident next to the site went to a surveyor she discovered the preferred design that St Modwen has suggested for the site would overshadow her garden, meaning her home will be worth £10,000 less than if situated elsewhere.”

Caramel Quin of Fighttheheight.co.uk had been told that earlier plans for a seven storey development would have boosted prices: “property experts told us the area would be improved and prices would go up“.

Developers will of course make plenty of money from the new tower blocks planned at the Arcade, and the 23 storey Blackhorse Road development.

When residents who currently look out on playing fields and reservoirs find that view replaced by 23 storeys of flats, will they also find the price they can get for their home has fallen too?

Send the developers PR team your views on the proposed Blackhorse Land development here.

As previously reported Prince Charles’ Foundation for the built environment has stated (here) that high rise’s are both unnecessary and inappropriate for Walthamstow.

“Waltham Forest called in the foundation to masterplan the Town Centre of Walthamstow. (Foundation executive) Dittmar says the foundation was interested to explore how Walthamstow, in an outer London borough, could meet mayor Ken Livingstone’s target for affordable housing and how greater residential density was compatible with Walthamstow’s Victorian terraced houses.

Dittmar asks: ‘How can you increase density without sticking people into tower blocks? If you ask Londoners about tower blocks, you find that they are only liked by investors in property.’

The foundation looked at other boroughs and concluded that the four-storey houses of St John’s Wood or Swiss Cottage and the mansion blocks of Kensington and Chelsea provided density without towers”.

In response local campaigners have set up a website Fighttheheight.co.uk to try and pressure the council to retreat from their mission to build them high, pack them in, and whatever you do, don’t ever include community facilities!

The site spotlights the much heralded Prince’s Foundation report on the redevelopment of Walthamstow, and how it specifically stated that housing development should be “compatible with Walthamstow’s Victorian terraced houses“.

In an interview with Property Week, Prince Charles & the chief executive of his Foundation, Hank Dittmar talk how high rise housing is inappropriate in an area such as Walthamstow.

They recommended a maximum height of 8 storeys for Walthamstow Town Centre, and neatly summed up the views of the community as: “If you ask Londoners about tower blocks, you find that they are only liked by investors in property“.

Read the interview with Prince Charles in Property Week (scroll towards the end for Walthamstow).
Visit Fighttheheight.co.uk for more on the opposition to high rises in Walthamstow.
The Walthamstow Town Centre Consultation website
Send the developers your views on the 15 & 23 Storey block’s of flats planned at Blackhorse Road.