WHAT LOCAL BUSINESSES WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!

LIB DEMS CALL FOR COUNCIL RETHINK OVER PARKING IN THE BOROUGH

With problems over the CPZ consultation and plans by Waltham Forest Council to sell off the Stanley Road Car Park in Bakers Arms shopping area, parking is fast becoming a big issue in the Borough.

Lib Dems are opposing plans by the council to sell off the car park at Bakers Arms. And have gone further by asking the council to extend free parking times over the Christmas period to help local businesses.

Cllr Mahmood Hussain, Lib Dem Environment spokesperson said:

“With Christmas coming up, now would be the perfect time to help local businesses by extending the 15 minutes free parking time up to 30 minutes for the remaining few weeks. This would help our local shops compete with supermarkets and the big shopping centres nearby.

“And selling off the Bakers’ Arms car park is clearly the wrong decision. The car park is badly signposted at the moment but if we could bring it back into proper use it could be a great asset for local businesses.

“Cabinet members need to rethink parking in the Borough and focus on how it can help local businesses.”

Chair of the Bakers’ Arms Business Forum, Suleman Ahmed said:

“We should be taking advantage of the resource that we have in this car park at Bakers’ Arms. If the car park was better managed and better signposted by the council then it would not need to be sold off.

“Extending free parking would also be a great boost to local businesses in the run up to the Christmas period.”

RESIDENTS DELIVER IVE FARM PETITION TO THE MAYOR

Bob Sullivan with local residents at Ive Farm talking to a Guardian reporter

 

Last week Leyton ward Councillor Bob Sullivan arranged for residents to present their petition to the Mayor.

The Council is still negotiating turning Ive Farm Playing Field, in Leyton,  which they have left derelict, into a campsite for the Olympics.

Oliver Close, Villiers Close and Ive Farm Close residents whose homes back onto the site have objections and organised a protest on the field.

Leyton Ward Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

“It’s now less than two months until the Olympics and the council still can’t give us a decision. This will cause untold disruption if it is allowed to happen and the council need to think again.

“I’m pleased that residents were able to deliver this petition to the Mayor. The council must now take this issue seriously and listen to residents’ concerns about posting a campsite at Ive Farm in a heavily residential area.”

 

 

 

Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium – update

On Tuesday 8th May, Waltham Forest council’s Planning Committee approved planning application to demolish the much loved Greyhound stadium to make way for a housing development. The decision by the four Labour members was met with fierce opposition from the campaigners and the local residents (1 Liberal and 2 Tory Councillors opposed the plans).

Waltham Forest Liberal Democrats have written to London Mayor Boris Johnson, urging him to reject the application. Two local MP’s, along with Mr Johnson, are in favour of keeping the iconic dog track in the heart of Waltham Forest.

Flats for the Olympics?

A planning application lasting only for three years, has been submitted to the Council. It is a temporary conversion of the Technical Institute, part of the old Leyton Town Hall, entrance in Adelaide Road.

The plan is to convert the inside of the building into 32 residential units:

15 studio flats, 11 x 1 bed flats, 2 x 2 bed flats and 4 x 3 bed flats.

There is obviously going to be a demand for accommodation in Leyton that is near the Olympic Park. Councillor Bob Sullivan said that he would not be surprised if these flats were not snapped up soon after they are built. This is probably what the developers are also thinking.

What they are going to turn them into after three years is anyones guess?

But one thing whatever they do, there is no parking provision. Local residents already have a major problem in parking in the road and more flats without parking spaces, will only add to the problem.

Is this the worst designed building in Waltham Forest?

 

The Council, in partnership with the Waltham Forest Guardian, is running a design awards scheme for 2011. They are looking to recognise and reward quality design.

Leyton Ward Councillor and Liberal Democrat Group Leader Bob Sullivan would like to put forward this building as the worst designed building in Leyton Ward. This is in Ruckholt Road, sandwiched between the iconic Leyton Library and a row of Victorian houses. The design does not relate to any of the nearby architecture, but is just a plain dull block of flats.

Considering its position on a prominent corner, housing the Library and the Old Town Hall, you may wonder how the Council agreed it to be built. Councillor Sullivan can only assume that in their rush to get more flats built, as they have been doing, they allowed this monstrosity to be built without caring about the design and impact on Leyton.

Drapers Field – planning application received!

Drapers Field to be closed to the community for at least 16 months

A planning application has finally been lodged with the Council for the temporary use of Drapers Field as a service centre/store for the Olympic Village.

The application number is: 2011/0623, and comments can be made online at the Waltham Forest website, or by post to the Planning Officers at the Town Hall.

Local residents have been very concerned about what the Labour Council has in mind for the reinstatement of this historic playing field when it is returned in 2013.

Kinnear Landscape Architects were commissioned to develop improvements, and their plans will be subject to a public consultation event to be held at Drapers Field on Tuesday 14 June, between 3 and 7 pm. Council officers and the design team will be present.

Don’t miss this opportunity of seeing what the Council has in mind, and making your views known.

LIB DEM CLLR MAHMOOD HUSSAIN URGES REJECTION OF CINEMA PLAN AND WELCOMES DECISION

Lib Dem Councillors Mahmood Hussain and Bob Sullivan with local residents at the Planning Meeting

Liberal Democrat councillor Mahmood Hussain on Wednnesday 18 May told Waltham Forest’s Planning Committee that the council should refuse the planning application submitted by UKCG to turn the EMD Cinema into a religious assembly hall.

Councillor Hussain, who represents High Street ward which includes the EMD Cinema site, said:

“The key questions can be summarised very simply. Does the proposed development respect the building’s heritage and listed building status? Is the impact on the area and particularly on nearby residents acceptable? Does the proposed development contribute satisfactorily to the regeneration of Walthamstow Town Centre? On all three counts I believe the answer is no.

“This view is shared by an enormous number of local residents. Our borough has hundreds of places of worship of all types and sizes. But it does not have a single cinema. We have clear evidence that the building is potentially viable as a cinema, arts and entertainment venue.

“This would bring new life to the area and stimulate the local economy – unlike the proposal before you. The proposed changes to the building would destroy much of what is special about this unique building, which is one of the oldest, largest and best preserved cinema buildings in the country.

“Residents would suffer from the absence of a proper noise management scheme and from parking problems generated by cars descending on the area from miles away.

“For the sake of Walthamstow please listen to local people, weigh up the planning merits of the case and refuse the application.”

Speaking after the decision to refuse the planning application Councillor Hussain said he was delighted that the Planning Committee had listened to the arguments put forward by objectors.

“This is good and important news for Walthamstow Town Centre but it is only one step forward. Following two planning refusals and endless discussion I hope UKCG will now abandon their plan. We must allow those who are able to bring the cinema back into use the chance to realise the cinema’s true potential.”

Drapers Field update!

This all-weather pitch is scheduled to be destroyed and replaced by hard standing

A planning application was anticipated to be presented to the Council’s Planning Committee in January, regarding the Labour Cabinet’s desire to lease Drapers Field to the Olympic Delivery Authority for a period of 16 months.

During this time the all-weather pitch and the grass football pitches would be ripped out, hard standing installed to allow Drapers Field to be used as a storage centre and laundry for the Olympic Village.

So far, there is no sign of this application!

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan has raised this question at the Town Hall, as the Lib Dems are anxious that residents’ views should not be ignored.

We will let you know about any developments.

Lib Dems urge Labour to drop pool and Track threat / “There is no confusion” (pt 2!)

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg meets stallholders in walthamstow on his recent visit.Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr John Macklin has told fellow Cabinet members that money is available to pay for a proposed Walthamstow Arcade redevelopment project – and urged Labour members to scrap plans that could see the sale of the Walthamstow Pool and Track facility.

Cllr Macklin, who was presenting an update on the Council’s capital spending programme  as the cabinet member for Finance, told councillors that money to pay for redevelopment of the Arcade is already contained within Council expenditure plans.

Liberal Democrats previously voted against Labour cabinet members who forced through a report recommending the sale of “land at the Pool and Track site or alternative assets…that have not yet been identified”.  This was a climbdown from an original draft of the report that explicitly cited “the Pool and Track site” for disposal. 

In trying to defend the proposals, though, Labour Leader Chris Robbins apparently confirmed that at least part of the Pool and Track facility would eventually be closed.  Labour cabinet member responsible for Sport, Geraldine Reardon, told councillors that there was “no confusion”. 

Cllr Robbins again attempted to distance himself from the threat to the Pool and Track at the cabinet meeting, claiming that “there never was a link between the pool and the property on the Arcade. 

However, the relevant report outlining the threat has now been cited by the Waltham Forest Guardian here.

Cllr Macklin believes that the report on Council expenditure will allow Labour members to drop their threat to the Pool and Track site.

The Lib Dem Leader said:

“The report confirms that money would already be in place to pay for any redevelopment of the Walthamstow Arcade site.

“In plain financial terms, it seems to make absolutely no sense to constantly be looking to sell Council land and property at the bottom of the market.  First it was the plan to sell the former St James St library building and now the proposal to sell at least part of the Pool and Track.

“But on a practical level, we don’t believe that a leisure pool on the Arcade site will act as an appropriate replacement. 

“From the continuing discussions we are having with those who use the facility, we have enormous concerns about what splitting up the Pool and Track facility would mean for the future of the borough’s only athletics track.  We also don’t believe that the Arcade site has anywhere near enough accessibility or parking for the schools and competitors who travel to use the Pool and Track. 

“The Liberal Democrats believe that the Pool and Track facility in Walthamstow needs investment, not demolition.”

Labour say of Pool and track threat: “There is no confusion”

Labour Report No 1:            

Pool and Track site to be sold to fund leisure  centre at Arcade site.

Labour Report No 2  (Just days later…)

Now land at Pool and Track or  other “unidentified assets” to be sold

Labour Leader says:   

Pool will be closed but not track

Labour councillor responsible for sport says:                                  

We never suggested the track would close

…and that:  

“There is no confusion”.

* * * * *

Users of local sports facilities have been left anxious about the future of the Pool and Track in Walthamstow after Labour Leader Chris Robbins appeared to confirm that at least part of the facility will be shut down.

Liberal Democrat councillors are fighting Labour plans to rescue the Arcade site development by borrowing millions of pounds and selling off land and council assets. 

Labour’s proposals — which were published on the Council website – involved the “disposal of the Pool and Track site for a replacement facility with the Arcade development”, including a Leisure Centre “to replace the current indoor facilities at the Pool and Track”.

However after protests from Liberal Democrat councillors and residents, definitive references to the sale of the Pool and Track were quickly removed from the final Cabinet report, with mention only being made of the sale of “either land at the Pool and Track site or alternative assets to the same value that have not yet been identified”.  Labour councillors forced through the report despite Liberal Democrat opposition in the Cabinet meeting.

Hopes for the future of the Pool and Track seem, however, to have been dashed after comments from Labour Leader Chris Robbins suggested that at least part of the facility will still be closed.

In trying to quell public protests at the handling of the closure, Cllr Robbins confirmed to the local press that the pool will be closed once a “replacement” leisure facility has been built.  This would seem to leave the borough’s athletics track as a stand-alone facility.

Lib Dem Cllr Bob Carey, a member of the affected Chapel End ward, has now raised the issue with Cllr Geraldine Reardon, the Labour councillor responsible for sport in the borough, at a Full Council meeting.  He sought clarification over the future of the pool facility, investment in the track and raised resident concerns about accessibility to a pool facility at the Arcade.

Cllr Reardon told councillors that there was “no confusion” over the future of the facility, but refused to confirm the Labour leader’s comment that the pool would be closed once a replacement was built, claiming that no decision had been made.

Local Liberal Democrat councillors will continue to seek answers over Labour’s handling of our Pool and Track.