OPEN Shoreditch

ditch The Block

2011-04-02T19:29:00.000+01:00

OPEN Shoreditch member Jago Action Group is taking up arms against the gross over development of the Huntingdon Estate, the light industrial estate bordered by Bethnal Green Road and Redchurch Street, next to the Tea building. Developers Londonnewcastle are so passionate about the neighbourhood that they want to bless this low-rise mixed residential quarter with a 25-storey tower block.

In a cynical bid to buy off Tower Hamlets development committee, Londonnewcastle proposes to build affordable housing squidged between two busy railway lines half a mile from the gleaming tower block. The 'fact' sheet issued in support of the development application omits just one really crucial fact: the Huntingdon Estate application is for a 25-story tower block. And neither do the pictures tell the real story, as only eight floors of the proposed tower can be seen.

In a covering email, the developers claim to be 'tremendously passionate about the location, the area and it's possibilities...' There's no doubting their passion – to dig themselves out of the large hole in their balance sheet, as a result of taking an option on the site at the height of the property boom. Faced with a site cost of double what's it's currently worth, Londonnewcastle is desperately trying to claw back potential losses by bequeathing the neighbourhood a monument to its folly.

Jago Action Group objects to the plans because:

A 25-STOREY TOWER BLOCK is completely out of keeping with the current scale, massing and height of the existing buildings on Redchurch, Ebor and Chance streets, which are all 2-4 storeys in height.
There is ZERO affordable housing proposed on the Huntingdon Estate. A gated community in the sky for City bankers will not contribute to the development of a sustainable mixed community.

JAGO Action Group can be contacted at jagoactiongroup@googlemail.com

What you can do:

If you live, work or socialise in this part of Shoreditch, support the local community by:

1/ Joining our 'ditch The Block' group here on Facebook

2/ Printing and distributing the 'ditch The Block' poster (click on the image and drag it to your desktop)

3/ Viewing the planning application here

And if you agree with us, email Tower Hamlets' planning team/department:

and cc your email to the local councillors:

4/ Copying and pasting the letter below into your own document and sending it to the planning department:

(Remember to include your address and postcode with your objection and include the planning application reference numbers: PA/11/00460 and PA/11/00461)

Simon Ryan
Development Control – Planning Department
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Mulberry Place (AH)
PO Box 55739
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 2BE

simon.ryan@towerhamlets.gov.uk / planning@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Dear Sirs

PA/11/00460 and PA/11/00461: Huntingdon Estate on Redchurch, Chance and Ebor Streets and Bethnal Green Road

I strongly object to planning applications PA/11/00460 and PA/11/00461 as gross overdevelopment of the former Huntingdon Estate and specifically because:

(a)            the proposed 25-STOREY TOWER BLOCK is too high and completely out of keeping with current scale, massing and height of the existing buildings on Redchurch, Ebor and Chance Streets, which are all 2-4 storeys in height;

(b)            the development will cause GREAT HARM to the character of the Redchurch Street, South Shoreditch and Boundary Estate Conservation Areas;

(c)            it is unacceptable that the proposed development includes ZERO social or affordable housing on the site of the Huntingdon Estate development as this will not contribute to the development of a sustainable, mixed community; and

(d)            it is unacceptable that ALL of the social and affordable housing is located on a site surrounded by two busy railway lines, which is a large distance away from the Huntingdon Estate.

I urge the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to REFUSE the above planning applications.

Yours sincerely

Name:

Address:

Postcode:

Date:

2nd Annual Residents' Question Time

2010-10-27T22:43:00.000+01:00

This year have your say on

Anti Social Behaviour (ASB)

Wednesday 3 November 5.30pm - 8pm

Whitechapel Idea Store, 321 Whitechapel Road, E1 1BU

Your chance to question senior officers from the Police, Council and Fire Service on what we've been doing, how we can improve and what you can do!

Guest speakers include Richard Taylor, father of Damilola Taylor (Damilola Taylor Trust) and Jim Webster (Met Police Commander, North East London).

Food, refreshments, performances, quiz and prizes. Creche also available on the night.

Due to high demand for places at previous events, please confirm your attendance as soon as possible.

For further details and to confirm your place please contact:

Mohamed Raja
E: mohammed.raja@towerhamlets.gov.uk
T: 020 7364 6108

What is Anti-Social Behaviour?
Anti-social behaviour is any aggressive, intimidating or destructive activity that damages or destroys another person's quality of life.

Examples of Anti-Social Behaviour:

Street Problems intimidation, drunkenness, begging, drug dealing and prostitution
Nuisance Neighbours threat, intimidation, loud noise and vandalism
Environmental Crime littering, graffiti and vandalism

To report ASB call the Council's 24 hour freephone reporting line on
0800 917 5 918

Mayoral Elections Hustings Events

2010-10-13T22:17:00.000+01:00

The Tower Hamlets Mayoral election is due to take place on Thursday 21 October.

The candidates confirmed by Tower Hamlets council are:

Helal Abbas (Labour)
Alan Duffell (Green Party)
John Griffiths (Lib Dems)
Neil King (Conservative)
Lutfur Rahman (Independent)

Details of all the candidates can be found online here:
Tower Hamlets website

The following are the latest dates for proposed hustings with each candidate speaking

Tuesday, October 12 – St Matthias Church, Woodstock Terrace, Poplar, at 7pm – chaired by Malcolm Starbrook, group editor of the East London Advertiser and other titles

Friday, October 15 – Bangla TV – Friday Plus show

Sunday, October 17 – Oxford House at 3pm. Jointly organised by the following local groups: Tower Hamlets & Jenin Friendship Association, United East End, Viva Palestina and Tower Hamlets Stop The War

Monday, October 18 – Spitalfields Small Business Association – business hustings at 7-15 Greatorex Street (6.30pm)

Operation Black Vote - also on Monday 18 October - 7.30pm at St Margaret’s Hall in Bethnal Green

Gilda O'Neill

2010-09-29T22:37:00.000+01:00

Bestselling author Gilda O'Neill, who chronicled the history of the East End of London in her novels and non-fiction, died on Friday after a short illness, her literary agency Curtis Brown has announced.
She was 59.

Born in 1951 in Bethnal Green, O'Neill was brought up in the East End, the granddaughter of a Thames tug skipper and a pie and mash shop owner. She left school at 15 but went on to take three degrees as a mature student, turning to writing full time in 1990.

She hit the bestseller lists with her history of cockney London, My East End, following it up with Our Street, about East Enders during the second world war, and The Good Old Days, chronicling the underbelly of London in the 19th century.

O'Neill was also the author of 13 novels set in and around the area she grew up, from her most recent second world war-set Secrets of the Heart, in which 16-year-old Freddie is conducting a secret relationship with a girl from the local Chinese community, to Sins of the Fathers, about East End crime family the O'Donnells.

"Gilda O'Neill was a generous, loving and popular person whose writing and life touched all those came into contact with her," said Curtis Brown in a statement. "Her works of oral history were held in high regard and widely read."

From The Guardian Curtis Brown

Bengal History Week

2010-09-22T10:08:00.000+01:00

History week runs from 2 - 10 October 2010

EAST INDIA COMPANY WALKS(Advance booking only)

Saturday 2 October 2010, 3-5pm
City of London and West End by Nick Robins (The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational)

Sunday 3 October 2010, 2-4pmInvisible Empire and East India Company Dockside by Dr Georgie Wemyss (The Invisible Empire: White Discourse, Tolerance and Belonging)

PLASSEY’S LEGACY: EAST INDIA COMPANY EXHIBITIONMonday 4 – Sunday 10 October 2010
Mile End Arts Pavilion, Ashcroft Rd, E3 5TW
The exhibition is based on the book Plassey’s Legacy: young Londoners explore the hidden story of the East India Company. The book has been written by eight young people (18-25) who explored the London heritage of the East India Company and the city’s historical links with Bengal.

Exhibition Opening hours 9.30am-5.30pmThe exhibition is open to all and Brick Lane Circle particularly welcomes school visits, which can be arranged during weekdays: 10.30am, 11.30am, 1.30pm and 2.30pm, starting from Monday afternoon, 4 October 2010.

Monday 4 October 2010, 4.30pm – 8.30pmPrivate viewing, special guest speaker, networking and entertainment
More details will be provided in due course

Friday 8 October 2010, 9.30am-2.00pm Young people’s conference Half day conference, including lunch, aimed at young people from secondary schools and colleges. The conference will have presentations from a number of young authors of the Plassey’s Legacy book, workshops, refreshment / lunch and informal discussion. Teachers and youth organizations are encouraged to bring their students to participate in this unique conference.

There will be an opportunity for students and young people to learn about shared history, exchange knowledge and experiences with each other and contribute ideas for making heritage learning more interesting and valuable.

DAILY SEMINARS
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Muslim Rule in Bengal (1204-1757) by Mojlum Khan, who was born in Habiganj, Bangladesh and brought up and educated in the UK. He is the author of several publications and research papers including the acclaimed book The Muslim 100: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of the Most Influential Muslims in History (2008, reprinted 2009, 2010) and The Muslim Heritage of Bengal (forthcoming). Idea Store Whitechapel, 321 Whitechapel Rd, E1 1BU

Wednesday 6 October 2010, 7-9pmBengal Muslim Identity: Mapping Changing Perspectives by Dr Ferhana Hashem, a Research Fellow at the University of Kent. She recently completed two research projects: ‘What kind of language service should public authorities provide to minority groups: the case of Bangladeshis in London’ and 'Ethnic Options of Mixed Race Identity' in Britain’. Ferhana completed her doctorate in political sociology in 2003, which examined Bengal Muslim identity in the Indian subcontinent. Idea Store Chrisp Street, 1 Vesey Path, East India Dock Road, E14 6BT

Thursday 7 October 2010The beginnings of British rule in Bengal by Dr Jon E. Wilson, who teaches history of South Asia at King's College London, and recently completed a book on the colonial regime in Bengal entitled The Domination of Strangers. He studied History and Anthropology at Oxford University and the New School for Social Research. Idea Store Chrisp Street, 1 Vesey Path, East India Dock Road, E14 6BT

Friday 8 October 2010The establishment of the Hindu College in Calcutta in 1817 and the 19th Century Bengal RenaissanceDetails of speaker and venue to be confirmed

Saturday 9 October 2010, 3.00-5.00pm
Bangladesh: Partitions, Nationalisms and Legacies for State-Building by Professor Mushtaq Khan, who teaches economics at SOAS. He completed his first degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford and then studied PhD in Economics at Cambridge. Previously he taught at the universities of both Oxford and Cambridge. Information on his research interests are available at http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/mk17/

Mile End Arts Pavilion, Ashcroft Rd, E3 5TW

Sunday 10 October 2010, 2.00-4.00pmThe ethno-nationalist conflict in Chittagong Hill Tracts: A tale of partition 1947 by Rumana Hashem, who teaches sociology, culture and gender in University of East London. She is finishing her PhD on Gender and Armed Conflict: The case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Prior to joining UEL she taught sociology and gender in BRAC University.

Sunday 10 October 2010, 4.00-6.00pmCultural event
Details to be confirmed
Mile End Arts Pavilion, Ashcroft Rd, E3 5TW

All welcome! Free Entry! For further details please call 07574224891 or email bricklanecircle@yahoo.co.uk

www.bricklanecircle.org

Muslin: The famous textile from Bengal

2010-09-12T12:10:00.000+01:00

By Professor Dr. Sharif uddin Ahmed

MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2010, 7.00-9.00PM

Lab 3, Idea Store Whitechapel

321 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1BU

He gained his MA at Dhaka University, undertook postgraduate studies (B.Litt) at Oxford University and completed his PhD at London University (School of Oriental and African Studies). Currently he is a Professor of History Department at Dhaka University and Director of Centre for Dhaka Studies. Previously he was the Director of National Archives for Bangladesh and president of the historical society of Bangladesh. He has authored several books on city of Dhaka, including Dhaka: A study in urban history and development (English) and Mitford Hospital and Dhaka Medical College (Bengali).

ALL WELCOME!

For more details please call on the number below or send an email.

Muhammad Ahmedullah
Secretary
Brick Lane Circle
07574224891
E: bricklanecircle@yahoo.co.uk
www.bricklanecircle.org

An Oasis off London's Beaten Path

2010-09-08T18:50:00.000+01:00

Read what New Yorkers are being told about this part of London:

New York Times

Photograph: Charlotte Player www.charlotteplayer.com

Book: The Report by Jessica Francis Kane

2010-08-09T20:46:00.000+01:00

Look out for The Report by Jessica Francis Kane It is about the major civilian tragedy that took place in Bethnal Green in 1943, when 173 people suffocated to death on the steps of the tube station as they went to shelter from an air raid. Francis Kane re-imagines the disaster from the points of view of a range of characters who were in the crowd that night; and then follows the magistrate tasked with pulling together the strands of the horror that took place in order to report to the official inquiry.

The book will be published in the US next month, and will be available in the UK next spring, in a version published by Portobello Books.

Read an exclusive extract of The Report that appears on the website of the literary magazine Granta: The Report extract.

C4 Undercover Boss: Tower Hamlets Chief Executive

2010-07-26T14:12:00.002+01:00

Dr Kevan Collins, the Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets, was the recent subject of Channel 4's Undercover Boss programme. In the hour long programme, broadclast last Thursday (22 July), the council's supremo posed as 'Colin' an adult intern checking out a range of jobs for a new TV programme.

With the aim of cutting £50million from the Tower Hamlets budget he joined the Meals on Wheels service, the welcome desk at a housing division, responded to a callout with pest control, toured Whitechapel market with the market services representative and went on patrol with the Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers (THEOs) in our own corner of the borough.

The programme was clear about the challenges that face Tower Hamlets and the chief executive came across as a thoughtful, action-orientated person, who was genuinely touched at the commitment of staff. The staff chosen to appear were truly impressive representatives - nb: I am only reporting what I saw, not what I have experienced on occasion! You might however wonder how it is, that given the CE's length of service at the council, the fact that he was relatively new in post as the Chief Executive and that he actually toured a patch of the borough that he lives in, no-one appeared to recognised him. Just a thought.

You can see the programme again using Channel 4s Watch again service : Watch again

Programme profile : Undercover Boss Series 2, Programme 2

Tower Hamlets official line: Tower Hamlets Press Release

Profile of Kevan Collins: New Chief Executive

Making Town Centres More Attractive: The Questionnaire

2010-05-12T20:41:00.000+01:00

Tower Hamlet council has commissioned a company called MCA (based on the Isle of Mull) to carry out a small study of the town centres involving 3/4 traders and similar number of residents to get their views on how the town centres could be made more appealing and attractive to encourage people to spend more time/money in them. The Report is expected to inform the council as it considers the future promotion of the town centres.

Please copy and paste this questionnaire into a word document or email, complete the questions and return it to:administrator@mcass.co.uk or call T: 01681 700750 and ask them to email the questionaire to you.

Your views are important - make it count! Replies must be in by Friday 21 May 2010

Town centre assessment. Name of Centre:

Specific shopping choices

How much would more of these varieties of shop improve the town centre	Very much	Fairly	Not at all	Notes

Food and drink (bakers, juice bars, wholefoods, butcher, grocers etc.)
Clothes and fashion
Health and Beauty (barbers, chemists, hairdressers, health clubs, etc)
Home and garden (DIY, furnishings, florists)
Pubs and restaurants
Other shops (audio, banks, cycle, dry cleaners, jewellers, newsagents, etc)

Questions on types of fashion and clothes shopping

Clothes and fashion shops often add vitality to a town centre. What kinds of fashion shop would you like to see ?	A lot	Moderately	Not at all	Notes

International designer shops
International designs within shops
Value design (e.g. M&S or New Look)
Mainstream High Street names
Niche fashion outlets
Second hand designer labels
Other (state)

Questions on cultural and art retailing

Art and culture industries can enhance a shopping trip. How important are these ?	Very important	Fairly important	Not important	Notes

Shop units for designer / retailers in the town centre
Retail squares and clusters for designers
Having a cultural quarter in the town centre
Premises for clubs, theatre and bands
Space for exhibitions and performances
Presence of design & hi-tech consultancies
Other (state)

Questions on ethnic diversity and culture

How much should this town centre contribute to the cultural enrichment of Tower Hamlets through its ethnic diversity	A lot	Moderately	Not at all	Notes

By having more focus on specialist trades
By hosting festivals and events
By greater promotion of diverse cuisines
By stimulating more social interaction
By sports and street theatre
By the creation of a cultural trail
Other (state)

Questions on attractiveness to different age groups

How much would these features make this town centre attractive to the following groups (1-10; 10 is ‘very attractive’)	Young people	Older people	Families	Notes

Variety and number of interesting shops
Safe space for wandering about
Socialising with diverse ethnic groups
Good links with cultural attractions
Having frequent festivals / events
Being safe and open at night
Having a street market
Other (state)

Questions on the social functioning of the town centre

How much would you approve of the following social activities in the centre	Very much	Moderately	Not at all	Notes

Outdoor cafes and tables on the street
Shops with bigger more flexible frontages
Evening shopping events
Clusters of shops rather than parades
Higher quality street markets
More spaces for people to circulate
Other (state)

Some details on yourself

How would you describe yourself under the following categories
Age	16-30	31-40	41-50	51-60	60-75	Over

Ethnicity	White	Asian /Asian British	Black /Black British	Mixed / dual heritage	Other	Prefer not to say

Gender	Male	Female

Employed status	Self employed	Employed	Unemployed	Other

Other issues of interest in making this town centre more attractive:

Thank you very much for completing this questionnaire. It will help Tower Hamlets Council to plan for making this town centre more successful.

Martin Caldwell and Glyn Austin

MCA Regeneration

Working with Tower Hamlets Council

Tel No. 01681 700750.

administrator@mcass.co.uk

Weavers Ward Question Time: Pictures

2010-05-12T20:06:00.000+01:00

Open Shoreditch organised a Hustings event on Thursday 29 April, giving residents of Weavers ward the opportunity to hear from local representatives of the major parties. Over 90 people attended and asked questions of the prospectives candidates. The Labour, Respect, Green, Liberal Democrats and Conservative parties were all reprensented. Thank you to everyone who attended and took part.

Vision and Aims

2010-04-29T14:40:00.000+01:00

OPEN Shoreditch is an active community group that embraces diversity of age, culture, gender, sexual orientation, education and economic status.

As a coalition of grassroots residents, business and community groups, OPEN Shoreditch works to ensure that Shoreditch, a place with a unique identity, continues to be a great place to live, work and visit. This will be achieved by interacting with a range of partners and agencies, to ensure that the voice of local people is heard.

OPEN Shoreditch aims include to:

Campaign for a coherent masterplan for our part of London.
Ensure local people are included and consulted as stakeholders in development plans put forward by public authorities and property developers for Shoreditch and surrounding areas.
Develop a wider network of allied resident and community groups to share knowledge and information.
Communicate the aims and work of OPEN Shoreditch on a regular basis.
Develop effective community action via local group and residents.
Work with groups and agencies to promote the OPEN Shoreditch agenda.
Create a legacy of organised grassroots action in Shoreditch.

Weavers Ward Question Time

2010-04-22T22:33:00.000+01:00

Weavers Ward

Question Time

What would the Labour, Lib Dem, Conservative, Respect and Green candidates do for residents in

Tower Hamlets if elected as local councillors?

Thursday 29 April 7pm

St Hilda's Community Centre

18 Club Row, E2 7EY

Representatives and Candidates on the hustings panel:

Labour: Anna Lynch

Liberal Democrats: Philip Baker

Respect: Rob Hoveman

Green Party: Chris Smith

Conservative: Peter Golds

All Welcome

Sample free refreshments from some our many fine local food outlets and inform your vote!

Brick Lane Cultural Trail: The signs are up

2010-03-20T16:58:00.000Z

Tell us what you want?

2010-03-20T16:40:00.000Z

Tower Hamlets council is asking for community feedback (via The Spitalfields Society) on how the £1.85m originally allocated for the Brick Lane arches might be better spent. Below are some suggestions that have been made. If you would like to add to the suggestions, please email us, or leave a message at that the bottom of this post.

- removal of the industrial waste bins from Brick Lane so we don't have to walk through/breathe in last night's curry as it leaks on to the pavement;

- repair/correction of the pavement so we don't sprain our ankles while walking down Brick Lane or have to walk on building pallets when it rains and floods and turns into a sewer;

- a town centre police team operating out of Brick Lane police station to deal with adverse consequences of the thriving night-time economy on Brick Lane, which is going to thrive all the more once an additional 10,000 visitors come to the area each weekend with the opening of Shoreditch High Street station (official estimate no less but no additional police resources to deal with it);

- toilets for the patrons of the night-time economy to befoul instead of our conservation areas and listed buildings;

- enforcement officers to regulate/monitor the market traders/purveyors of stolen goods on Brick Lane/Sclater Street and surrounding areas;

- some signage informing visitors how to get to Brick Lane from Columbia Road Flower Market/Spitalfields Market/Petticoat Lane (rather than having to tell them to look for the unsightly silver arches);

- perhaps the £750,000 that was meant to be spent on improving Allen Gardens, a most forlorn park, can now actually be spent on improving Allen Gardens.

You Decide!

2010-03-20T16:35:00.000Z

At the meeting on the 6 March 2010, £415,000 was allocated to various projects in LAP1 (which includes Weavers Ward in which the Shoreditch part of Tower Hamlets is located). Local residents at the meeting decided the allocation by a surprisingly fair and democratic process in contrast to last year's meeting, which was widely criticised for the way in which decisions were made.

Residents chose from a list of items in 6 different categories (public realm, education, youth, elderly, crime, health). The top 2 were then subject to a run-off vote.

Once projects from each of the categories had been selected, the remaining money was allocated on a free vote basis with a run off again between the top 2 choices.

The following projects received funding:

- community shrub and tree planting (£20,000);

- park improvement project (£50,000);

- better street lighting (£15,000);

- out-of-school study support (£30,000);

- early GSCE language tuition (£35,000);

- youth inclusion and support panel (£35,000);

- youth inclusion programme (£50,000);

- engaging young people in community events (£7,000);

- graduate placement programme (£11,000);

- disability and special needs employment project (£5,000);

- swimming lessons (£7,000);

- jobs fairs (£5,000);

- support for carers of the elderly (£10,000);

- older persons' handyperson (£10,000);

- targeted policing operations (£35,000);

- enhanced council enforcement operations (£35,000);

- healthy diet for children and youth programme (£55,000).

A project that would have been useful for all Shoreditch residents and businesses was enforcement activities in weekend markets (£30,000). Sadly this project received inadequate support among those in attendance at the meeting.

For more information on the You Decide! process, see http://www.onetowerhamlets.net/

Rebuild or Refurbish? by Amanda Reynolds

2010-03-20T16:17:00.000Z

The ‘debate,’ which took place at the Bishopsgate Institute on the 9 March, was in fact a presentation of views by four professionals, who work in the architecture and heritage sectors. While purporting to look at the potential impact of the City on inner east London, none of the speakers specifically addressed the issues we face in terms of the impact of future development.

Will Palin (of Save Britain’s Heritage) presented an entertaining and critical look at existing redevelopment such as that at at the site of the Spitalfields market, and what has now been permitted – the proposed Bishops Place towers around the retained ‘Light Bar’ building at 233 Shoreditch High Street. Giles Quarme (of Quarme Associates) talked about buildings he has refurbished nowhere near inner east London; while Paul Finch (of CABE) and Austin Williams (of Future Cities) made the case for varying degrees of redevelopment alongside more robust approaches to conservation.

Bishopsgate Goodsyard^1,2 was mentioned only in passing. Although questions after the presentations put our major local development challenge firmly on the agenda, no specific or useful suggestions were made in relation to the site. Perhaps unsurprising given the title of the debate: as ‘rebuild’ is the only option, the important question for us is, ‘How to rebuild?’

A prominent local architect asked the panel whether better use could be made of planning regulations to control development and Paul Finch said no. However, this is clearly not the case, as the recently adopted Interim Planning Guidance for the site has no specific building envelope controls such as height, typology or location, all of which are much needed.

OPEN Shoreditch seeks much clearer development guidance. This would most effectively be expressed through a Master Plan for the site and surroundings, developed with the active participation of all stakeholders including the local community. OPEN Shoreditch is currently lobbying both Tower Hamlets and Hackney councils, and the developers, to set up and support this process, and then to adopt the result into the planning system.

¹History of Bishopsgate Goodsyard

²Tower Hamlets press release (12 Jan 2010) on the plans for Bishopsgate Goodsyard

Picture Credit: John Winfield, Spitalfields before redevelopment

Brick Lane Arches: Council rethinks!

2010-03-06T10:10:00.000Z

RESIDENTS WELCOME WITHDRAWAL OF BRICK LANE ARCHES PLANS

Residents in the Brick Lane area welcome the news that Tower Hamlets Council has withdrawn its plans to build two stainless steel arches on Brick Lane as part of a £1.85 million 'Cultural Trail'.

Tower Hamlets Council chief executive Kevan Collins yesterday promised that the Council was now open to new suggestions as to how to spend this portion of 'planning gain' money arising from the redevelopment of Spitalfields Market competed 2005.

Residents' associations the Spitalfields Society and North Brick Lane Residents' Association in a joint statement said:

"We are pleased that the Council has responded to the public's concerns about this scheme. It is the duty of the Council to use this public money for social and economic benefits to the community, not to impose their own plans, which in this case have been socially divisive.

We look forward to proposing new use of the money to improve Brick Lane for its businesses, visitors and local communities, putting decision-making back into the hands of all those who live and work here."

Notes to editors:

There were 158 individual objections and 0 supporters to the Arches scheme according to the council’s planning officer’s report.

The Cultural Trail is part of the spending of £8.5 million generated by the Spitalfields Market redevelopment ‘Bishops Square’. This major financial contribution must be spent in accordance with a ‘Section 106’ legal agreement which states that it must go towards: “the promotion of projects for the economic and social benefit of the local community. Such projects may include training and employment initiatives and community improvement schemes to ensure that the community does not suffer loss as a result of the implementation of the Bishops Square Planning Permission and environmental improvement in the immediate locality of the Site.”

Use these links to find out what others said about the withdrawal of the Brick Lane arches planning application:

Tower Hamlets Council statement: Thursday 4 March

Evening Standard: Friday 5 March

East London Advertiser website: Friday 5 March

Brick Lane Arches: Tower Hamlets planning to go ahead despite objections?

2010-02-25T20:10:00.000Z

From the Evening Standard

Planners back ‘hijab gates’ for Brick Lane despite 158 objections

Terry Kirby
25.02.10

A proposal to build “hijab gates” at either end of Brick Lane has failed to attract a single letter of support from locals, a council report shows.

But the plan for the arches — which have been compared to giant headscarves — has attracted 158 objections. Despite this Tower Hamlets officials are recommending its development committee approve the scheme next Thursday.

The arches would form part of a £2 million “heritage trail”. Critics have accused the council of dividing the community by emphasising Islam above other faiths. Others say the arches resemble something from Disneyland.

Objectors include the Spitalfields Trust and the local synagogue. Resident Will Palin, secretary of Save Britain's Heritage, said: “To press ahead in the face of such opposition would be an insult to the people of the borough.”

Another local, Tracey Emin, has called the design “bulky, ungainly and unnecessary”.

The council says the arches are not “culturally specific to Islam” and structures have been used to denote areas such as Chinatown and Carnaby Street. The report is on its website. Thursday's meeting is at the town hall in Clove Crescent.

Read the Tower Hamlets' Case Officers' report - 7.1 Brick Lane Arches

Brick Lane Arches

2010-02-18T21:50:00.000Z

This week has seen much media coverage and general outrage on the proposed plans for the Brick Lane arches. There is still time to send in letters to Tower Hamlets council - the deadline is Monday 22 February. There is also an open committee meeting scheduled to take place on Wednesday 3 March at Tower Hamlets offices.

Here are the references and weblinks for each of the arches:

PA/09/02067 - Location between 120 - 118 Bethnal Green Road (northern end of Brick Lane)

PA/09/02082 - Location between 74 Whitechapel High Street and 1 Whitechapel Road (Osborne Street proposal) (southern end of Brick Lane)

The Media Coverage:

Evening Standard

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23806415-tracey-emin-leads-protest-at-hijab-gates-plan-for-brick-lane.do

Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/feb/16/brick-lane-hijab-arches-headscarves

BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8517791.stm

This is the letter that Open Shoreditch has already sent to Tower Hamlets:

Dear Sirs

PA/09/02067

PA/09/02802

We write in respect of the above applications for steel arches to be erected at both ends of Brick Lane.

We reiterate our objections to these applications which show a complete failure of understanding of the complexity of the cultures in the Brick Lane area, as well as being a complete waste of public money which could and should be spent locally in better ways.

Brick Lane is a narrow street which currently suffers from a considerable amount of clutter and inadequately-organised problems like rubbish bins, while having little or no functional way-finding signage or other information to help visitors navigate their way around, let alone good quality public realm treatment to the streets and footpaths north of the Bethnal Green Rd intersection.

The proposed arches will not help any of these problems but rather contribute to the existing clutter problems, adding yet another obstacle to be negotiated around. The simplistic notion that a ‘gateway’ location needs a literal expression of ‘gatewayness’ shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how cities work, what makes an attractive sense of place and how to best support local communities.

The Brick Lane area (including Spitalfields Market, Columbia Road Market, the Redchurch Street gallery areas and the pedestrian routes between these centres of activity) is currently a mess of different street treatments, poor footpaths, inappropriate barriers, inadequate signage and a total lack of joined-up thinking, as well as empty sites around and including the Bishopsgate Goodsyard which could be temporarily used to accommodate compatible activities.

We agree that there is a need and opportunity for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to spend some money on the broader Brick Lane area but it should be spent on initiatives that look at strategic design issues as well as support connections and integrate movement routes. For instance, a consistently paved and well-signed footpath between Brick Lane and Columbia Road, with the physical barriers removed and simple signage so visitors can easily find their way between these two centres, would be a huge improvement to the area and benefit to visitors. A ‘canopy/gateway’ will not help this problem but will create an additional barrier.

The use of a ‘hijab’ style image for arches is ill conceived and patronising to the Bangladeshi community while failing to recognise other groups who live and work in the area. The area has a large number of artists and other creative communities who should be involved and consulted in any local artistic expression.

Most importantly, however, the Brick Lane area has major strategic issues which should be urgently addressed by the ‘canopy’ budget money rather than the council throwing the money away on such unwanted objects. OPEN Shoreditch has been lobbying for sometime for a community master planning exercise to be carried out for the area in order to create a coherent vision which would include not only what could be built on the Bishopsgate Goodsyard and other development sites in the area, but also discuss the kind of street structures (if any) and public realm treatments that could support the positive and inclusive development of our local area. London Borough of Tower Hamlets should be putting money into this process, not wasting funds on pointless arches.

We again object to the applications in the strongest possible terms.

Yours sincerely,

for and on behalf of

OPEN Shoreditch

We Don't Believe that a High Rise Park is right for the Goods Yard

2010-02-01T21:59:00.000Z

Bishopgate Goodsyard is to centre right in this image

Open Shoreditch has responded to the recent Press Statement about the planning guidance for the Bishopgate Goods Yard.

OPEN SHOREDITCH DOES NOT BELIEVE THE HIGH RISE PARK IS FEASIBLE FOR THE BISHOPGATE GOODS YARD SITE!

OPEN Shoreditch believes that the Press Statement issued by Hackney Council on behalf of Tower Hamlets, the Mayor of London on Wednesday 13 January 2010 celebrating new planning guidance for the Bishopsgate Goods Yard site requires a community response.

First of all, we agree that it is great that this site that has lain dormant for 40 years is finally going to come back to life. However, we still believe that this part of London needs a comprehensive, community-based master plan that meets the needs of the people who live and work here now, as well as the needs of future generations. It should be a master plan that includes local people fully in the development process and ensures that developers, local authorities and other statutory bodies adhere to the final outcomes of this much more integrated process.

OPEN Shoreditch has spent the past year and a half ensuring that it is representative of the communities in the immediate vicinity of the Bishopgate Goods Yard site. And we encouraged local people to take part fully in the ‘consultation’ devised by the developers; we are not wholly unsurprised that few of our points had been taken onboard.

We are puzzled as to how the planning guidance which is so unspecific and unclear in so many areas, can be seen as guidance that will ‘shape the future of the site’ as it does not, we believe, ’lay out a vision for the site’s future regeneration.’

We realise that the idea of the ‘high level public park’ has been proposed since the arches were listed. However we rather imagined that the local authorities and the developers would use this ‘idea’ to come up with something that was actually feasible for the space that they have available. Our immediate response is that the so-called ‘exciting feature’ is not feasible as a high-rise park. It is a difficult plot to deal with, which is why it has not been designated for any other higher value use. The plot in question is not linked to anything else, whereas the high line parks in both Paris and New York actually connect different neighbourhoods together.

In fact, OPEN Shoreditch had already indicated this in a response to the draft interim planning guidance in a letter of April 2009, as follows:

‘The ‘park’ is on top of the listed arches because it would be hard (though not impossible) to use this space for built form. However, this location separates the ‘park’ both vertically and horizontally from the local residential population, as it is a good 2 storeys above ground. The railway cut is a barrier to access for the communities to the south of the Site and the new buildings proposed along Bethnal Green Road and Sclater Street (together with the East London line) form a barrier to access for the communities to the north of the Site. This is not a park which will ‘connect local communities’’.

It is disappointing to find that at this stage the high line park has taken on such intent.

Uses for the site

We note the intention for there to be temporary uses of the site and would like to take this opportunity to remind the LB’s of Hackney and Tower Hamlets of the Open Shoreditch’s ideas as to what these temporary uses should be, as we suggested last April. We believe that these could be thoughtfully developed to become permanent and of real and true benefit to the local community.

‘We suggest the following temporary uses:

re-opening Wheeler Street. The north/south routes through the area are currently extremely restricted [this was only temporary and has now been remedied];
re-opening London Road under the arches from Wheeler Street to Brick Lane;
and use of non-street arch space for a range of community and local small business functions such as market uses, artists’ studios, re-opening the existing community pool and gym, independent retailers etc.

Community-supported temporary uses within the arch areas would establish activities by/for local people on the Site, which could be programmed to continue, and/or be relocated, on the Site as redevelopment occurs.

The area under the arches is ready-made built form and could contribute cheaply and readily to reconnecting the neighbourhood and integrating distinctive uses and character.’

We have been pleased to be part of the initial consultations that have taken place and look forward to working further with the developers and local authorities in order to create the master plan needed for this part of East London. We believe that this will be the most important requirement to create a prosperous and cohesive community in the future.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

OPEN Shoreditch is a coalition of residents’ and small business associations whose membership includes representatives of associations in the local area, namely Jago Action Group, Boundary Estate Tenants’ & Residents’ Association, North Brick Lane Residents’ Association, Jesus Hospital Estate Residents’ Association, Spitalfields Community Association, Spitalfields Society, Spitalfields Trust, Columbia Neighbourhood Action Group, Columbia Tenants’ & Residents’ Association, Friends of Arnold Circus and Spitalfields Small Business Association.

Community campaign makes the developer see the light

2009-08-13T13:07:00.000+01:00

Following a long running campaign by OPEN Shoreditch a major developer has now abandoned its plans to demolish and redevelop The Light building at 233, Shoreditch High Street.

The Light, previously derelict, but now repaired and converted to commercial uses. A landmark building on the border between Shoreditch and The City

Hammerson's Managing Director, Martin Jepson, announced yesterday that "Following the local campaign to preserve the Light Bar building, we are preparing amended proposals for our Bishops Place regeneration project. We believe we have found a way to incorporate the building into the proposals. We are now preparing a scheme to submit to the Council that recognises this Shoreditch landmark alongside delivering much needed investment for Hackney."

The Light would have been extinguished had the original redevelopment scheme not been dropped.

Local campaigners formed OPEN Shoreditch in January 2008 to resist inappropriate development in the area which offered insufficient community benefits and which threatened some of its unique buildings, the settings of its conservation areas and aspects of its local economy. You can read further details of the campaign here and here.

One particular concern was Hammerson's planning application for the demolition and redevelopment of The Light. The Light is on a former railway site now partly owned by Hackney Council and partly by Hammerson. OPEN Shoreditch, with other local interests, presented well argued objections to the Council's Planning Committee which deferred its decision .

Hammerson's planning application was for a 50 storey tower to provide a hotel, private flats and 87,000 sq ft of office accommodation. The newly revised scheme has not yet been unveiled for public view.

After deferral of the planning application OPEN Shoreditch then successfully campaigned for the inclusion of the building within the Council's newly defined Shoreditch Conservation Area boundaries. Inclusion would provide protection from uncontrolled demolition. OPEN lobbied the Secretary of State and English Heritage which had commended the building's restoration and strongly recommended its inclusion in the Conservation Area. They have power to intervene and themselves designate conservation areas where the local authority finds itself in a position of conflict of interests, as in this case where Hackney stand to make millions if a redevelopment scheme is given planning permission. Hackney Council eventually relented, on the advice of English Heritage, and the buiding is now within the conservation area.

OPEN has previously reported on the credit crunch difficulties facing property developers.

The Worship of Mammon 1909 by Evelyn de Morgan. Updated in 2009 by dunkdigital.com

Hammerson has continued to experience a chilling economic environment . No doubt a grant of planning permission for a revised scheme now will give great comfort to its shareholders and to Hackney Council which has already earmarked the proceeds of the land sale for its new Town Hall extension and has also been banking on the Section 106 money arising from planning permission.

Following Hammerson's announcement, OPEN Shoreditch's Co-Chair, Rebecca Collings said "We are delighted with this news. We continue to promote a community planning process with both the developers and the local planning authorities over the future of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard. The changes to the Bishop's Place scheme indicate that the developers are more willing to listen. We hope to move forward in search of the win/win - benefits for the community and sustainable development proposals for both the developers and the local authority.”

The wall of towers, including three of over 50 storeys, which had been planned for the Bishopsgate Goodsyard site without any comunity planning or consulation.

Victory for Queen's Market campaigners

2009-05-14T10:18:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday 13th May 2009 the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson directed Newham Council to refuse planning permission for plans to redevelop Queen’s Market in Upton Park, which include the construction of a 96 metre high residential tower block.

The Friends of Queens Market have fought a long running campaign to reach this point. A spokesperson, Lucy Rogers, said: “I feel fantastic. We can hardly believe it. I feel in some boroughs, especially in East London, there is a brutish redevelopment agenda going on which doesn't represent what people want. We are very glad the Mayor has listened. This is exactly what he should be for.”

When plans were submitted to the Mayor for consultation in May 2008, the applicant was advised that they did not conform with the London Plan on several counts, including the quality of the design of the proposed tower.

The applicant subsequently revised the plans but these still failed to address the Mayor’s concerns on the appearance and, in particular the attractiveness of the proposed tower. The plans also failed to demonstrate that a tall building of the design proposed would be appropriate on the site.

The Mayor said:

“I have carefully considered this application. However, it is obvious that a tower of this size, so much higher than any existing tall buildings in the area, is neither attractive or in proportion or suited to any of the surrounding buildings, streets or the general urban realm of Newham.

“I am not opposed to the improvements to Queen’s Market, but I am against this inappropriate tower and have, therefore, instructed Newham not to approve these current plans.”

To download a copy of the Mayor’s Planning Decision here

Mammon. From superhero to sub-zero

2009-02-08T22:35:00.001Z

As the credit freeze tightens its icy grip on our shattered economy the worshippers of mammon shiver with disbelief. The mammonists said Hell would never freeze over. But now, in the economic winter, the glittering prizes they craved have slipped through their frozen fingers.

The Worship of Mammon 1909 by Evelyn de Morgan. Updated in 2009 by dunkdigital.com

Eighteen months ago, in June 2006, Hammerson unveiled its planned £700m Bishops Place scheme in Shoreditch. Its Chief Executive told analysts and shareholders of Hammerson's "unparalleled record of securing and delivering developments to make big profits for shareholders"
Foster and Partners vision for Hammerson's Bishops Place - a landmark tombstone development of 65,000sq m of private housing, offices, shops and a hotel.

Last July Hammerson sought planning permission to demolish The Light and build the 50 storey Bishops Place tower. But by then developers had started to feel the chill of the impending economic winter.Although the demolition would proceed immediately Hammerson could not confirm when construction would actually start. Facing overwhelming community opposition Hackney Council deferred the application. Hammerson's shareholders looked glum.

The Light as it could be - saved from redevelopment

A second coordinated community campaign forced Hackney Council, on the advice of English Heritage, to finally concede that The Light merits the protection of conservation area status. That decision followed threatening letters to Hackney from City lawyers and was greeted with dismay by Hammerson. Achieving planning permission underpins the value of development sites. Hammerson may yet renew its planning application to demolish and redevelop The Light as Bishops Place but a refusal now could drive an icicle through Hammerson's heart.

Now, in the depths of economic winter, property developers are stricken by the value of their sites being locked into the permafrost of the credit freeze. Hammerson is Britain's fourth biggest property company. Its debt rating has recently been downgraded from stable to negative by credit ratings agency Moodys. It share value has crashed by 60% from a high in April 2007 of £1747p to a fractured 397p today. J P Morgan stated that it was at risk of breaching its bond covenants. Hammerson is reported to have put its flagship Bishops Place (the controversial redevelopment of Spitalfields Market) up for sale - for £60 million less than it was valued in June 2008. Now it also needs to raise £600million by a deeply discounted rights issue to improve its balance sheet.

Private sector pre-credit crunch plans for redevelopment of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard

With the carnage in financial services, and tens of thousands more City jobs in peril, the developers' dreams of "regenerating" Shoreditch's Bishopsgate Goodsyard, with a wall of high-rise offices, now looks like a distant mirage. Even if the credit could be raised to build them, and for businesses to buy in, there will be no-one to work there.

Another major developer, Telford Homes, has also been caught out in the East London frosts. Last May Telford was granted planning permission for The Block, a 25 storey twin-towers development in Bethnal Green. OPEN protested that Tower Hamlets' supression of its own Design and Conservation Team's strong advice, to reject the scheme, was a breach of environmental justice. In responding to OPEN's High Court proceedings Telford revealed that, on this site alone, it was sustaining losses of £185,000 every month and that any delay imperiled negotiations with its bankers. Its QC said progress “...has all had to be put on hold pending these judicial review proceedings.”

The Block - Telford's 25storey Bethnal Green Road scheme which would dominate and blight the surrounding conservation areas

In fact, a week before the Court hearing, Telford's Chief Executive Andrew Wiseman had already announced that construction of The Block, together with other major schemes, would not be proceeding. "Delivery of these schemes" he said, "...will depend on the availability of finance for Telford and for our customers and our ability to secure future revenues." The schemes are on ice.

Since March 2008 Telfords' value has crashed by 90% to its January valuation of £10.8million. Its lender, AIB (Allied Irish Bank), has recently been bailed out at Irish taxpayers expense. What preference AIB might now give Telford over the financial needs of its Irish business customers remains to be seen.

The Judge eventually dismissed OPEN's legal challange. But now it may already be too late for Telford's plans to build The Block in Bethnal Green Road for the forseeable future.

Neither have our public authorities escaped the chill of the economic winter. Speculative investments of public money are leading to huge losses. Hackney Council, with the GLA's London Development Agency and Transport for London, have invested over £40 million in The Slab at Dalston Junction - a massive concrete raft spanning the new station cutting intended to provide a turnaround site for 12 buses. Of 550 flats being built to pay for the scheme only 50 are reported to have been sold to date. Public awareness and unease continues to grow that Dalston Square will be left with half-finished concrete stumps.

The Slab where Barratt's are to build residential towers of up to 20 storeys. The private/public partnership hoped to sell 500 private flats and attract brand retailers to pay for scheme. With credit and mortgage lending frozen the prospects are now looking increasingly bleak.

The scheme was conceived and implemented by a handful of public officials and politicians. OPEN protested at the time that it was an extravagent waste of financial and natural resources and would blight Dalston. We brought three judicial review actions to oppose it and fought to conserve at least something of Dalston's architecural and cultural history. But our pleas fell on deaf ears. The authorities ripped the heart out of Dalston two years ago. If true as reported, that it is no longer 12 but only 7 bus stands that are now required on The Slab, the scheme's flawed logic, which underpinned the justification for the demolition of historic Dalston and its high-rise redevelopment, has started to fracture.
Then, last summer, there was panic. The developer, Barratt's, share price had crashed 90% and it would have to renegotiate its bank covenants. Barratt had £1.5 billion of debt.

If the Bishops Place scheme had gained planning permission last February Hackney hoped to take Hammerson's £14million planning contribution for "off-site affordable housing" in Shoreditch and spend it on The Slab scheme in Dalston - robbing Peter to pay Paul. Now Hackney's Mayor Pipe hopes to persuade the government's Homes and Communities Agency (formerly the Housing Corporation) to buy out some of the 550 private flats. If a "buy to let" scheme funded with yet more public money finds favour we will see, as OPEN predicted, families on housing benefit with children living up to the 20th floor. The slums of the future.

But of all the public authorities it would be revelations concerning the City of London's investments which attract the greatest public dismay. Since adopting its Vanity 2000 policy, to contest Canary Wharf's challange to become the nation's home of financial and professional services, the City has invested eyewatering sums of public money assembling sites in Shoreditch for office development.

Many of these investments, funded from its secretive "City cash" account, are joint ventures with its private sector partner, Hammerson. In the current economic climate Hammerson must be grateful to have such a well heeled and sympathetic friend in the City to help bear some of its risks.
A recent setback for this public/private partnership has been the defeat, by an articulate and well organised community opposition, of its appeal to redevelop Norton Folgate .

In the depths of our economic winter the Freemen of the City of London must shiver to hear some financial commentators reporting a 40% drop in Central London commercial property values and that speculative development sites now have a negative value. The £millions of City Cash, invested in property and land deals, are presently locked deep within the permafrosts of Shoreditch. When Spring comes round we may find that much of the City's frozen funds have melted away to slush.

The Worship of Mammon 1909 by Evelyn de Morgan. Updated in 2009 by dunkdigital.com

“mammon”: (noun) possibly of Aramaic origin, meaning riches. First personified in English as the false god of wealth, avarice and injustice in the mediaeval poem Piers Plowman and later as the fallen angel, Lucifer, in Milton's Paradise Lost.
“mammonistic”: (adjective) consumed by the desire for wealth at the expense of beauty, creativity and the human soul.
"mammonists" : (secretive) the dark forces, including Philistines, pursuing material gain by the obliteration of heritage, identity, culture and sunlight in the name of regeneration, best value, necessity and progress.

Has Hackney Council finally seen The Light?

2009-01-12T08:44:00.001Z

Further progress has been made in protecting the character of Shoreditch and Bethnal Green from City developers. Hackney Council's Urban Design and Conservation Manager has finally agreed to recommend that The Light, at 233 Shoreditch High Street, should be included within the extended boundary of the Shoreditch High Street Conservation Area. The recommendation is shortly to be made to the Council's Cabinet and then, if agreed, its full Council.

The Light before redevelopment

Hackney had previously recommended that The Light be excluded from the Conservation Area but its change of heart follows OPEN and others making representations to English Heritage and the Secretary of State to urgently use their overarching powers to designate The Light within the conservation area. Hammerson had made clear, in Court proceedings against the current occupiers of The Light in December, that "demolition will be carried out immediately upon it obtaining vacant possession of the property.....irrespective of whether or not the Claimant is given planning permission for the major site scheme".

The Light extinguished after redevelopment

The recommendation follows a long campaign by OPEN, representing the local residential community, and by local and national amenity societies including the Save the Light Campaign, Hackney Society, Shoreditch Conservation Area Advisory Committee, SAVE Britains Heritage and the Victorian Society.It stands on a site where City developers Hammerson recently applied, to a specially convened Planning Committee, for permission to demolish and redevelop with a 50 storey tower to provide a hotel, private flats and 87,000 sq ft of office accommodation.

The development threatens to overshadow and dominate the local historic buildings. Hackney own a large part of the site and stands to make £millions from an option agreement with Hammerson, the proceeds of which had been earmarked to fund its new Town Hall extension. Hackney had been in a dreadful muddle trying to justify exclusion of The Light from the Conservation Area. Hackney also plan to rob Peter to pay Paul by using the developer's financial contribution, to "off-site affordable housing" in Shoreditch, to cram some social housing onto its Dalston Square development of 550 private flats where, contrary to it's and the GLA's 50% affordable housing target, there will be only 28 flats (5%) for social renting.

Barratt's development of 10 to 20 storey residential towers on Hackney Council's Dalston Square site where Dalston's historic buildings once stood. 522 of the 550 new flats will be for sale to help pay for New Dalston's £40million concrete slab for a Transport for London bus turnaround above the new railway station next door. News of Barratt's credit crunch crash caused fears that we'd be left with half-finished concrete stumps.

Even if The Light is eventualy given conservation area status its survival is not finally secure. Although the recent Planning Committee deferred Hammerson's application, with a strong indication that Hammerson should try to incorporate The Light in its new development, Hammerson may still argue that this is not possible. Changes to the composition of the Hackney Planning Committee could well produce a decision which is more sympathetic to the developer and the desperate for cash Council landowner.

Hammerson's redevelopment plans are part of much wider plans to redevelop the 12 acre Bishopsgate Goodsyard, with further towers of over 50 storeys high for office development, which threaten to drive out local thriving creative industries in favour of a lunchtime sandwich bar economy servicing City workers and which provide little benefit to the local community. Parts of Shoreditch and Bethnal Green could experience the equivalent of three solcar eclipses a day if the plans proceed.

Hammersons (pre-credit crunch) plans for development of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard

In Edition 7 of Hackney Podcast Francesca Panetta is joined by Joanna Smith from English Heritage for a tour of the buildings at the heart of the furniture trade in Victorian and Edwardian Shoreditch. The tour was organised by the Hackney Society. Francesca interviews Brad Lochore of OPEN Shoreditch. George Galloway MP for Bethnal Green and Bow argues for sustainable development on the advancing City Fringe. Children’s Laureate and Dalston resident Michael Rosen performs his agitprop Regeneration Blues, recorded at a recent OPEN event at Cafe OTO. Francesca also visits the art gallery FormContent, a curatorial project space in Ridley Road.

Has Boris bottled it?

2008-12-07T22:00:00.000Z

On Monday 17th November Haringey Council Planning Committee voted by five votes to four to pass the Grainger plan to destroy the Wards Corner community market building and surrounding streets. Five Labour party members voted for the Grainger plan. Four Liberal Democrat party members voted against it. Does that ring any bells of Shoreditch?

One of several recent community demonstrations by the Wards Corner Coalition (WCC) against the Grainger/TfL/Haringey redevelopment plans.

Before the London Mayoral election Boris Johnson visited Wards Corner and expressed support for the alternative community plan for the site.Watch the video of his visit here. What will Boris do now he's won the election? WCC report that he's already agreed to back the Haringey decision.

A view of part of the interior of the Wards Corner building as it is today

How the covered market could look if the Community Plan were implementedLearn more about the Wards Corner Coalition's battle against ante-social development and what you can do to help here.

The waitress strikes back

2008-11-15T12:03:00.000Z

Two established London artists, who have worked in restaurants in and around Shoreditch, have turned the tables on some of the more bumptious clientele they served.
Gallery 32 presents JUST DESSERTS. THE WAITRESS STRIKES BACK! exhibiting illustrations by Laura Quick and Anna Magnowska. You will see over 30 signed, original and framed illustrations of some the more colourful punters whose portraits they just had to record. And if you want to SAVE Shoreditch bring your cheque book - because part of the proceeds goes to the campaign. The selling exhibition continues until 30th November 2008.

Gallery 32 is in Charlotte Road,
EC2A 3PBTel: 020 7749 4779
Nearest tube: Old Street / Liverpool Street
What the press say is here

Mammon repelled from Norton Folgate

2008-08-31T17:12:00.000+01:00

On 15 August a government Planning Inspector rejected an appeal by the City of London Corporation against the refusal of its planning application to demolish and redevelop parts of Norton Folgate.

The area is characterised by Georgian houses, Victorian warehouses, the art deco decoration of the former Nicholls and Clarke 1930s shopfront, historic street features and patterns resonant of the mediaeval Priory of St. Mary Spital.

The application had a contentious history. Tower Hamlets' planning officers, with backing from CABE (the government's Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment), had recommended that Council Members grant planning permission for the scheme on the basis that the scale, height, detail and designs proposed made a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the conservation area. English Heritage did not object. However on 25 June Council Members rejected the application after hearing the objections of local residents and of The Georgian Group, The Victorian Society, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the Spitalfields Society and the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust. The objectors pointed out the merit of the area's historic buildings and character and the damage, including the demolitions and the loss of light and overshadowing, which would result from the over-scale and inappropriate nature of the redevelopment proposed.

The Inspector had made a site inspection and noted the locally listed buildings, the fine 1886 buildings of Blossom Street, the 1880 Norton Folgate terrace and its rear wash houses, water towers and the historic road surfaces. The Inspector considered representations from the City Corporation and objections from local residents, architects and the Spitalfields Trust before reaching the decision. Tower Hamlets Council's officers found themselves objecting to the scheme which they had previously recommended. The Inspector decided that the scheme as designed missed the opportunity to enhance the Conservation Area and that the loss of existing historic buildings and other features taken together would cause "considerable harm to its character and appearance as a whole".

The Liberty of Norton Folgate

2008-08-02T22:28:00.000+01:00

"There is no way this mediaeval so called Liberty of Norton Folgate can be allowed to stand in the way of progress. It's a diabolical liberty. This is Madness.
Sir Alfred Mammon GbH, C.E.O., Global Regeneration (Bahamas) plc

The Worship of Mammon 1909 by Evelyn de Morgan

“mammon”: (noun) possibly of Aramaic origin, meaning riches. First personified in English as the false god of wealth, avarice and injustice in the mediaeval poem Piers Plowman and later as the fallen angel, Lucifer, in Milton's Paradise Lost.
“mammonistic”: (adjective) consumed by the desire for wealth at the expense of beauty, creativity and the human soul.
"mammonists" : (secretive) the dark forces, including philistines, pursuing material gain by the obliteration of heritage, identity, culture and sunlight in the name of regeneration, best value, necessity and progress.

Patrick Hughes' welcoming words.

2008-08-01T15:31:00.001+01:00

SHOXTON and
WHOREDITCH have been
without the city walls for
500 years of theatre,
Markets and market gardens,
Hospitals and hospitality,
Fashions and the unfashionable,
Nonconformists,
Boos and booze,
Real work and
The pleasure of leisure.

We are proud whores here,
Selling shocks to the city suits
Who need our vision as much
As we need their lucre.

Don’t let them takeover –
They love takeovers –
Our Ditch,
Put out our Light and
Replace it with another
Deeply dull erection
Just like the other ones.

Keep our Independence from
Bean counters,
Mouse wagglers,
Planners and ponces.

Patrick Hughes, July 2008

The games up. Hackney kicks Hammerson into touch.

2008-07-25T12:47:00.000+01:00

OPEN’s campaign to Save Shoreditch from invasion by City office towers won an important victory at Hackney Town Hall on Thursday evening when objectors persuaded Planning Committee members not to approve the 51-storey Bishops Place tower block in south Shoreditch.

The Light before redevelopment

The scheme would have led to demolition of The Light, a landmark historic building standing at the gateway to Shoreditch from the City.

The Light extinguished after redevelopment

Save Shoreditch campaigner, Lucy Rogers, says: “We are delighted that councillors have rejected the plan to demolish the Light building, and that any new proposal must include its preservation. We welcome this brave decision that will protect Shoreditch and its character, and keep it distinct from the City.”

Committee members had been directed to disregard the fact that Hackney owns 85% of the land on the development site, and stands to make tens of millions under an purchase option agreement with Hammerson when a scheme eventually goes ahead.

Planning Committee members were unnerved when it became clear that independent consultants hired by Hackney had recommended that The Light should come under the protection of an expanded Conservation Area. It appeared that Hackney had convened the unscheduled Planning Committee meeting, after QC's advice, to ensure that Hammerson's redevelopment application was considered before the Council determines the new Conservation Area boundaries.

The committee deferred a decision on the Bishop’s Place scheme, telling the developers to scrap their current proposals and come up with an improved plan which preserves the 19th century building.

Objectors pointed out that local people would not benefit from the scheme which proposed only 11 (5%) flats for social rented housing and no affordable small business units. Hackney had negotiated a condition that Hammerson pay £14million for “off-site” social housing but the Council had already earmarked the cash for building affordable homes not in Shoreditch but in Dalston where the authorities towerblock scheme is looking rather wobbly. Hackney planned to rob Peter to pay Paul.

Councillors heard how the Council’s Head of Planning, who recommended approval of the scheme, had failed to properly advise the Committee of the overarching government policy guidance PPS1. This guidance concerns involving local communities in the planning process to ensure that development delivers inclusive opportunities for all whilst also protecting and enhancing the natural and historic environment. Hammerson claimed that they had been consulting the community for three years but objectors were left wondering who was being referred to.

Councillors also heard that the proposed skyscraper would be out of keeping with the scale and mass of the existing buildings in south Shoreditch and would destroy the character of the local area. The Chair of the South Shoreditch Conservation Area Advisory Committee objected that the scheme appeared to have been designed to create a “glass and steel barrier which turns its back on Shoreditch and which looks to the City”.

Despite the haste to have the application determined, Hammerson’s representative was unable to give any assurances that its proposed scheme would actually be built in the foreseeable future or that it would not demolish The Light even if the redevelopment did not proceed. Although the grant of planning permission would have increased Hammerson's site value, and deferral of it is a setback, it seems unlikely that it would then have signed up to Hackney deal at this stage.

Lucy Rogers reminded the Committee of all the local community organisations which are affiliated to OPEN's Save Shoredtich campaign and that almost 7,000 people had signed a petition in favour of preserving The Light and that the Council had received 460 written objections to the plan. Only three people wrote in to support the scheme.

Hackney’s Head of Planning tried to support his recommendations that the new tower should be approved by highlighting plans to provide ‘brown space’ on the roof of the skyscrapers for birds to nest in. But when asked if the scheme included adequate space in which children can play, he was forced to admit that facilities fell far short of Greater London Authority standards. It also emerged that the carbon footprint of the new tower barely achieved 50% of the standard set by the GLA.

It is likely that Hammerson will resubmit the Bishops Place, or an revised, scheme once the Council determines the new Conservation area boundaries later this year. The form of any revised scheme will depend upon whether The Light is brought within Conservation Area protection.

OPEN’s Save Shoreditch campaign is a coalition of the following local bodies: Jago Action Group, Boundary Estate Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, North Brick Lane Residents’ Association, Jesus Hospital Estate Residents’ Association, Spitalfields Community Association, Spitalfields Society, Spitalfields Trust, Columbia Neighbourhood Action Group, Columbia Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, Friends of Arnold Circus, Spitalfields Small Business Association, Shoreditch House and individuals and businesses in the area.

When first unveiling its planned £700m Bishops Place scheme Hammeron's Chief Executive, John Richards, told analysts and shareholders of its "unparalleled record of securing and delivering developments to make big profits for shareholders"
Estates Gazette 16.6.07

Fifteen minutes to Save Shoreditch

2008-07-23T22:24:00.000+01:00

Hackney Council will allow the community just 15 minutes on 24 July to persuade its Planning Committee not to give the green light to a new skyscraper development on the City of London's northern boundary in Shoreditch.

City developer Hammerson plc plans to build the 51-storey Bishop's Place tower that would dominate historic south Shoreditch. Redevelopment of the site, Hammerson says, requires the demolition of the historic electricity generating station known as The Light. However an alternative scheme put to the Council shows this claim to be untrue.

Alternative treatment of The Light in Willingale's development

Hackney Council owns most of the development site and it has been banking on the £millions it will make, from its sale option agreement with Hammerson, to pay for a new Town Hall Annexe which is now under construction (see para 5.2 of the linked Report on the Hearn St site).

The Planning Committee meeting now set for 24 July was unscheduled. Hackney has had to obtain a QC’s advice that it could specially convene the meeting before the Hammerson option agreement expires on 31 July and before it considers the long outstanding public consultation on including The Light within the new Shoreditch Conservation Area boundaries. Against the advice of its own independent experts Hackney has been recommending to the public that the Light and other buildings should be excluded. Some of the other buildings have already recently been demolished.

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, a government appointed body which advises on the design of major schemes, has stated in its report that the 'Bishops Place' scheme represents overdevelopment, that it fails to relate to the surrounding area and that it should not be passed in its present form. This conflicts with the advice of the Council’s own Design and Conservation Officer who supports the scheme.

There have so far been 417 letters of objection sent to Hackney Council opposing the Bishop’s Place development but only 3 in favour. Rebecca Collings, Co-Chair of OPEN's Save Shoreditch campaign, said "The decision to approve this building appears to have been made months in advance of this planning meeting by Hackney's executive.This is a strategic site outside the City's existing boundaries. The City’s development partners want to expand north into Shoreditch and, in the process, to establish a precedent for tall buildings in the area – buildings that will overshadow and dominate residential and business communities and contribute very little to local needs."

The image above was produced by the major City developer, Hammerson, to illustrate its vision of a "City Fringe Masterplan". Hammerson has planned massive developments in south Hackney and Bethnal Green. They plan to extend a curtain of towers from Shoreditch High Street eastwards across the Bishopsgate Goodsyard to Brick Lane with buildings up to and exceeding 50 storeys.

Another neighbouring scheme, promoted by Hammerson and the City of London for the Nicholls and Clarke site, is now under appeal following refusal by Tower Hamlets Council because it too failed to relate to the adjacent conservation areas. Tower Hamlets Council have also objected to the Bishop's Place scheme saying that by reason of its bulk, scale and height would fail to either preserve or enhance the Elder street conservation area" contrary to local and national poicies.

However Tower Hamlets has recently issued planning permission for The Block, a tower at the eastern end of the developers arc of skyscraper developments, contrary to its own Design and Conservation Team advice.

This is the proposed 25 storey tower on Bethnal Green Road and Sclater Street planned by Telford Homes and Genesis Partners. OPEN is challanging the planning approval

The £500 million Bishops Place mixed development scheme totals 1.25 hectares and includes 87,000 sq ft of office accommodation, an 80-room hotel and 189 private residential units. The amenties for children will be woefuly inadequate and there will be separate blocks for just 39 intermediate ("affordable") flats and only 11 (5%) flats for social renting.

The Council report recommends that, in addition to the agreed purchase price, Hammerson be required to pay £14 million, as a condition of planning permission, to subsidise some “off-site” affordable housing. Not for the benefit of Shoreditch resdidents, but in Dalston. Last year, after demolishing Dalston Theatre and locally listed Georgian houses, Hackney gave away its development site there for a peppercorn to help finance a £39 million concrete slab for a bus turnaround above the new Transport for London Dalston Junction station. The Dalston developer, Barratt, has been facing extreme financial difficulties recently. The lack of any affordable housing on TfL's Dalston site, despite the authorities 50% affordable housing targets, has been a huge embarrassment to the GLA, TfL and Hackney. By robbing Peter to pay Paul the authorities hope to mitigate the controversy over the Dalston development.

Representatives of many local community organisations, English Heritage, the Hackney Society and the Victorian Society all recommended that 'The Light' building at 233 Shoreditch High Street be included in the South Shoreditch Conservation Area. A petition of 6,757 signatures supports retention of the Light Building. But Hackney’s recommendations to its planning Committee includes the advice that The Light isn’t in the Conservation Area and so no special regard need be had to the effect which its demolition would have on the unique character and distinctiveness of the area.

The grant of planning permission could trigger a watershed test for London Mayor Boris Johnson. If Hackney Councillors give the go-ahead then Boris will then have only 14 days to give the thumbs down otherwise the tower can be built. Boris has recently indicated that he will not generally interfere with local planning decisions, but local residents and businesses will be calling on the Mayor to back their campaign and hold the local authority to account.

OPEN’s Rebecca Collings says the London Mayor would have a duty to intervene "If Hackney approve the scheme Boris will have a golden opportunity to show that he is running London for Londoners – not just for developers with money and influence. He must not allow this development to go ahead unchallenged. We will call upon Mayor Johnson to subject this development to rigorous and unbiased scrutiny. We also call on him to allow a genuine debate about the City Fringe area as a whole."

Save Shoreditch Campaign Exhibition

2008-06-23T18:28:00.000+01:00

Thursday 3 July to Saturday 3 August 2008
Kemistry, 43 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PD
Mon-Fri 09.30-18.00; Sat 11.00-16.00

Stop the Shadow - stop the City's take-over of London’s vibrant cultural heartland.

Proposed massive tower blocks on the City Fringe will dominate, overshadow and blight homes and businesses across Shoreditch and Brick Lane

The image above was produced by the major City developer, Hammerson, to illustrate its vision of a "City Fringe Masterplan". Hammerson has planned massive developments in south Hackney and Bethnal Green. They plan to extend a curtain of towers from Shoreditch High Street eastwards across the Bishopsgate Goodsyard to Brick Lane with buildings up to and exceeding 50 storeys.

The Save Shoreditch Campaign demands:
LOCAL CONSULTATION
A BRAVE NEW MASTERPLAN FOR THE AREA
RESPECT FOR OUR LOCAL HERITAGE AND THE PEOPLE’S NEEDS

Add your voice to those of the local actors and artists who openly support the Campaign including: Stephen Berkoff, Dinos Chapman, Adam Dant, Tracey Emin, Ralph Fiennes, Patrick Hughes, Cornelia Parker, Rachel Whiteread, Tim Noble and Sue Webster.

The exhibition is part of the OPEN Shoreditch campaign to promote excellence in the quality of the built environment.

The Hackney way: Decide first. Ask questions later.

2008-06-08T21:42:00.000+01:00

On 4th June Hackney Council began its long awaited public consultation on the proposed new boundaries for the Shoreditch Conservation Areas. Designation of conservation areas prevents uncontrolled demolition and ensures that any adverse impact of new developments on the distinctivness and character of an area is considered. Changes to conservation area boundaries are therefore of great importance to landowners, developers and to local communties.

Councils are legally obliged to review their conservation areas periodically and to consult the public before approving any changes to them. On 25th February Hackney Council finally considered an independent expert’s appraisal of the buildings of Shoreditch. The appraisal contains recommendations to extend Shoreditch’s conservation areas to include additional buildings. The appraisal commented, for example, that The Light at 233 Shoreditch High Street “makes an important local contribution to the historic townscape character through its continuity of scale, architectural character and quality of design and contruction”. Other buildings were also recommended for inclusion.

However The Light stands on land which Hammerson propose should be redeveloped as a 50 storey towerblock. Hackney Council also owns part of the development site.

The Council's Cabinet Member for Regeneration, and its Director, both recommended that The Light, and additional buildings, should not be included within the new conservation area boundaries. The landowners will therefore not need to seek any approval for their demolition. All the additional buildings identified are, like The Light, also affected by outstanding redevelopment proposals. Indeed some of them have already been demolished.

None of this would be apparent from reading the Council’s public consultation leaflet. It appears to show that it is the independent experts, and not the Council, who are recommending that they be excluded from the Conservation Areas. No explanation is given.

The Council Solicitor’s advice on the form of public consultation was to “ensure that it reflects the Cabinet’s position namely that the premises remain outside the Conservation Area”. The Council is, in effect, consulting on whether it should now change its mind instead of first awaiting the public's views before adopting its "position" - namely to exclude these important buildings and thus allow their uncontrolled demolition.

“Con”(noun) a complicated confidence trick planned and executed with great care; (verb) to deprive of by deceit; (colloquial) abbreviation of public consultation.

Local MP, George Galloway, supports Save the Light campaign

2008-04-28T16:11:00.001+01:00

Watch the Save the Light campaign meeting, with George Galloway MP.

"It goes right to the heart of the lives that people lead and the legacy we leave to future generations."

2008-03-30T22:09:00.000+01:00

Click here to read the speech of Lord Low of Dalston, Patron of OPEN, in a House of Lords debate on architecture and design. Thursday 27 March 2008.

Labour's block vote for The Block

2008-03-18T21:32:00.000Z

On Thursday 13th March 5 Labour Councillors on the Tower Hamlets planning committee voted as one to approve this property developers' application to built 12 to 25 storey towerblocks at Sclater Street/Bethnal Green Road. The committee members from the Conservative, Respect and LibDem parties voted against it, but were outnumbered by 5 votes to 4

The proposed development will tower over the local conservation areas and the local community. A 70 metre long wall of 12 to 20 storey towers coming right up to the edge of the pavement will permanently cast deep shadows over the narrow Bethnal Green Road and beyond. Hundreds of local residents and businesses, the long-established local artistic community and English Heritage strongly objected to the proposal. Developers will claim the approval as a precedent paving the way for further soulless development. It jeopardises meaningful input from the community into plans for the future of this historic area.
The week had seen extensive press coverage which you can read about here and here.

The only justification the community has been given is the London Mayor’s support for tall buildings and the "City Fringe" draft planning document which sees the Bishopsgate Goodsyard as an ideal location for tall buildings. This document has neither been consulted upon nor approved. Mayor Livingstone now has 14 days to consider the application and decide whether to overule the committee's decision.
But we are losing confidence in the Mayor to do the right thing when we read stories like this and this
If you want to understand what's at stake for our community then watch the videos made by OPENshoreditch members here or click on the link "Stop the block. Save the light" above.

One man, two opinions

2008-03-07T15:22:00.000Z

When recommending that The Light should not be protected from demolition by its inclusion in the Shoreditch Conservation Area, Hackney Council's Conservation Officer advised its Cabinet on 25 February 2008 that "it does not form an integral part of the pattern of Victorian commercial buildings and small scale workshops to the rear that have been identified as forming a significant characteristic of this part of the conservation area".

The Light before redevelopment

Curiously this uniform pattern of building type appears to have entirely disappeared from the Conservation Officer's view five days later when, in a memo dated 30 February (sic), he advised the Council’s Planning Officer that the context of the proposed 51-storey Bishops Place development, which would involve demolition of The Light, " is one of extremely varied streetscapes, contrasting massing and dramatic changes of scale...different types of urban fabric"

The Light extinguished after redevelopment

The Conservation Officer's two contrasting views of the area can, of course, have nothing to do with the fact that his employer, Hackney Council, stands to make a small fortune as the landowner of part of the site if it gives planning permission for the demolition of The Light and its redevelopment as Bishop's Place.

Council documents show that its windfall is not to be spent on improvements for Shoreditch people - it's earmarked for a swanky new Town Hall extension in Mare Street. One hopes that when residents emerge from the shadows of Shoreditch, to go and pay their Council Tax in Hackney, they will feel a sense of civic pride in what the Council has created.

Shoreditch and Brick Lane under threat

2008-02-23T00:21:00.000Z

Click here to find out what you can do

Scary stuff at Sclater Street

2008-02-15T13:22:00.000Z

This is the proposed 25 storey tower on Bethnal Green Road and Sclater Street planned by Telford Homes and Genesis Partners. It would cast neighbouring houses and Bethnal Green Road into permanent shadow.

Another planned development, "Bishop's Place", is a 51 storey tower on the junction of Shoreditch High Street/Norton Folgate and Worship street. Proposed by private developers, Hammerson, and designed by Foster and Partners it would be a hotel, office and apartment complex that forces demolition of the Light Bar building, a beacon at the edge of Shoreditch. The towers would dwarf and overshadow the area (see more: Mammon is at the gates of Shoreditch below

The future of over 13 acres of land in Shoreditch and Bethnal Green is currently in the hands of private developers, Hammerson and Ballymore, who want to build a forest of towers containing 1,700,000 sq ft of City office space.

The GLA, Hackney and Tower Hamlets have no combined masterplan or detailed local policies to steer development for this significant part of London.

OPENshoreditch, a growing coalition of local individuals, businesses and residents' groups, believes this situation is undemocratic and wrong.

But the planning applications for two sites will soon go before Hackney and Tower Hamlets councils.

Take action NOW by writing a letter of objection to each of these planning departments.

To object to the Sclater Street tower write to:
Shay Bugler
Development and Renewal, Town Planning
Tower Hamlets Council
Mulberry Place PO Box 55739
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 1BY
Email: shay.bugler@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Application no. PA/07/02193
(32-42 Bethnal Green Road)

To object to the "Bishop's Place" towers, and the demolition of The Light Bar building, write to:
Andrew Dillon
Planning Services
London Borough of Hackney
263 Mare Street
London E8 3HT
Email: Andrew.Dillon@hackney.gov.uk
re. application no. 2007/2227
(“Bishop’s Place” Development, Worship Street EC2)

Sign the petition against demolition of The Light Bar by following the link at the top of the page.

The worship of Mammon

2008-02-03T20:37:00.000Z

Dr Simon Thurley, head of English Heritage, has criticised placing high rise buildings in inapproriate settings - using his home town of King's Lynn, Norfolk as an example. "The Council is frightened by developers" he said "development is money"

Unveiling its planned £700m Bishops Place scheme Hammeron's Chief Executive, John Richards, told analysts and shareholders of its "unparalleled record of securing and delivering developments to make big profits for shareholders"
Estates Gazette 16.6.07

The Worship of Mammon 1909 by Evelyn de Morgan

Mammon is at the gates of Shoreditch

2008-02-01T13:09:00.000Z

A full house attended the OPENshoreditch public meeting on the 17th of January to seek information and express dismay at the development proposals for the former Railtrack sites off Shoreditch High Street. This turnout contrasts with the developer, Hammerson's, own public consultations in July 2007 which, despite circulating thousands of glossy leaflets, only managed to attract 22 people.

The meeting’s venue was on the historic Boundary Estate, the oldest council estate in the country, which will be severely affected by the developments planned. Residents learned of the Greater London Authority (GLA) report that "the site is part of an arc of potential development along... Shoreditch High Street and into the Bishopsgate Goodsyard" .

A number of speakers expressed anxiety about the height and density of the proposed developments. One feared that the wall of high-rise towers could cast shadows over homes and public spaces reaching as far as the Regents Canal in winter months. Residents' fears were heightened by the lack of public consultation both by the developers and Hackney and Tower Hamlets planning authorities and these Councils' failure to even have a masterplan for the sites. The proposals presently seem to be geared at securing maximum profits for the developer at the expense of the local community, which would suffer overshadowing and wind tunnel effect, increase in energy bills, deterioration of TV reception and light pollution.

There were also significant concerns for the loss of historic buildings and erosion of the character of the neighbouring conservation areas. Conservation-led regeneration has transformed Shoreditch into a popular tourist and entertainment destination and home to creative industries. The homogenised over-development dwarfing its surroundings will forever destroy the unique character of this area, full of fascinating history.

The Light before redevelopment

James Goff, the owner of the Light Bar at 233 Shoreditch High Street, made a heartfelt plea to help him save this historic building, which would be replaced by a 51 storey hotel.

The Light extinguished after redevelopment

Mark Willingale, the architect who has designed the Norton Cross alternative plan for the site, explained the benefits of his scheme, which retains The Light and creates better pedestrian permeability and better public open space.

Alternative treatment of The Light in Willingale's development

Leader of the campaign for a park on Bishopsgate Goodsyard, Brad Lochore, produced the 2002 Greater London Authority (GLA) document pledging to create a masterplan for the site. Not only have the local community been let down by it reneging on that promise but now Mayor Livingstone's GLA has confirmed support for Hammerson's Bishop’s Place scheme. But the scheme fails to comply with the London Plan. There is an absence of any meaningful benefits to the community. The affordable housing and provision for children (even including the planned roof top play areas) do not begin to meet the minimum required standards. The scheme fails to comply with guidelines on sustainable design and renewable energy use.
Bill Parry-Davies, from OPENdalston, warned that although the Hamerson scheme has been roundly criticised by both CABE and English Heritage, a recent Council report had described the risk of its Planning Committee refusing permission as "slim".

The desperate for cash Council own some of the development site. Hackney's Mayor Pipe has already earmarked the sale proceeds to fund plans for a grand £45 million Town Hall extension which, it is said , will engender civic pride. Hackney hopes that the people of Shoreditch will agree.

With some of the best architects in the world living in London there is no reason why this project should not exemplify best practice in town planning and sustainability. But the overwhelming feeling was that without well-organised and widespread community involvement neither the GLA nor the local authorities will adequately protect the local community from the negative impacts of this massive development and nor will they secure any significant benefits.
The meeting ended with an endorsement for OPENshoreditch as a means of bringing together local groups and individuals to press for the publication of all relevant information, the observance of due process, meaningful consultation and the securing of community benefit- as well as organising local opposition to the loss of the Light Bar.

There is no time to lose. Sign the petition to save the Light Bar by following the link above to Save the Light
Object to this development by emailing andrew.dillon@hackney.gov.uk quoting the planning application reference 2007/2227 Bishops Place - Land fronting Worship Street...EC2. Copy your email to info@openshoreditch.net Alternatively write to Andrew Dillon at London Borough of Hackney, Neighbourhood Regeneration Directorate, 263 Mare Street, London E8 3HT

Don't miss this OPENshoreditch meeting

2008-01-12T13:18:00.001Z

Click images to enlarge. For more detail, see below.

The developers' vision casts shadows over Shoreditch

2008-01-08T12:01:00.000Z

The image above was produced by the major City developer, Hammerson, to illustrate its vision of a "City Fringe Masterplan". Hammerson has planned massive developments in south Hackney and Bethnal Green. They plan to extend a curtain of towers from Shoreditch High Street eastwards across the Bishopsgate Goodsyard to Brick Lane with buildings up to and exceeding 50 storeys.
You can be assured that these plans have been discussed, and even agreed in principle, with the Hackney and Tower Hamlets Councils and with the Greater London Authority. Hackney's "Tall Buildings Strategy" has already identified parts of south Shoreditch as an "opportunity area for the location of tall buildings".

The first step in this encroachment of City towerblock development into Shoreditch is to be Hammerson's Bishops Place development designed by Norman Foster's architects. It will seek to redefine the City's boundaries. The planning application for this is to be considered by Hackney's Planning C ommittee on 23 January 2008.An inital report on the scheme by the Greater London Authority dated 12 December 2007 states that "the principle of the development is supported".

In 1990 English Heritage had objected to earlier proposals for developing the Bishops Place site because it made "no attempt to step down in scale from the height and mass... to the traditional and historic scale... of the buildings in Shoreditch... fails to pay any attention to the setting of the conservation area". Hammerson's scheme is twice the height and also completely fails to acknowledge its context.

The many listed and locally listed buildings of Shoreditch presently reflect its fascinating history. In 1991 the Hackney Council identified Shoreditch as a priority area and designated 2 conservaton areas "to offer protection to those publicly cherished historic areas under threat from redevelopment or unsympathetic change... [there is] a significant threat of redevelopment connected with the incursion of office functions from the City"

Hammerson's new proposals for Bishops Place have attracted extensive criticism from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. CABE identifies the scheme's canyon effect, its overdevelopment, the difficulty to navigate particularly for the visually impaired, its overbearing nature, the real risk of creating inhospitable microclimates and a "failure to relate to the inherent grain or character of South Shoreditch in terms of use and scale [which] represents a fundimental flaw in the proposals... We do not think the proposal should gain planning permission in its current form"

Developments of this scale will not only destroy the setting of Shoreditch's historic streetscape, they will also cast many commercial and residential buildings into shade. The developers will have already considered this and hired big guns to present their proposals most favourably. They will also have budgeted for compensation payments to those with rights to light and assessed the risk of Court injunctions being upheld to stop the redevelopment.
Although CABE opposes the present scheme, will this stop Hackney? Hackney Council owns land on the footprint of the proposed Bishops Place development. It has a substantial financial interest in the outcome of the application being made to its Planning Committee by Hammerson. Hackney stands to receive around £10 million in "planning gain" (Section 106) money. In addition Hackney will receive a significant capital receipt from the sale of its site to Hammerson under a long standing "option agreement". Regretable the sale proceeds won't be reinvested to benefit Shoreditch's prosperity - because they are already earmarked to pay for the Council's £45 million Town Hall extension plans. A recent report on those plans acknowledges their dependance on the Hammerson sale and describes the risk of not getting planning permission as "slim"

Also on the site stands The Light which was built in 1893. The Light played an important role in the evolution of the Great Eastern Railways when it generated the first electric light to Liverpool Street Station and the Great Eastern Hotel. It continued to provide electricity until the 1930s but the building then fell into disrepair. The current owners have transformed it into a popular bar and restaurant.

Hackney say that The Light was not included in the Shoreditch Conservation area in 1991, although some area maps show the contrary. Councillors' subsequent recommendations, and independent experts' reports, regarding a possible extension of the conservation area to include The Light have mysteriously not yet been produced or formally considered by Hackney Council. Inclusion within the Conservation Area could protect this important building. The Light, and neighbouring historic buildings, are under direct threat of demolition by the Hammerson/Hackney scheme. English Heritage have previously objected to the demolition of The Light which had been "repaired and converted... in an exemplary manner, which enhances the setting of the conservation area", but the GLA report states that "the loss of the building is regretted".

Hammerson's proposed Bishops Place development is being contrasted with an alternative scheme designed by local architects Willingale Associates which provides a similar mix of uses in a development of comparable scale but which retains the historic buildings and creates a new route through Shoreditch. Willingale’s plan accommodates large floorplate offices at high level while retaining the historic streets and passages below. It also retains The Light, while creating a new pedestrian route on the line of the former Broadgate Viaduct through to a focal point of the conservation area on Great Eastern Street. This alternative schemes shows that destruction of Shoreditch's historic environment is completely unnecessary.

Hackney and East London suffered badly in the 1960s from ill-considered residential tower blocks dominating and destroying communities. Will the same mistake happen again in the second millennium? Keeping The Light would preserve a historic industrial building that needs no ongoing funding. It supports a thriving business and employs local people. Saving buildings like The Light, and protecting the setting of local landmarks and listed buildings within the Shoreditch Conservation Area, which could sit comfortably alongside appropriate modern development, will balance out the street scene, provide historic continuity and connect us to our heritage and identity. The Hackney Society said “We hope the building, which has occupied a landmark position in the area for over a century, is preserved for future generations."Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for the planning application to be turned down. In 2000 over 1500 friends and customers helped The Light successfully fight a planning application by Railtrack to demolish The Light and construct a raft over the train lines of Liverpool Street station. See Save The Light

OPEN is to hold a public meeting on 17th January to discuss these proposals.

Contact info@openshoreditch.net for further details or watch this space.