The developer hopes to overturn councillors’ decision to refuse the scheme By Waltham Forest Echo
An artist’s impression of the proposed development (Credit: Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects)
A developer whose plan to build two seven-storey flat blocks in Highams Park was rejected earlier this year is now fighting to overturn the decision.
In March, Atlantis Highams – run by director Morris Nourani – was refused permission by Waltham Forest Council to build 68 flats between Highams Park Station and Larkshall Road.
At the planning committee meeting on 1st March, objectors argued the scheme would threaten the area’s “village-like” heritage, while councillors questioned the lack of affordable housing.
On 19th August, Atlantis Highams appealed this decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, who will hold a hearing at an as-yet undecided date.
At the meeting in March, chair of Highams Park Community Interest Company, Gordon Turpin, told councillors the proposed flats would “decimate” the area.
(Credit: Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects)
He said: “The main feature of the area is the railway station and that is what Highams Park was developed around… The station will be totally overwhelmed by a seven storey building over it.”
He added that more than two thirds of consulted residents objected to the scheme, claiming: “They thought over-urbanisation is not a price worth paying.”
The council’s planning officer Sarah Parsons meanwhile encouraged committee members to be “pragmatic”, as the station building is not listed or a protected asset.
She added: “Just because a new development is visible behind a building it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s harmful.
“[If the] buildings behind that station are of high quality, what they’re providing is a backdrop to the building rather than an overwhelmingly harmful impact.”
Four of the committee’s five members defied officers’ advice and rejected the scheme.
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