Leyton News

Campaigners warn against development on Leyton floodplain

Towers, between 18 to 30 storeys tall, could overlook Hackney Marshes and the Old River Lea, an area campaigners have called an ‘ecologically sensitive’, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

A vista on the River Lea near Leyton Mills, the site of the proposed towers

The potential for new skyscrapers on a Leyton floodplain has caused environmental campaigners to raise concerns they could worsen flooding and inequalities for locals.

The council’s Local Plan, which lays the groundwork for 27,000 new homes to be built in the borough by 2035, says tower blocks between 18 and 30 storeys tall “may be acceptable” in the New Spitalfields Market.

Every local authority across the UK has been asked to produce a local plan. The plans themselves do not include specific proposals and are instead used to guide development by private developers.

The council says the major programme will include flood mitigation measures and help ease its “severe housing shortage,” but members of the Save Lea Marshes campaign have rallied against the potential environmental and social impacts.

In 2021, the borough was badly flooded following a period of torrential rain. Walthamstow, Wood Street, Leyton and Leytonstone were the worst affected areas, according to a council report.

A spokesperson for the campaign told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) there were concerns that building on flood zones, as in the case of the New Spitalfields development, was “increasing the risk of it happening again”.

The 2021 floods caused up to £16.4million in damage.

Ahsan Khan, the deputy leader of the council, told the LDRS: “The Local Plan sets out how any future proposals will be required to improve the ecology and biodiversity of the area, significantly reduce existing flood risk, and deliver new green spaces whilst improving air quality.

“These improvements would be secured because of high quality development, not despite it.”

The council also believes the risk can be mitigated by ‘uncovering’ the Dagenham Brook and Fillebrook River, which are culverted through the New Spitalfields zone.

The Dagenham Brook

The bulk of the new development would be concentrated in the south of the borough, which is more deprived in relation to the north.

The campaigner said: “This is all in the south, which is already deprived and where people experience the worst health outcomes.

“Putting close to 10,000 people in the most deprived parts is the opposite of good planning and is frankly unacceptable.”

She added: “Putting this on the poorest part of the borough is wrong.”

Some 128 sites across Waltham Forest have been earmarked for potential development as part of the Local Plan.

They include Lea Bridge gasworks, where plans for 643 new homes were greenlit in July, and industrial zones in Lammas Road, Orient Way, and Montague Road, all areas the council says are suitable for tall buildings.

However, the Save Lea Marshes group has pushed for “low-rise local industrial buildings only,” due to the “overcrowded” surroundings.

The campaigner said that increasing housing density would also overwhelm the borough’s parks and green spaces.

She added: “If they do build all these new developments, the East London Waterworks Park (ELWP) will be needed more than ever.”

The ELWP charity has eyed the Thames Water depot for a wild swimming park and café, but the government hopes to build a secure children’s home on the land. The Department for Education is currently working on the proposals.

Cllr Khan said: “The Local Plan guides new homes, workspaces, or infrastructure for previously developed sites like New Spitalfields Market, which currently have little to no green space or biodiversity on them.

“The development of these sites in accordance with our Local Plan would create new biodiverse, accessible, safe open spaces as well as introduce ‘sustainable drainage systems’ to reduce flood risk.”

Private developers base their applications on local plans, using them as indicators for which type of development is needed in which location.

Cllr Khan continued: “For decades, the UK simply hasn’t built enough homes. Population growth and a lack of housebuilding has led to soaring house prices in the whole of London, including Waltham Forest.

“If we don’t build enough homes in the borough, our young people will never be able to purchase their own home and we will never deliver enough affordable housing to meet the needs of the 6,000 people on our housing register.”

The busiest area would be Walthamstow, where 14 parcels of land have been earmarked for hundreds of homes.

The council’s consultation window on the Local Plan closed on 9th October. It will next go before independent examiners.


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