Wanstead weekend photo, XXII

baedeker
© Geoff Wilkinson, who writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “I am lucky enough to have a copy of Baedeker’s 1905 ‘London and its Environs’, it’s full of fascinating facts. For instance you could get a room with bath at the Savoy Hotel for 9 shillings and 6 pence – about £27:24 in today’s money. Page 435 describes an excursion on Great Eastern Railway to Epping and beyond that passes through Snaresbrook and mentions the Infant Orphan Asylum ‘with accommodation for 300 children’ and Wanstead Park ‘(184 acres) in which is a heronry’ and finally Wanstead Flats – ‘another public park’. It’s so interesting, I wish the writer had lingered a little longer in Wanstead.”

Parking around Wanstead High St: The pressure builds

parkingThe opponents of the increased restrictions on parking on streets around Wanstead High Street have started mobilising their campaign ahead of a review of the schemes which is due next month.

At a council meeting in Wanstead earlier this week, business owners and opponents of the restrictions lobbied Redbridge councillors. The campaigners who last year collected more than 5,000 signatures against proposed pay and display machines have begun campaigning again.

Residents’ only parking was introduced for a 12-month period last year on several roads in central Wanstead, including Spratt Hall Road, Dangan Road, Addison Road and others. The introduction came after residents showed that websites were advising commuters that they could easily park on the streets during the day for easy access to the Central Line. As a result it became impossible for many residents to park near their homes. Councillors say they had to respond to the residents’ concerns.

The restrictions had their desired effect – one resident of Spratt Hall Road said approvingly that there were so few cars parked there during the day that it was like the aftermath of a nuclear war. But casual shoppers, shopkeepers, local business and parents dropping children at nurseries and schools were not so impressed, saying it made central Wanstead like a no-go zone. As Wansteadium noted earlier this year, the residents’ only parking was extended to an area outside Christ Church where there were not actually any residents.

Wansteadium reader Diana Watson said there was “vociferous opposition” at the Area 1 committee meeting held on Monday this week.  She said the overwhelming suggestion of people in attendance was the reintroduction of a one  or two-hour parking ban each morning to exclude commuters but allow “the good people of Wanstead to go about their business and avail themselves of the activities and services in the community”.

Campaigner Michael Powis has now contacted supporters to encourage them to contact the council ahead of next month’s review. He says: “These were popular places for people to stop off for an hour or two and park to visit the shops, cafes, doctors and voluntary community activities etc. etc. Surrounding roads, where the one hour ban has worked for many, many years, have now experienced displaced parking, further restricting usage of spaces.” He says the restrictions create an atmosphere “which says KEEP OUT to the visitors that help support our High Street, which residents alone cannot sustain”.

Residents of the streets in question, who according to surveys support the measures, are not likely to be happy with the “one hour ban” proposal since without some greater refinement it would it impossible for them to leave their cars outside their own homes during the day. At an area two committee earlier this year one resident suggested that the residents parking system be retained, but be restricted in its hours of operation to 0930-1030 each weekday. This would, he said, keep commuters out, allow residents to park, but also allow community use during the day.

The campaign is likely to heat up further during the next few weeks, but the council and its officials find themselves in a tricky position where they will have to find a balance between the interests of residents and the wider community.

Letter to Wansteadium: Let me let

Wansteadium reader Mehvish writes:

Dear Wansteadium,
I was wondering if you could help me. A number of shops on the High St have closed down or are closing down, sadly. However more often than not no sign goes up to say they are available for rent – a new business just pops up! How do the new vendors manage to get their hands on the premises- who is in charge? I am interested in renting a shop but always seem to be too late!

Answers welcome via Comments below.

Evergreen Field: A huge victory for the Wanstead Society. Or, alternatively, nothing much

evergreen1The Wanstead Society has scored a historic victory in its long-running struggle to prevent development on the Evergreen Field on Wanstead High Street. Or, perhaps, they haven’t.

What they *have* achieved is to get council backing for their scheme to transform the field into a community resource including a “circular meadow surrounded by woodland, with new access points, improved edges to Christchurch Green and a opening through trees framing the church spire”. It also proposes that the meadow be used for public or private events – including

  • Maypole dancing
  • an outdoor harvest festival
  • a snowcrowd on 1 Jan
  • a temporary marquee for events like antiques fairs, wedding receptions or outdoor theatre

The plans (see full application here) would look something like this:

Councillors on the Redbridge regional planning committee approved the plan at a meeting at Wanstead Church School on Wednesday night, sparking several celebratory tweets.

So does that mean an end to the plans, recapped in full here in the first instalment of Tales from Evergreen Field, for flats, shops, mosques, vegetable patches, luxury apartments or starter homes? Err… no. Not necessarily, for one very obvious reason: the Wanstead Society doesn’t own the land.

So what exactly was the point of the meeting, and what does the decision really mean?

Redbridge councillor Paul Canal told Wansteadium: “Planning application approved, but as WS do not own site, academic. May increase protection. Key protection planning designation.”

Wansteadium will be seeking further clarification about what, if anything, this decision changes, and we’ll bring it to you here.

 Update, Thursday 8am

Wansteadium reader and Wanstead Society member Roger Estop writes:

There is now a planning permission for multi-use open space on Evergreen Field – the first time it has ever had an approved use. This establishes the principle of a suitable use for land that has lain vacant and useless for years – but whose openness is an essential part of the Wanstead scenery.

Rather than waiting for the worst and reacting against unsuitable development, the Wanstead Society proactively followed its vision. ‘We don’t own the land, but we feel the land belongs to Wanstead’, say the Society. After years of limbo, we want the community to shape its future.

The planning application raised awareness of the field and caught people’s imagination – there have been a variety of views about how it should be used. The permission sets a new baseline for the owner’s proposals – it means any alternative development will get intense scrutiny.

It is the first time there has been an intelligent response to the Council’s planning policy to protect the open space. This policy has existed for several years, yet the long term owner did not address the policy and sold the land to a new buyer, despite its statutory policy against development.

The Society now has to carefully consider ways forward. It has to define a practicable use, set how the land would be brought into use and how it would be managed in the long term. This has to be done in a creative, realistic and collaborative way – hopefully with the Wanstead-based owner, but also with local organisations and councilors.

Update, Thursday 3pm

The agent for Dalbir Singh Sanger, the owner of Evergreen Field, has told the Wanstead Guardian:

 “My client has plans for a small development there, with the addition of handing over 50 per cent back to the community in a very similar scheme.”

Wanstead good news roundup

A good news special.

• Natalie Lee, of Gordon Road, who runs a blog aimed at stylish mums, Style Me Sunday, is in the final of a national blogging competition. It’s a good looking blog, which has about 6,000 visits a month. You can vote for it in the competition by going here.

• You can also show your support for fellow Wanstead creative, singer Liza Finn (aka @LizaFinnSinger on Twitter). She is looking for backers – supporters who will put up as little as £1 each – to fund the recording of an EP. Her Kickstarter campaign to raise the funding starts on Wednesday.

• And good news too from Hermon Hill. Wanstead Methodist Church has decided to launch a youth club for 10-16-year-olds, which is good news in itself. But they are serious about doing it properly and are recruiting two part time youth workers. More details of how to apply are on this flyer (but applications close on 25 March).

• Finally, collections of garden waste start again from 2 April, and for the first time they will be a year-round feature. Whereas in previous years they have stopped in the Autumn, from this year they will be continuing, thanks to a government grant won by Redbridge Council. Quite how much garden rubbish there will be to collect during the winter remains to be seen, but the development is welcome nonetheless.