Author: Wansteadium

Redbridge enforcement officers have stopped construction work on Evergreen Field until planning conditions have been met.

As we reported earlier this month the site was cleared of undergrowth and some trees were removed before the blue hoardings were installed. It is believed a complaint from a member of the public led to the council’s enforcement action.

After years of controversy, a plan was approved last year to build 24 flats on the site.

A council spokesperson told Wansteadium: “Our Planning Enforcement Team has visited the site and spoken with the developers. We requested that all works cease until the planning conditions have been approved. We remain in dialogue with the developer to ensure this remains the case.”

The original planning permission had 41 conditions attached, including one relating to an “arboricultural method statement” which would detail the protection of trees that are to be retained. It is believed that the complaint related to trees on the site, some of which are Holm Oak, an evergreen strain which is said to have given the site its name.

The developer has applied to remove of the conditions relating to how the construction work takes place, including parking, dust and air quality, safe pedestrian access and minimising the effect on the local environment. Their suggested plan covers similar ground and has an assurance that “the contractor will liaise closely with the neighbours, local residents and the Local Authority throughout the works in order to ensure that the works cause no disruption and that the appropriate consultations take place”.

The third Wanstead Beer Festival is taking place on October 4 and tickets are now available.

The event will again be taking place at Christchurch Halls and will feature more than 50 beers from across the country, including many local breweries. There will also be cider, gin and wine, plus soft drinks. Food will also be available. Tickets cost £10, which includes a special Wanstead Beer Festival glass. All proceeds will go to local good causes.

“We hope to get even more people attending this year. The first two years certainly proved the popularity of a beer festival in Wanstead, so come along and share a beer with friends and neighbours,” said Paul Donovan, WBF organiser.

The orphaned, much-abused phone box outside Wanstead station is being adopted by the fine folk who run Wanstead House, we hear. Congratulations and thanks to them from a grateful community.

But on the other hand, this is an improvement on what was there before…

The inevitable is upon us – the start of the process which will turn the unlovely-but-green Evergreen Field into a block of 24 flats. The site was this week cleared of undergrowth and some trees giving the first view in a long time of the uninterrupted site.

Planning permission was given by Redbridge nearly a year ago for the building scheme, and it seems the site is now being readied for construction to begin.

A campaign by former Wanstead Society stalwart Kat Ibrahim to get BT to look after the phone box outside Wanstead Tube had a temporary victory before vandals struck again.

Though not now functioning telephonically, the iconic Giles Gilbert Scott phone box itself is listed and is one of just two left in Redbridge. A campaign in 2021 to have it restored was successful, but the kiosk was vandalised.

Following lobbying by Kat, BT re-restored the box earlier this month, and the windows have since been re-daubed by muppets. (No offence to actual Muppets.)

A sign in the window says the box could be ‘adopted’, but since it is on public ground it’s not clear that anyone except Redbridge could do this. A longer term answer is clearly needed or the box seems destined to end up at the Chigwell Road recycling centre.