Snaresbrook is changing

Former Bombetta

Things are changing in Snaresbrook. The last remains of Bombetta have, sadly, been removed from Station Approach. On the other side of the High Street there is the positive development of the former Keaton’s office becoming occupied by a new gym, and a generally good feeling about the row of shops – not least Buller & Rice and the impressive SP coffee shop.

However the notice at the station outweighs them all. The development planned for the car park is fiercely opposed by residents who say it is far too big and too tall for the space it will sit on. New homes are needed and welcome, but building developments have to be appropriate to the space they want to occupy.

New gym

Block blocked

Via Redbridge Planning

A planning application to put a five-story apartment building on Highstone Avenue, off Cambridge Park, has been rejected by Redbridge planners.

The rejection read: “The proposal, by reason of its scale, massing, cramped layout and close proximity to the Victorian host building, in the context of the two storey houses on Highstone Avenue and Chestnut Drive, would be harmful to the appearance of the streetscene and an overdevelopment of the site.”

It also said that the proposed flats would “provide substandard residential accommodation as there would a significant number of flats with substandard private balconies by area and depth, and no communal amenity space provided for future occupiers either”.