Evergreen owner ‘not a wind-up’

The owner of the much disputed Evergreen Field in Wanstead High Street is not seeking to wind up the people of Wanstead, a representative told a meeting held as part of the Wanstead Fringe. But neither is he seeking to sell the land.

Dalbir Singh Sanger, whose Dalco company apparently tried to sell the land earlier this year, is seeking to work with the community to find a way through the impasse, a property consultant told the meeting on his behalf.

Residents at the meeting, entitled the Evergreen Conundrum and held at the Cherry Tree cafe, asked if he would consider removing the black plastic sheeting currently screening off the field from view, as a sign of his goodwill.

Councillors at the meeting said, however, that an application to install a fence around the field was due to be considered by the conservation committee.

The meeting was arranged by organiser Roger Estop to discuss ‘blue sky options’ for the future of the field, and was attended by residents, local businesses and councillors. Some people left the meeting, objecting that options which included any development at all were being discussed.

Here are Wansteadium’s tweets of the event.

8 thoughts on “Evergreen owner ‘not a wind-up’”

  2. This is looking like classic Wanstead.

    Have a good moan, suggest some ideas and when it comes to paying for it; have a quick cough and head home.

  3. Pingback: Today at the Wanstead Fringe, day 4

  4. Step back a second people.

    Someone has bought land and had a plan. Ok he may not have thought it through before purchasing the land but he still owns it.

    The Council will at the end of the day decide what can and what cannot go there. BUT the owner should not be bullied into ‘giving’ the land back to the community. A compromise needs to be reached, land swap sounds like a viable solution to me. Why should the current owner lose out financially? Maybe the community (cougher’s) should come up with a fund raising plan and purchase the land from the current owner. Then as a community we can all jump through the hoops with the council to build a ‘lido’ or build a ‘travel hub’ – both of which require funding to maintain them. The ‘travel hub’ will invite crime also.. It is inevitable that scooters/bikes will be targeted and stolen, especially with no Police Station (thanks voters of the Conservatives and Boris.. You only have yourself to blame).

    Also I cannot believe that we have a Green Party posting propaganda through letterboxes trying to run Provender out of business, yet they seem to be very quiet about some green land in the need of action…

    If I was the owner and I knew that two detached houses were on the land previously, I would be building two houses on the land and getting my money back. If it comes to a vote for this solution, it already has mine.

    I have been here with conservation committees before. The whole conservation thing goes out of the window most of the time and personal preference of a group of friends in a room (a group it is very hard to get involved in unless you know one of them) is the winner.

  5. I missed the discussion last night but I think a lido/swimming pool would be a fantastic addition to Wanstead – number 10 on places to live. It would be good to do something with this space that suits adults and children. It’s a shame the owner has put bin bags around it, not sure what he’s trying to achieve as it’s protected by a fence anyway. But it’s remained empty for so long, would be good to think about how best this acre can enhance Wanstead.

  6. The council claim they couldn’t buy /compulsory purchase it when it came on the market last year for just over £200,000. The present owner, an established developer, bought it based on ‘hope value’ despite the restrictions (I’d never heard of ‘hope value’ until last night’s meeting). The owner is not a philanthropist. He took a gamble and had a ‘grand plan’ . It remains to be seen whether his gamble paid off but this saga could run for another 40 years.

  7. Clearly this land could be bought by the Council given a reasoned case and due process but i’ll suggest its not really something you are likely to see from ‘back foot’ LB Redbridge, or our current range of Councillors.

    I’ve been wondering about home rule for Wanstead for sometime, as I think we get a poor deal in Redbridge, not just in terms of share investment/spend but also the relevance of some services; notably Planning.

  8. £200,000 … They probably needed the money to transport their cats around in Taxis.. Oh hang on, didn’t they sack a council worker and waste the money in the legal case the other year?

    At times Redbridge is not with the current time and members of the secret handshake Conservation Club hardly help matters.

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