Notes from the East End Waterway Group


Here are some notes from the EEWG that provide background information to help you to understand why this application is facing so many hurdles.

Status of the Planning Application

The Bow Wharf application is likely to go to the Development Committee on Thursday 11th April

An online petition is available and you can sign it via http://residents-first.co.uk/

Description of the proposals

Trudy Wilton's excellent photograph shows the main, mostly open part of the application site at the western end of Bow Wharf; and, to the left of Stock Lock Bridge (over the narrow entrance to the Hertford Union Canal), part of the derelict warehouse. This is to be demolished for proposed block A and a short but tall terrace of three-storey houses.

The west end of proposed block A and the roofs of the terraced houses are seen on the left of the applicant's AERIAL VIEW Of PROPOSALS, with the bridge leading to the proposed piazza. This is overwhelmed by proposed block B which would replace the adjacent three-storey warehouse as the most dominant building at Bow Wharf. Next to proposed block B is proposed Block C, which is not only right next to the Regent's Canal towpath but also cuts the 'green chain' between Wennington Green (Mile End Park) and Victoria Park. Also note the loss of the tall sycamore trees alongside the narrow Stop Lock Passage. These trees are part of the 'green chain' of trees and historic open spaces linking the Borough's two largest parks. The disused car park is the surviving western part of what was an open stone wharf, served by the surviving single-storey cottages on the right, which are to be demolished for proposed block C

The west ends of all three oversized blocks look like Swiss chalets, and with projecting balconies and crude dormers clash with the two locally-listed industrial buildings, in this the most attractive part of the Borough's six-mile waterway 'ring'.

News Flash (March 2012)

Following the withdrawal from the Development Committee meeting on 8 March, the applications for Bow Wharf and Lock Stop Bridge did not go to the planning committee: mainly because of ongoing negotiations re existing fire engine route, which is to be tested by a fire engine - now the application is back.

We, the undersigned local residents, object to planning applications PA/11/03371 and 03372 for the proposed residential development at BOW WHARF, which fail to comply with three relevant planning inspectorate decisions; and would cause substantial harm to the significance of the most important part of the Regent's Canal Conservation Area, and to the setting of the two locally-listed industrial buildings at Bow Wharf (as fully set out in East End Waterway Group letters of 29 November 2011 and 20 April 2012, and nearly seventy letters of objection from local residents). And would, in our opinion, be reliant on two unsatisfactory and potentially dangerous fire engine routes, only accessible by a 7.7m long wheelbase fire tender vehicle.



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