Thread by @Andrewwood17

Yesterday I had a bad day, found more evidence that Tower Hamlets Council has not really changed since 2014 & in some respects has got worse in the last 6 years
I spotted by accident the start of South Poplar Masterplan, it started Tuesday, nobody told me had started although
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60% of the masterplan area is in my ward
I subsequently found 1 Tweet & 1 Facebook post which I had missed but nothing on my email

https://twitter.com/TowerHamletsNow/status/1303664704255123456?s=20

Engagement with stakeholders started 5 weeks ago, guess I am not a stakeholder worth talking to as nobody contacted me
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That is fine, but what really annoyed me was the consultation itself, its crap, it treats local people as children, which surprised me as I thought @soundingsoffice normally did good work
Have a look here
talk.towerhamlets.gov.uk/southpoplar
You cannot even read the diagrams clearly as the
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the resolution is set too low (even if you try & zoom in)
Then the questions on the 1st poll
You can only pick 2 of 6 options - all 6 are things we need locally
But next question allows you to prioritise 4 of the options (why not all 6?)
Most of the land in the Masterplan
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area is publicly owned or not in private developers hands
Billingsgate Fish Market - City of London & TH Council
Aspen Way - TfL (but PFI owned until 2028)
Poplar DLR Depot & tracks - TfL
Tower Hamlets Homes estates - TH Council
New City College - GLA involved
EECF - Workshop
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Only 2 sites privately owned
North Quay - CWG
McDonalds site
So why do we have to pick 2 from 6 options?
This is the opportunity for the GLA/TfL/TH Council to fix historic mistakes made elsewhere & ensure new development in this area delivers for the community all six options
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The consultation also misses two huge issues;
a. A lot of work has already been done by developers in this area
b. A lot of work has already been done by planning authorities in this area (mentioned in text but no pictures or information), pictures from IoD & S Poplar OAPF
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The Councils new Local Plan 2031 also has a lot of detail about 3 main sites in the Masterplan area called Site Allocations, where it wants development to happen, two of these sites are largely in public ownership
A lot more information in the Plan but not in consultation doc?
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The consultation also skips fact that a lot of work by developers & others has already been done
Two of the sites North Quay 6 & McDonalds 8 have active planning applications
Three of sites are in pre-application discussion for new planning applications
See my map for site no.
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East End Community 1
New City College 2 - circa 600 apartments
Poplar DLR Depot 4 - circa 2,000 apartments but has to be tall towers to work
I added point 5 as TfL did a lot of work to see if they could build buildings over the motorway, a model exists somewhere
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(but I have not seen) but was too expensive
Some evidence of those developments in pre-application & amount of work done
Left New City College 600 homes & right DLR Depot 2,000 homes, the government will provide money to help re-develop the site for homes above a new depot
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this has all been in the news for years, why does Masterplan consultation not mention these issues?
newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/greater-l…
OAPF etc still talks about a land bridge across the motorway (see point 4 in this GLA map)
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Point 3 on my map are the estates that could like Robin Hood Gardens be re-developed one day (not aware of any actual plans yet)
Point 7 is biggie, Billingsgate, consultation does not mention or link to work City of London already doing
wholesalemarkets.co.uk/billingsgate/
But @MaccLav
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were engaged earlier this year to develop I think a new massing plan for the fish market site once it moves
For us locally this is the critical issue, how can we get the best value out of this site owned/leased by two local authorities
The consultation ignores these issues
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In fact I am not sure why we even need a masterplan, given work already done & applications in the system (a bit late)
The South Quay Masterplan cost (from memory) around £200k, lasted 5 years before being removed, only used once as an issue in a planning application
But eery
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how history repeats itself, similar thing happened August 2014, Council start consultation on South Quay Masterplan, do not tell anybody except for a small ad in East End Life which I spot by accident, like yesterday
Details only added to Council website 90 minutes before 1st
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meeting, only 1 person attended, a passer by
Many more people attended 2nd meeting after I help advertise & get the Wharf newspaper to run an article
It is why I now spend time advertising these events because Council won't do it pro-actively

https://twitter.com/Andrewwood17/status/556815944371417089?s=20

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This time 1 tweet + 1 Facebook post so marginally better then in 2014 but the actual consultation material is worse as doe not provide people being consulted with any background, pretends it is a blank canvas, questions generic & fluffy not really focussed on actual issues
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For me it is profoundly depressing to see history repeating itself & having to spend time on a Masterplan that probably wont provide sufficient value to justify the cost of hiring external consultants & diverting internal resources from more worthwhile projects
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But after John Biggs removed part of area from the original Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Planning Forum in 2016 maybe it is time (working closely with Poplar Forum) to set up a new Forum to cover this area if this is the quality of work / consultation the Council delivers
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Because it will be essential for the E14 area that the Billingsgate Fish Market site delivers the maximum benefits for the local community & repairs past mistakes (high density but not enough supporting social infrastructure)
City of London & TH may have other objectives
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