In response to queries raised by residents at a walkabout East End Homes, published at on this blog. Please find below East End Homes Response (Part 3 of 3) to the questions raised. Questions raised by residents are in bold text.

East End Homes Improvements to the Estate, as part of the planning application:

As part of the development there will be improvements made to, Derwent, Windermere, Coniston and Loweswater House:

  • Better security arrangements
  • Improved rubbish collection infrastructure
  • Secure by design will be applied to proposed plans to mitigate the effects of Anti Social Behaviour (ASB)

I am happy to confirm the above.

  • Section 106/Community Infrastructure Levy

It is anticipated that East End Homes will be required as part of the planning process to pay just under £500,000 to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to improve the infrastructure (streets and public spaces etc.).

Previous monies allocated for infrastructure improvement on the Eric and Treby Estate has been allocated elsewhere, for example Bartlett Park, benefitting the residents of Poplar HARCA. Made it clear at the meeting we do not want a repetition of what happened before and would want the 0.5 million to be spent in and around the Eric and Treby Estate.

Therefore residents asked at the meeting for the following in terms of the £0.5 million to be spent on the following:

  • Improvements to the green space (children’s activity area) in the space between Treby and English Street.
  • More display boards on Eric Street to display artwork made by local residents
  • A pop up community space and centre in the car park to the rear of Hamlets Way, Eric Street and the Baptist Church on Burdett Road (as the current community space on Southern Grove is oversubscribed).
  • The CiL requirements of any planning application are generally calculated as part of an applied non-negotiable formula and incorporated into the S106 planning agreement. It is probably too early to calculate what the amount is likely to be. In principle EastendHomes would welcome and support any position that seeks to invest that money in, or on, the Eric Estate or the Mile End Area. However, this is not a decision for EastendHomes and the Council has clear policies and procedures on how this money is calculated, collected and allocated. In terms of the suggestions made on how the CiL money might be spent, I would anticipate most or all of this work could be undertaken as part of the scheme itself.

Other Concerns

Concerns were raised with regards to the impact on parking in the area by the new development.

It is likely that (with certain limited exceptions) the scheme will be designated ‘car free’ as part of the planning agreement which means none of the residents of the new properties would qualify for a street parking permit. It is probably useful to point out that a scheme like this meets all the aspirations outlined by the GLA in The London Plan and The London Housing Strategy by optimising development around transport ‘hubs’; maximising infill and ‘upward extensions’ and encouraging ‘small site development. In particular the policies support incremental intensification around transport hubs and within 800 metres of an Underground station. (Tower Hamlets target in the next 10 years from this area of development alone is nearly 6000 units).