Newsletter No. 2
The draft Limehouse Cut Conservation Area document was well received by local residents and others at the Council’s public meeting at Kingsley Hall on 10 March. Residents were particularly concerned about towpath safety, better signage and information and all the new high-rise flats turning the Cut into a concrete canyon. A 20-metre “buffer” zone either side of the Cut was proposed to ensure that new developments were set back from the banks, and respected the setting of London’s oldest canal.
We hope that this proposal will be included in the Council’s design code for adjacent sites. Concern was also expressed at the ongoing loss of historic features. The Council’s proposed audits and condition surveys were, therefore, welcomed.
The Group’s proposed two-way passenger boat service on the six mile waterway ‘ring’ met with general approval, and we hope that waterbus stops will be included as a priority in the section on management guidelines in the final document.
We also think that another priority for action should be the sympathetic repair and adaptation of vacant buildings, such as the former Poplar Employment Exchange and no. 83 Barchester Street. Also the Caird & Rayner buildings at nos. 777-785 Commercial Road. Although they are in the St. Anne’s Church CA, they back on to the towpath and make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the Limehouse Cut CA. After years of neglect, these buildings are now subject to emergency repairs and we would like to be more fully informed about progress. In line with the Group’s aims, we sincerely hope that official information will be emailed to us for inclusion in future newsletters, starting with the Caird & Rayner buildings and adjacent sites in the ‘Limehouse Triangle’. For details about the buildings, see the report on the Historic Limehouse Cut attached to the February newsletter.
ACTION ONE: CONSULTATION
he consultation period for the draft Limehouse Cut Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Guidelines (www.towerhamlets.gov.uk) ends on 12 April, so please email your comments and support to [email protected]. Please remember that TRILLIUM (the owners of the former Poplar Employment Exchange at 307 Burdett Road) have started a judicial review to revoke the Council’s October 2009 designation of the Limehouse Cut CA. Should Trillium succeed:
- the former Poplar Employment Exchange will be demolished for an 11-storey block of flats
- the Limehouse Cut will become a concrete canyon
- the chances of a commercial operator running a regular two-way passenger boat service will be seriously reduced
So, all Group members from around the six-mile waterway ‘ring’ and elsewhere must please email comments and support as soon as possible and get others to do the same. It would also help to email a copy of your comments and support to the Group.
ACTION TWO: PETITION
The Group’s petition to TRILLIUM for the retention and adaptation of 307 Burdett Road as a training and social enterprise centre for unemployed local people has to be completed by 31 March. A copy is attached to this newsletter, so please print off and get as many completed as soon as possible. The petition may not influence TRILLIUM but, together with a good response to the consultation, should help the Council to defend its position during the judicial review proceedings in the High Court.
Tom Ridge
East End Waterway Group
Local residents, schools, community groups, amenity societies and businesses working with British Waterways, Tower Hamlets Council and others for the protection and beneficial use of the six-mile waterway ‘ring’, its historic buildings, structures and habitats.
