Campaigners against a planned development on the site of a Tesco superstore in Goodmayes have delivered an objecting letter to Downing Street.
The proposal, submitted by developer Weston Homes and approved last May, contains a total of 1,280 new homes in towers up to 22 storeys high at the Tesco Extra site in High Road.
The letter, addressed to prime minister Rishi Sunak, was signed and hand delivered by a coalition of representatives from four local political parties, Redbridge Trades Union Council and campaigner Andy Walker.
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It asks Mr Sunak to recommend moving a planned school and 'affordable' housing to an area of the site with lower pollution levels.
The letter reads: “There should not be the need for legal action to remedy this obvious oversight, which risks children’s health.”
A crowdfunded application to challenge Redbridge Council’s decision to approve the plans in the High Court, organised by Andy, took a blow earlier this month as a judge rejected arguments about the danger of pollution as having “no arguable merit”.
Despite this, Andy told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he is “confident” that the case will have a full hearing in court in the near future once the legal arguments of the challenge are changed.
Those who attended Downing Street to hand in the letter included Ilford South Liberal Democrat member Ashburn Holder, the Green Party’s RoseMary Warrington and Redbridge Trades Union Council member Bob Archer.
Conservative London Assembly member for Havering and Redbridge, Keith Prince, told the LDRS that residents are “not happy” about the development.
He added: “I can see why they (Weston Homes) have chosen that site for development and suspect that, if done in moderation, the developer could come up with something acceptable.
“At the moment it’s far too dense and I’m not satisfied with the transport aspects.
“It’s always been a very poor junction there anyway, an increase in traffic would make it worse in pollution.”
A spokesperson for Weston Homes said: “A request for permission to proceed with a judicial review has already been dismissed by the High Court.
"Following that judge’s decision, a further request was submitted to the court so we await the hearing and look forward to implementing our scheme once we receive a final decision from the court.”
A Redbridge Council spokesperson said its responsibility as a planning authority is to determine each application “on its details and merits” and pointed out that both Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and the Secretary of State declined to call in the application.
Mr Khan's decision came despite calls from Ilford South MP Sam Tarry and former Green Party leader Sian Berry urging him to stop the plans.
More than 3,000 people also signed a petition against the proposals.
The council spokesperson added: “The planning permission is currently the subject of an application for a judicial review in the High Court.
“Whilst the court refused the initial application, a date for an oral hearing of a renewed application will be set by the court in due course."
The council said it did not apply for unlimited costs.
"Instead, we requested that the court assess costs in the usual way, based on the financial statements submitted by Mr Walker in support of his application for a protective costs order (PCO).
“Mr Walker’s application for a PCO was granted by the court on October 3 2022, limiting his exposure to legal costs to the sum of £5,000.
“As a public body responsible for taxpayers’ money, we have a responsibility to seek to recover legal costs incurred by the council.
“It is important to stress that it was Mr Walker who decided to pursue legal action, which he subsequently lost, following a decision of the court.”
The development, to be called Lorimer Village, is set to include 14 residential towers ranging from 10 to 22 storeys as well as a village hall and community hub.
The Recorder reported last May that Weston Homes aims to have tenants able to move in between November 2023 to September 2027.
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