A Public Inquiry Into The Truman Brewery Redevelopment
It was astonishing moment back in July when Tower Hamlets Council voted unanimously to reject the Truman Brewery’s planning application to build a corporate office plaza across the entire site. This was an impressive result for the Save Brick Lane campaign which is advocating for housing in this crucial location that could offer over 600 homes to local people. There are 26,000 on the housing list in the borough, but the rejected Truman Brewery proposal offers just 6 social housing units.
Yet it does not end here because the Truman Brewery has referred their application to the government’s Planning Inspectorate in the hope of getting the rejection overturned. The outcome is a twelve day Public Inquiry commencing on 14th October. In response, the Save Brick Lane campaign will speak for the community, putting the forward the case for homes not offices robustly, and has secured legal representation from Goodenough Ring – the solicitors who worked on the successful Save the Bethnal Green Mulberry case – including a solicitor, barrister, and a KC.
Save Brick Lane has until 14th October to raise £20,000 in legal fees to ensure the Truman Brewery’s plans for a corporate plaza are halted – they have already raised £10,695.
Click here to contribute to Save Brick Lane’s legal fighting fund
I keep reading about the amount of empty office space around now that people are working from home more since the pandemic. If that’s the case then why are more offices needed?
In Switzerland the cities of Zurich and Basel have a major shortage of rental properties, there are studio apartments and large apartments with 4 or 5 bedrooms, but very little is available in between. My city Basel has plans in place to begin converting empty office space to housing, retail and budget hotels for tourists. Some former offices have been taken over by the city government.
On another note, on a recent visit to London in August I felt the skyline in the city had become ugly (I was based by Tower Bridge ). The modern buildings were not a good fit alongside the magnificent classical architecture by the likes of Wren London has to offer. The erosion seems sad, but hey! they’ll say it’s progress.
All the very best with the Public Inquiry. Your struggle is our struggle which we discuss in our book.
Neoliberalism and Urban Regeneration
London’s Communities Finding a Voice and Fighting Back
By Roger Green and Keith Popple
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/neoliberalism-and-urban-regeneration
This is clearly about greed and profit — not community or need. As Cherub pointed out in their comment above, do we honestly need more office space? Given that the current Labour government seems intent on relaxing planning rules, I suspect this appeal will succeed — call it a gut feeling.
I can’t afford to contribute to the legal fighting fund, much as I wish I could. I’m not even sure that writing to the council will make much difference. Planners and developers are rapidly turning the UK into the Wild West, and it makes me very angry.
Where are the progressive policies Labour championed the last time they were in power — Building Schools for the Future, Sure Start and so on? All that seems to have been abandoned in favour of trashing both town and country with ugly, unnecessary development that benefits those with more money than morality.