Social housing provision at two landmark, high-rise tower blocks will be cut under development plans backed by Waltham Forest council.

Three options for the future of Fred Wigg and John Walsh Towers in Montague Road, Leytonstone, were set out at a public meeting last night.

People who gathered at the Epicentre in West Street, Leytonstone, were told by council officers that the authority is backing the option to erect a building between the existing blocks, which overlook Wanstead Flats, and sell some new flats in the open market.

But the number of homes provided to council tenants would be stripped back from the current 234 to 160, under the council’s preferred plan.

This would enable the council to raise an estimated three-quarters of the £40million required for the project, the meeting was told.

Campaign group Focus E15 Mothers, which was set up by tenants who had been evicted from social housing in Newham, attended the meeting.

Members chanted “social housing is a right” as last night’s meeting drew to a close.

Member Jasmine Stone said: “People are being forced out of their homes here. Where will these vulnerable people go?

Waltham Forest council's cabinet member for housing, Cllr Khevyn Limbajee, dismissed Focus E15’s claims as “scaremongering”.

He said: “We are not privatising the block, but selling some of the flats is a necessity to finance the build.”

For more on this story, see this week's Guardian - out Thursday