PLANS to double the height of a block of a flats have been scrapped after neighbours threatened legal action.
Redbridge Council wanted to build another 10 apartments on top of Abberton in Prospect Road, Woodford Green, to provide more social housing for the borough.
But when the proposals were unveiled earlier this year, residents were furious, claiming the “mini tower block” would be unsafe and add to the road’s “notorious” parking problem.
Residents voiced major concerns at a public meeting on April 11
At a public meeting of around 70 neighbours in April, members of the community said they would be prepared to take the council to court if it went through with the plans.
But yesterday (July 20) the council made a U-turn, over concerns the development was “unviable”.
A spokesman said: “We are committed to quality affordable homes for Redbridge residents and we have been working hard to explore all options to achieve this – including rooftop extensions of our existing sites.
“Feasibility work has progressed and in addition to feedback from residents we have had the benefit of planning, technical and financial input on a number of potential schemes.
“At this stage we are not actively progressing development of Abberton because of viability issues and looking again at developments that might be possible across the council’s own sites.”
Lead campaigner and Prospect Road resident of 16 years Andrea St Hill said: “This is absolutely fantastic news.
“We’re delighted common sense seems to have prevailed.”
MP for Ilford North Wes Streeting had promised to hold a meeting about the development if he retained his seat in last month’s General Election.
But when news of the council U-turn broke, he said: “My job is to make sure residents are able to make their voices heard in the planning process and I shared concerns of those in Prospect Road about the suitability of the Abberton development.
“So I’m glad the council has listened to residents and scrapped the proposals.”
When asked why she thought the council decided to change its mind, Ms St Hill said she was unsure.
She added: “I don’t know, but when we saw the plans in April they wanted to clad the whole building.
“In the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster maybe they’ve had to have a re-think.”
Redbridge Council has been contacted for further comment.
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