WALTHAM FOREST: Fears over rampant development for profit (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

WALTHAM FOREST: Fears over rampant development for profit

2:49pm Monday 12th November 2007

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THE borough is in danger of being over-run by unsympathetic, profit-driven landlords, it has been claimed.

At a recent meeting of the council's planning committee, members and residents were united in their concern about how the borough's property is being developed and the mechanisms in place to control it.

Councillors admitted they were often powerless to reject applications and planning officers' advice was shaped by Government pressure to provide more homes.

The flawed division of family housing and business premises into flats is a serious threat to the economic and social health of the borough, according to people who gave evidence at the meeting last Thursday.

Committee chairman Farooq Qureshi said: "The majority of landlords are purely profit-driven and don't have any sympathy for the area or the residents of Waltham Forest.

"I have a lot of respect for officers' views, but they are bound by the policy and that is the reason, most of the time, they recommend approval.

"What worries me is that we normally say we are struggling to find a reason to refuse the application and there is an overwhelming opposition from residents.

"But if we are not going to take residents' views into account, we may as well abolish the process.

"What's more, why waste time sending letters out to residents if their views are not going to be taken into account? Residents' views should be respected."

Conservative group leader Matt Davis said too many family homes were being lost to conversions.

"Unless the policy is changed we will bitterly regret it," he added.

Residents who spoke against a proposal to convert a family home into flats at 293 Hainault Road, Leytonstone, said a sense of community was being eroded because such developments encouraged a transient population.

A businessman, who had successfully opposed an application to turn a fire-damaged former shop into flats, said he did so because another nearby conversion had become a crack house and brothel.

He added that previously thriving businesses were also now struggling as the area deteriorated.

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