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WALTHAM FOREST: £7.6m boost for borough

8:19am Monday 7th April 2008

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A £7.6 million pound Government grant will help pay for regeneration across the borough over the next three years.

The boost will pay for the revamping of the Blackhorse Lane area, Walthamstow town centre and support emerging work on what the council calls the North Olympic Fringe.

Most of the money, nearly £7m, will be spent building two new roads which will allow access to industrial areas behind Blackhorse Lane and improve traffic flow by by-passing the junction at Blackhorse Road station.

The council has set aside £700,000 to buy land in the same area, where it hopes to tackle the borough's housing shortage with 2,000 new homes.

It also plans to improve congestion in Walthamstow town centre by pedestrianising one of the bridges over the train line in Hoe Street and changing bus routes from the north of the borough.

Eco-living, the Walthamstow Masterplan and a similar plan for Leyton are also on the cards.

Cabinet member for enterprise and investment, Cllr Terry Wheeler, said the new roads would help open up industrial land which could be used for a mix of housing, commercial and industrial use.

"We're looking at how we can make much better use of the land that's already in the borough. Argyle Way for example is a shambles of 30s and 40s brick built low-rise buildings whereas Orient Way, where businesses were located from the Olympic site, is a much better use of the space."

Cllr Wheeler said the council was very interested in the Thames Water waterworks plant on Walthamstow Marshes and had been talking to the Lea Valley Park Authority and the Waterways board about how the Lea Valley could be improved.

He defended spending half a million pounds on studies and masterplans at the same time as services were being cut.

He said: "Sometimes you've got to set aside money to improve longer term things. If you don't reinvest then things go steadily downhill and while our priority has been on services in recent years we are now able to move on and look at other things."

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Dave, Chingford says...
9:39am Mon 7 Apr 08

I am assuming the bridge they are talking about is at Selborne Road/Hoe St Junction, How the Hell will pedestrianising this improve congestion, tell this is a late April Fools Joke please!!!!

Dave...

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Colin, Walthamstow says...
9:53am Mon 7 Apr 08

They should compulsary purchase the EMD Cinema off the KFC Church and McGuffins and tidy up the mess they got us in with it

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Mr Khalid, walthamstow says...
10:06am Mon 7 Apr 08

Must useded it mony carfull for the pepal and make hoses not waster on the lonatiks thing like the firworks explodshion november 5 and canavels dansing things

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lolsie, chigwell row says...
10:30am Mon 7 Apr 08

Erosion! Erosion!

of the class

as mad as a box of frogs

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Mr. T. C. Hull, Walthamstow says...
11:59am Mon 7 Apr 08

Oh no! Not another scheme with 'Terible Terry' in charge. I suggest the residents keep an eye (or both) on the £7.6 million because the Council can't be trusted to use it for ANY sensible purpose! The Olympic Fringe?
Its more like the
'Lunatic Fringe' with this Borough's authority!!

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Caroline, walthamstow says...
12:35pm Mon 7 Apr 08

oh great - just what we need more than anything - more roads!! All the experts agree that building more roads just INCREASES traffic.
imagine what else £7m could be spent on - would have been nice if they had asked us, the residents, eh?

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Dave, Chingford says...
12:57pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Most of the money, nearly £7m, will be spent building two new roads


Are they using gold bricks?

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Walthamster, E17 says...
1:07pm Mon 7 Apr 08

The McGuffins don't own the EMD/Granada cinema and never have. They're a local action group that was set up to try to get the cinema reopened. Please drop this ridiculous smear campaign, which was started on another news thread.

Pro-cinema campaigners are apparently disliked by Waltham Forest council (which reneged on a promise to compulsorily purchases the cinema), by the UCKG (the religious cult that owns the building) and the developers St Modwen (who have been given £800,000 of our money, by the council, to build a new cinema next to the existing EMD, which would cost us nothing to reopen if the council would stop sabotaging cinema operators efforts to buy it.)

No one else has any reason that I know of to smear them.


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Sceptic, Walthamstow says...
1:16pm Mon 7 Apr 08

The more money this council has to play with, the more damage they do.
The last 'regeneration' project I recall was the unnecessary repaving of the Blackhorse Rd end of the High Street a few years ago. It caused massive disruption for many months, way beyond schedule and was never completed. It got rid of most of the market stalls that used to stretch down to Blackhorse Rd and seems to have put some some shops out of business.
All we got in return was a different road surface. Big deal! And we never got that end of the market back.
How much did that mess cost?

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Researcher, E17 says...
1:27pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Poor old Argyle Way - "a shambles of 30s and 40s brick built low-rise buildings". We know the sort of tower block Terrible Terry loves. And he'd know all about shambles. This council has a solid track record in creating them. Terrible Terry himself presides over the one in the town-centre that was a useful shopping arcade before the council took it over.
More millions spent on reports and consultants, bogus consultation of local people which will be totally ignored, services continually cut, money in someone's pocket but out of ours.

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Morris Hickey, Chigwell (Redbridge) says...
1:34pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Just watch that Loakes and his mafia do not use the money to swell their already over-fat pay packets.

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Colin, walthamstow says...
3:52pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Walthamster wrote:
The McGuffins don't own the EMD/Granada cinema and never have. They're a local action group that was set up to try to get the cinema reopened. Please drop this ridiculous smear campaign, which was started on another news thread. Pro-cinema campaigners are apparently disliked by Waltham Forest council (which reneged on a promise to compulsorily purchases the cinema), by the UCKG (the religious cult that owns the building) and the developers St Modwen (who have been given £800,000 of our money, by the council, to build a new cinema next to the existing EMD, which would cost us nothing to reopen if the council would stop sabotaging cinema operators efforts to buy it.) No one else has any reason that I know of to smear them.
Yes but they could Compulsery purchase the EMD? Why do they not? Why do the McGuffins stand in the way or are they?

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Walthamster, E17 says...
4:26pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Colin, the McGuffins are just an action group, that means just a bunch of people like you and me who got together to try to save the cinema.

How could they do a compulsory purchase? They are are not a statutory authority. Only the council can do a compulsory purchase. Waltham Forest council promised to do this years ago but then refused to do so.

It would end up costing the council (ie us) nothing, as several cinema operators have already expressed an interest in buying the cinema. The council would sell it, without making a loss, to the operators, who would then reopen the cinema. Instead the council is paying the arcade-site developers St Modwens £880,000 to include a cinema in their planned tower block. Why, when there's a cinema right next door that we could have reopened at no cost to us?

I don't know where people are getting the idea that the McGuffins own or somehow control the cinema. The whole point of their six-year-long campaign to try to save the cinema is that they don't own or control it. Otherwise they wouldn't be campaigning, they would be running the cinema!

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Walthamster, E17 says...
4:33pm Mon 7 Apr 08

PS, the other reason the McGuffins could not purchase the cinema (compulsorily or not) is: where would they get the money? It would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Something that has been suggested on another thread is that if a large number of people got together they might be able to raise that much money between them. That's an enormous task, but it would be great if people did it.

But still, first, the council would have to compulsorily purchase the cinema from the UCKG, otherwise the UCKG can refuse to sell for as long as it likes. And the council would have to stop offering our money to St Modwen's to build a cinema next door.

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Colin, Walthamstow says...
4:45pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Walthamster wrote:
PS, the other reason the McGuffins could not purchase the cinema (compulsorily or not) is: where would they get the money? It would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Something that has been suggested on another thread is that if a large number of people got together they might be able to raise that much money between them. That's an enormous task, but it would be great if people did it. But still, first, the council would have to compulsorily purchase the cinema from the UCKG, otherwise the UCKG can refuse to sell for as long as it likes. And the council would have to stop offering our money to St Modwen's to build a cinema next door.
I see now. I heard that the McGuffins had an interest in it and that they and the Church owned it. Sorry!

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Walthamster, E17 says...
6:02pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Nothing to apologise about, Colin. Someone is spreading a bunch of lies about the McGuffins, and it's not surprising some of them sound believable.
Though I'm not a member (I used to be ages ago but I ran out of time) I'd be interested to track this one down. Can you remember where you heard this story?
Thanks,
Walthamster

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Colin, Walthamstow says...
6:20pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Walthamster wrote:
Nothing to apologise about, Colin. Someone is spreading a bunch of lies about the McGuffins, and it's not surprising some of them sound believable. Though I'm not a member (I used to be ages ago but I ran out of time) I'd be interested to track this one down. Can you remember where you heard this story? Thanks, Walthamster
Its on the other story on this site about the church being crammed. There is lots of stuff about the Cinema on the comments by people

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caustic cynic, woodford wells says...
11:33pm Mon 7 Apr 08

maybe we could spend a few million on opening up a college for teen brides of thug councillors to learn english.

another 1 the state will have to keep now, not that it was her fault, but what a farce.

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Walthamster, E17 says...
11:35pm Mon 7 Apr 08

Thanks Colin. I was wondering if you'd heard it somewhere else. Looks as if that page may be the smear campaigners' first effort, so with a bit of luck people will see through it. It would be great if the debate led to more successful action.

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mdj, e10 says...
12:21am Tue 8 Apr 08

£7 million on roads, £700,000 on land for building, and £500,000 on consultants: seems like a rational allocation of resources, Mr Wheeler, building on your success with the Arcade site.
Can someone explain, on the subject of the 'Olympic fringe', why West Ham is one of the three dedicated arrival stations for the Olympics, while Leyton, which is much closer and needs expansion, gets no mention, and no money?

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Observer, says...
1:10am Tue 8 Apr 08

mdj wrote:
£7 million on roads, £700,000 on land for building, and £500,000 on consultants: seems like a rational allocation of resources, Mr Wheeler, building on your success with the Arcade site. Can someone explain, on the subject of the 'Olympic fringe', why West Ham is one of the three dedicated arrival stations for the Olympics, while Leyton, which is much closer and needs expansion, gets no mention, and no money?
Yes. It's because the Mayor (Leader) of Newham Sir Robin Wales is a Downing Street favourite and Clyde Loakes is not.

Nobody loves Loakes.

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lolsie, chigwell row says...
2:10pm Tue 8 Apr 08

EROSION! EROSION!

Loakes is the only one who has done anything in recent years.

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lolsie, chigwell row says...
3:49pm Tue 8 Apr 08

lolsie wrote:
EROSION! EROSION!

Loakes is the only one who has done anything in recent years.
you should get some of your teeth done.


too much erosion

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lolsie, chigwell row says...
4:13pm Tue 8 Apr 08

lolsie wrote:
lolsie wrote: EROSION! EROSION! Loakes is the only one who has done anything in recent years.
you should get some of your teeth done. too much erosion
Erosion! Erosion!

mdj I love you.

you are full of it

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Sam, Blackhorse Lane says...
10:20pm Wed 9 Apr 08

Mr wheeler are you purchasing this land for a WASTE SITE PERHAPS ?? North London Waste Plan meeting 15th April 7.15 at the Baptist Church Blackhorse Road
All residents welcome


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Sam, Blackhorse Lane says...
10:24pm Wed 9 Apr 08

Mr wheeler are you purchasing this land for a WASTE PLANT Perhaps ??
North London Waste Plan meeting Tuesday April 15th 7.15 Blackhorse Road Baptist Church.
All residents welcome

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pedestrian, walthamstow says...
3:37am Sat 12 Apr 08

Of course they want new roads. Just look at the shiny new cars some of our councilors are driving these days because of the ridiculous 'expenses' and aloowances they voted to pay themselves. I would not trust Loakes and Wheeler to 'regenerate' a foorpath. Time to get rid of them.

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Sceptic, E17 says...
10:52am Sun 13 Apr 08

Good point, Pedestrian. And as they only have to put in a few hours a month for those huge allowances, they can hold down full-time jobs as well. So they can also invest in some buy-to-let flats in the planned tower blocks!

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