RUMOURS of plans to build a new housing estate on the land surrounding Waltham Forest town hall have been addressed by the council.

It emerged in March this year that the council had hired consultants BDP Urbanism to prepare a study on the land, which includes Chestnut Field and Waltham Forest Pool & Track.

A letter was sent to community organisations as part of the study, or “scoping exercise”, to gather ideas on how the land might be “used in the future to better the lives of local residents”.

The letter suggested a “healthy living hub” as a possible use for the land and stated BDP were to prepare a “masterplan and planning delivery framework”.

Neither BDP nor the council were able to offer a definition of the term “healthy living hub” at the time.

Cabinet member for investment and enterprise Cllr Terry Wheeler has now said the term is a “working title” and refers to ways the development could “make peoples' lives healthier and happier”.

He said: “This could mean better quality leisure or recreational opportunities, improved educational or learning facilities, providing access to good quality food or any number of other measures to improve our residents’ quality of life.”

The study by BDP is set to be completed later this summer.