Newham’s Local Plan is in need of a review but reports have reached us from across the borough that Council officers have failed to tell people how the Local Plan impacts their lives. Consequently local people are desperately reaching out to planners telling them of their needs but planners just shrug it off saying they cannot help.
How many local people of diverse backgrounds understand the overcomplicated wording in the Local Plan?
What is this smokescreen Newham keep presenting to its people?
How many more £millions will the Council be making for their preferred developer friends?
Below is a local person’s response to Newham’s Local Plan:
“The impact of the Local Plan is huge on the existing embedded communities who the planning system says have ‘protected characteristics’ under UK law. These communities suffer from poverty, multiple social inequalities and lack of provisions, yet presently the Local Plan does not address the impact of development, regeneration and changes in the built environment on these mainly BAME groups. The Local Plan acknowledges their existence but then immediately ignores the impacts of development on them.
The Local Plan fails to adequately safeguard street markets that have historically existed in certain areas like in East Ham- now East Ham market has disappeared. The only publicly-owned successful street market, Queen’s Market in Upton Park remains under threat by speculative development. Queen’s Market should be protected at all cost as it’s vital to Newham’s growing families.
The Local Plan should mention that any housing on top of street markets or surrounding a market does not work eg. see Rathbone Market in Canning Town- presently a near dead market. The Local Plan should designate street markets as places of importance for trade, employment, health, wellbeing and for the social needs of BAME groups.
The 15-minute neighbourhood is a typical top-down idea that fails to consider the reality of the lives lived by the residents and citizens of Newham. The economic modelling fails to consider the needs of local people eg. the variety of fresh affordable food that’s needed for a healthy lifestyle cannot just ‘pop up’ easily on every street corner. The 15-minute neighbourhood idea fails to consider the needs of the many faith communities in the borough, so temples, mosques and gurdwaras are not factored into it. Provision is mainly given to fast food eateries that residents can already order for delivery by courier. The 15-minute neighbourhood fails to consider the needs and travel time of elderly, disabled residents and their carers – there are 24,000+ carers in Newham alone, yet little consideration for their spatial needs.
The over provision of expensive luxury flats has meant that the new generation of young BAME professionals see no hope in the borough, yet developers can buy multiple homes. Consequently the Local Plan fails in its role to reflect the needs of local peoples’ aspirations. Instead the Local Plan paves the way for increased polarisation of communities, excessive fast food (unhealthy) eating experiences, betting shops and failed civic spaces, so citizens have little choice. The Local Plan lacks any real imagination, probably a reflection on the mono-cultural thinking of officers in Newham.
Presently Newham’s Local Plan is racially divisive and creates places where locals of BAME heritage feel threatened to enter due to over securitisation (see excessive death of black youth in custody), or people simply feel it’s not for them. Newham’s Local Plan asks members of BAME communities to ‘rubber stamp’ the financial expansion of already rich developers in one of the poorest areas of the country. BAME residents are reduced to “poverty porn” and “ethnic window dressing” and are not even remunerated when their photographs are brutally taken without their consent. This is inhumane treatment and needs to be addressed at strategic level if Newham’s Local Plan wants to be what it claims to be. The Local Plan presently fails Newham’s residents.”
Newham Council’s PR and ‘fake’ engagement teams are on overdrive with rhetoric and spin. Turns out the new “Community Wealth Building” person is putting rents up again for market traders- no wonder people are suspicious of their claims!
The latest UK census shows Newham as the UK’s most diverse borough- many of these hard-working citizens serve the City and shop at Queen’s Market.
https://www.nationalworld.com/news/uk/census-2021-results-religoiusly-diverse-areas-uk-3937137
To promote and preserve a thriving publicly-owned historic street market 