We had a successful public meeting via Zoom, sharing what the Friends of West Ham Park know so far, and listening to what people thought of the proposed scheme and discussing potential future uses for the Nursery Site.
Below is the short slide show we opened the meeting with.
Precis of the minutes from the meeting
Welcome and introduction by Roger Jones, Chair of the Friends of West Ham Park (FWHP).
Roger explained that there is no formal planning application in place at the moment, and that the purpose of this meeting was to present what is known of the options under consideration and the research done so far in relation to the protected and charity status of the park, and to make the community aware of the facts as available at present.
He also brought to everyone’s attention the current public consultation on the Newham Local Plan. This can be found on the council website. He urged everyone to respond to this, stressing the need for open space in the borough. The Local Plan responses need to be submitted by Friday 17th December 2021, but the Characterisation Study to list West Ham Park as valuable local asset needs to be completed by Sunday 28th November 2021.
The park is owned by the City of London Corporation (CoL) who will develop a proposal to be submitted to Newham Borough Council for Planning Permission.
Presentation of current information available about the proposed development, and historical background of the area, by Jules Maurice-Williams, Friends of West Ham Park, see slides above.
The meeting was then opened up for questions with a wide-ranging discussion. The topics discussed included:-
• membership of the City of London’s West Ham Park Committee
• that the public are excluded from all Committee discussions on the subject
• the way the park is owned and its charity status
• the condition and alternative uses for the existing glass-houses, and
• alternative uses of the site and the priorities of the local community.
We were also asked whether there would be a formal public consultation once Newham receive a planning application. It is our understanding that this would be the case.
Roger Jones brought the meeting to a close, explaining that a summary of the presentation and representations would be available shortly on the FWHP website, but assuring everyone that those taking part would not be named.
He again urged everyone to respond to the consultation on the Newham Local Plan, stressing the fairly short timescale for this as the consultation closes on Friday 17th December 2021.
Roger thanked everyone for their attention and contributions.
Keep in touch
To stay up-to-date with plans to stop this development on West Ham Park, and to let us know your suggestions for alternative uses for the Nursery Site, please join our mailing list at [email protected]
Useful links
To participate in Newham’s consultation on the updating of the Local Plan go to: –
Characterisation and important places surveys – this needs to be done by Sunday 28th November 2021
Local plan policy documents and commenting – this needs to be done by Friday 17th December 2021.
To see Lyn Brown’s correspondence click here