Jenny, together with concerned residents, will visit the site of one of the most damaging of the development schemes: the proposed 52-storey Vauxhall Tower skyscraper. The skyscraper would be built right on the wall of the Thames on the Albert Embankment.
Jenny declared, ” This skyscraper would be the tallest housing tower in the UK, similar to the Post Office Tower. It would be outrageous to site such a massive building right on top of the Thames, which is probably London finest natural feature. The river has huge value for wildlife, navigation, recreation, heritage and landscape. It should be protected for all Londoners, instead of being grossly misused as a backdrop for lucrative development. The tower could easily have been sited a quarter of a mile from the river where it would have caused far less harm.”
“This case is being decided as we speak. I am calling on the planning inspector and Secretary of State to enforce the Blue Ribbon policies which are set out in the London Plan and reject this tower. It will not deliver what local people need by way of affordable housing and community facilities and it will ruin important riverside public space,” added Jenny.
The Vauxhall Tower proposal is just one of 19 abuses of Blue Ribbon Network planning policies, designed to protect London’s waterways, cited in a recent study by the GG on the London Assembly. The dossier also criticises proposed developments upstream at Kew Bridge and Isleworth. The dossier has been presented to the London Mayor and his office is currently examining it.
Notes to Editors
The Vauxhall Tower planning application went to public inquiry, the outcome of which is awaited. At the inquiry there was little mention of the effect on the Thames, despite the damage that would be caused to the river.
For a PDF copy of the Green Groups Canals Report (Deserted Highways), the briefing on the Abuses of the London Plan (Thames and London Waterways; Are they being sold down the river?), or a copy of the Map that Jenny will be holding, Please contact Adam White on adam.white@london.gov.uk or 0207 983 4358.
Question that Darren Johnson, Green Party Member of the London Assembly, put to Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, in a public meeting:Blue Ribbon NetworkQuestion No: 89 / 2005Darren JohnsonI have recently been presented with a study which lists some 10 important development proposals where BRN policy has been either ignored or sidelined. There has also been a failure to convene meetings of the waterways advisory groups despite their specific mention in the London Plan. What urgent measures will you take to ensure that the BRN policy is enforced robustly, and show that it is not a dead duck?
Ken Livingstone responded:
“The policies in the London Plan relating to the Blue Ribbon Network must be judged and appraised alongside all the other policies. In some cases this may mean that not all of the policy objectives in one particular area are achieved. My officers advise me on all of the relevant London Plan policies when I consider a particular planning application. I have to take a balanced view of the overall merits of the scheme. I can assure you that the BRN policies are very important to me and are given serious weight alongside other concerns. I have just published my final report on ‘safeguarded wharves on the river Thames’, which bears out this point.
I have not seen the study to which you refer and would be grateful if you could forward the examples you were given to Kevin Reid in the London Plan team. I will ask him to report back to me on the relative merits of each scheme and how they have complied or otherwise with London Plan policies.
With regard to the advisory groups on waterways, the situation is still under review as stated in my response to your question last year (1277-2004).”
ENDS