We are totally delighted that the Mayor of London has turned down the two planning applications to develop the brewery site and build a secondary school. He made his decision at the Planning Hearing at City Hall on Tuesday 27th July.
Our team of nine speakers mostly drawn from the local community did a wonderful job presenting the case against the development to the Mayor. Una, Peter, Howard, Nahed, Avril, Syd and Deborah did us proud. Special thanks go also to Michael Edwards, University College London, a leading authority on planning in London and Dr Emma Jack, an air quality expert based in Brussels who both joined online to put forward their opposition to the plans.
The meeting took place in the chamber of City Hall and the gallery was packed with local residents wearing MBCG yellow tee shirts. This support made a big difference to our speakers and certainly made a great impression on Mr Mayor.
The gallery erupted with joy when the Mayor announced he was refusing the applications. He went against the advice of his planning officers because he was not convinced that the harms our speakers had so ably identified would be outweighed by public benefit to the community.
You can watch the whole hearing and see our fantastic team in action. The Mayor’s summing up and decision is right at the end of the recording starting at 3.39. His statement of reasons for refusing the applications will be published on the GLA website.
Watch the full Hearing:
WHAT NEXT?
The ball is now in the court of Reselton Properties. They will review the Mayor’s decision and decide whether to challenge it or go back to the drawing board. We urge them not to appeal but to work with the community to come up with a visionary and sustainable scheme that will benefit all of us, now and in the future.
FINALLY
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported our campaign, donated funds, written letters, tweeted, sent emails and attended our meetings. We could not have achieved this great victory without the support of the community over the last 10 years.
We plan to hold a local public celebration in the early autumn and everyone is invited!
THE MBCG TEAM
