The former Chingford Kennels, which has stood empty since May 2021, will be torn down and replaced with 40 new homes in four housing blocks, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
How the development is projected to look, Credit: CMA Planning
Controversial plans for 40 new homes in Chingford have been green-lit by Waltham Forest Council.
The former Chingford Kennels, which currently sits empty near Chingford Mount Road, will be torn down and replaced with four housing blocks.
The new flats – comprising 16 one-beds, 13 two-beds, seven three-beds and four four-beds – will be spread over four buildings, between two and four storeys tall.
Councillor Andrew Dixon, chair of the council’s planning committee, who approved the plans yesterday (14th January), said the borough “very much needed” family-sized homes and described the scheme as “appropriate, gentle densification”.
A representative from CMA Planning said the building heights had been “minimised” to reflect the surrounding houses.
He said the construction process could have an impact on residents, but workers would “do all they can” to mitigate it.
Just five of the homes will be available through shared ownership schemes, which the committee said was “on the low side”.
Nearly 130 residents opposed the plans, with 124 signing a petition against it and three submitting formal objections.
The kennels have been closed since May 2021, Credit: CMA Planning
One resident, from Genever Close, told the committee said the plans were neither “wanted nor appropriate”.
He said the scheme was fundamentally incompatible with the residential area. There are also “inevitable risks” it would worsen traffic on the narrow surrounding roads, he added.
Conservative ward councillor Catherine Saumarez said she “fully recognised” the need for new homes in south Chingford and the borough more widely.
However, she warned against “deluging” the nearby Memorial Park, which she called an “oasis of calm and ecology,” with “noise, dust and pollution”.
Though committee member Jenny Gray said she was unhappy with the provision of five parking spaces, Cllr Saumarez said residents needed access to cars because of how “underserved” the area was by public transport.
Cllr Saumarez added that residents parking in front of their own driveways would create “insurmountable obstacles” for passing lorries, despite reassurances from the developers.
After the scheme was approved, the meeting had to be briefly adjourned as one resident angrily shouted the decision was “rubbish” and that the committee “did not understand” the situation.
Councillor Jenny Gray, one of five councillors to sit on the committee, said it was “difficult when something so different” is proposed on neighbouring land, but she “doesn’t like to see derelict sites sitting there for years”.
Now that permission has been granted, work will need to begin on the project by 2028.
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