Council’s local plan could be a blow to West Ham Park campaigners

DAPHNE STEDMAN

Campaigners against the proposed housing development at West Ham Park nursery site are concerned that Newham Council’s draft local plan says the area is a potential housing site rather than parkland.

Consultation on the updated Newham Local Plan for 2023-2038 closed recently with residents invited to respond. (See https://newhamco-create.co.uk/en/ projects/localplan). The local plan is very important because it sets the policies by which Newham would assess any planning application to build on the nursery site in West Ham Park.

The “Trees not Towers” campaign group, set up by Friends of West Ham Park, continues to oppose plans to build luxury flats in the park on the old nursery site, currently derelict greenhouses.

West Ham Park is owned and operated by the City of London Corporation, rather than Newham Council, and at 77 acres is the largest park in the Borough. As reported previously, the Corporation has decided that the building of flats on this disused area in the park will go ahead to generate income for the park.

Newham already has the least publicly available green space per person,