Island Point hearing to go ahead despite G20 clash

Blackwall and Cubitt Town councillor Phil Briscoe has submitted an enquiry to the council requesting that they consider moving its Strategic Development Committee meeting. He fears this disruption may prevent residents from reaching the council offices in Mulberry Place, near East India DLR station.

DLR will close Custom House, Prince Regent and Royal Victoria on the day, and many EastEnders have been warned to expect delays on the roads, and advised to carry two forms of ID when leaving the house.

Cllr Briscoe said: "There's a general view that there will be a lot of problems with travel and there are concerns about where the demonstrations will be. Given the location of the town hall, it seems odd to have a big planning meeting on the same day.

"It's the sort of meeting where about 100 residents from the Island will turn up. It's not fair to run it on a night on which travel is bound to be disrupted."

It will include the Island Point and Pride developments on Westferry Road, as well as the Helix-London development on Trafalgar Way and the Angel House scheme on Marsh Wall. The controversial plan to build a housing scheme on a former Safeway supermarket in Bow also appears.

But a council spokeswoman said: "There are currently no plans to reschedule the Strategic Development Committee from April 2.

"Officers are aware of the G20 summit to be held at Excel on that day and are in discussion with the police in this regard.

"It is possible that some public transport services may be disrupted and this could cause inconvenience to some local residents.

"However, we have weighed this up against the inconvenience that changing the date would cause to those who may already have made arrangements to attend on April 2 to make representations on one or other of the agenda items and have therefore decided that the meeting should go ahead."

Island residents are particularly keen to hear discussions on Glenkerrin's two linked applications on Westferry Road. They have complained in recent months about the developer's plan to place 91 per cent of the affordable housing on both sites at the Island Point site, leaving the 62-storey tower on the site of the City Pride pub with five per cent. Neighbours are also concerned that their light will be blocked by buildings of up to eight storeys.

Discussions on the plan were deferred at a previous meeting on February 19. But the nature of the consultation has angered several Island residents.

Representatives from Alpha Grove, St Johns Tenants Association and the Association of Island Communities all attended last month's meeting after learning they were included in the council agenda on the list of those consulted on the Pride scheme. Each denied this was the case, as did the Barkantine Tenants Association.

The list of consultees for Island Point featured the Chapel House Tenancy Association, but an association for that particular estate has not existed for more than a decade. Julian Place residents also say they were not informed, despite plans to open up their road for pedestrian access to the development.

A spokesperson for Glenkerrin said that "comprehensive" consultation had taken place, including letters and workshops at the Dockland Settlements and George Green's School. He added that the Chapel House Tenancy Association inclusion related to the council's own consultation.

He said: "As is good practice, Glenkerrin did a whole raft of pre-application consultation, and have submitted a statement of community involvement.

"Residents of Chapel House Street had letters from us, attended our workshops and submitted their comments.

"We did a number of workshops, public exhibitions and sent a number of letters. We've done a lot of consultation on this scheme."