Showing posts with label dalstons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dalstons. Show all posts
Leaked report calls for Dalstons environmental protection
Leaked report calls for Dalstons environmental protection
The "intrinsic character, local distinctiveness and unique identity of Dalston " is at risk of being damaged or lost, a leaked report has revealed. Dalston town centre is facing a tsunami of property development proposals in 2013. The report comments that Dalstons historic town centre environment has "wholly inadequate heritage protection at present ".
The Railway Tavern and Peace Mural on Dalston Lane
The report was produced for Design for London which, like Transport for London (TfL),is an agency of Boris Greater London Authority. It recommends a new Dalston Kingsland Conservation Area, an extension of the Dalston Lane (West) Conservation Area and the listing of several of Dalstons notable buildings.
Presently unprotected, the former 1902 Shannon factory, now Sprinfield House, Tyssen Street, is recommended for inclusion on the National Heritage List for England and inclusion within an extended Dalston Lane Conservation Area. A 9-xtorey blocks of flats is planned for the neighbouring Eastern Curve site.
Dalston Square was Phase 1 of TfLs redevelopment scheme many unprotected heritage buildings were lost. The redevelopment of TfLs Western Curve tunnels is Phase II. Major developments on other sites in the town centre are also planned, including towers of between 9 - 19 storeys locally.
The report was produced for Design for London which, like Transport for London (TfL),is an agency of Boris Greater London Authority. It recommends a new Dalston Kingsland Conservation Area, an extension of the Dalston Lane (West) Conservation Area and the listing of several of Dalstons notable buildings.
Dalston Square was Phase 1 of TfLs redevelopment scheme many unprotected heritage buildings were lost. The redevelopment of TfLs Western Curve tunnels is Phase II. Major developments on other sites in the town centre are also planned, including towers of between 9 - 19 storeys locally.
(I was told that the vats in which Constables paints were mixed are stored in the basement - Ed)
Local Councils have responsibility for creating local conservation areas but Hackney has invested over £1.3million in partnership with TfL to enable development of the Western Curve tunnels. A letter has been sent to English Heritage pointing out Hackneys conflicting interests and asking it to consider using its reserve powers to designate the new, and extended, Conservation Areas. You can read the letter here.
Unless within a Conservation Area, unlisted non-residential buildings can be demolished without any planning control at all. Even residential status doesnt prevent some owners disregarding planning controls over demolition. Conservation Area status also gives some protection to prevent damage to the settings of notable buildings affected by new developments.
Hackney Council response to the reports recommendations presently remains unclear. However the importance of many of the buildings identified in the report was not drawn to the Government Inspectors attention by Hackney during his Dalston Area Action Plan Inquiry last summer.
The new Dalston Kingsland Conservation Area would also include heritage buildings on Stoke Newington Road. .
St Johns Court, former Magistataes Court, at 82 Stoke Newington Road, is recommended for inclusion on the National Heritage List for England and for inclusion within the new Dalston Kingsland Conservation Area.
The former Savoy/ABC art deco cinema, currently EFES Snooker Club at 1-17 Stoke Newington Road is
recommended for inclusion on Hackneys Local List and for inclusion within an extended Dalston Kingsland Conservation Area
You can read the full DfL report here.
Leaked report calls for Dalstons environmental protection
BBC Gardeners Question Time at Dalstons Eastern Curve Garden
BBC Gardeners Question Time at Dalstons Eastern Curve Garden
Last Monday BBC Gardeners Question Time came to Dalston and recorded its weekly show at the Eastern Curve Garden including answering questions from a live local audience.
Eric Robson, Bob Flowerdew and James Wong with OPEN members Marie Murray and Brian Cumming who manage the Eastern Curve Garden
The show will be broadcast at 3pm on Friday 7th August, and repeated at 2pm on Sunday 9th, on Radio 4 FM. If you miss that you can always hear a replay on the BBC website
The BBCs request to broadcast from the Garden came after a recent visit, during the Chelsea Flower Show Fringe event, which the Garden has participated in for the last four years.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, shares a joke with Marie Murray on a recent visit.
The BBC panel showed their wide ranging expertise by answering questions relating to gardening on balconies and fire escapes, the best plants for reducing city air pollution, music as an aid to gardening, the best herbs to top the Curve Gardens yummy pizzas, eradicating mildew ( Beware dry roots - Ed.) and the opportunities for snail farming.
The Eastern Curve Garden is Dalstons only community managed green space. Its a meeting place for people and plants where you can enjoy a huge range of activities for all ages whether you love plants and gardening, music, arts, crafts or just a relaxing with friends and family. Whats more its got some of the tastiest food and drinks to rival any of the hippest cafes locally.
(Fancy making a sustainable, locally sourced, organic wood fired snail pizza.....anyone? Ed.)
BBC Gardeners Question Time at Dalstons Eastern Curve Garden
Mansion Global USA seeks overseas investors for Dalstons exclusive new tower block “FiftySevenEast”
Mansion Global USA seeks overseas investors for Dalstons exclusive new tower block “FiftySevenEast”
On line marketeers Mansion Global, part of Dow Jones, has launched its promotion of “FiftySevenEast - Dalston with a view” - the 15 storey tower development on Kingsland High Street (next to Dalston Kingsland station) now under construction. "East London is about more than hipsters" it says. Its about "looking for a return on investment." Prices start at £470,000 rising to £1,500,000.
The FiftySevenEast tower was planned to be 19 storeys, as this image shows, but was later reduced to 15 storeys
Mansion Globals mission is to connect "the worlds affluent real restate buyers with prestige properties across the globe", and advises that Londons East End is "attracting more and more foreign buyers ". Imperial Dragon, who specialise in UK investment for Asian clients, are also marketing the development.
The new residents targeted for Dalston - as promoted by the FiftySevenEast marketeers
OPEN Dalston opposed planning permission for FitySevenEast because, although huge profit is derived from stacking up the site, the real cost is the detriment to the surrounding area by over development and a failure to confer adequate community benefit.
The development will dominate the High Street, and so diminish neighbouring listed heritage buildings. Like a lighthouse in reverse, it will block sunlight from local homes, businesses and public spaces, and it will create high winds locally.
News article in Londons Evening standard. It refers to an OPEN Dalston meeting arranged with London Mayor, to discuss public space, but Boris didnt intervene to improve the scheme.
Dalstons greatest need, for affordable rentals, family homes and childrens play areas, are largely ignored. Of 98 flats there will be only14 "affordable starter homes", all in the front block with their own poor door, and even those are at prices requiring more than double the average Hackney household income.
The original scheme was unanimously turned down by the Committee after OPEN Dalstons vociferous campaign and 1,300 signature petition. The amended scheme only received planning permission after a special meeting between the developers and the Hackney Planning Committee, at which the public was not allowed to speak. The meeting was called, we were told, to "clear up misunderstandings" which had led to the earlier refusaL.
After approval the FiftySevenEast scheme was then sold on to Taylor Wimpey which had itself won planning permission to build an exclusive gated development on former public land sold by TfL, above the Western Curve railway tunnels , also on Kingsland High Street. Both schemes are now under construction.
Taylor Wimpeys seven-storey Western Curve scheme, just south of FiftySevenEast, is also now under construction. It is nearly double the height of its neighbours and even some of the new flats are below British Standards. Hackney Council provided over £1million in public funds to help make the scheme possible ( Using public money to fund private investment is also known as corporate welfare - Ed).
Mansion Global USA seeks overseas investors for Dalstons exclusive new tower block “FiftySevenEast”