As many of you will know, on 3 November we held the Reaching Out to Blackwall consultation event. Over 220 adults and dozens of children attended and during the day the projects’ Partners (Tower Hamlets Council and English Partnerships) presented the detail of their regeneration options and listened to the views and concerns of the community.

We would like to thank the school’s staff for providing the venue and hosting us for the day and would also like to thank all of you who took the time to attend.

This event brought an end to the first phase of the consultation which also included 110 home visits, 3 workshops, generated over 3200 hits to the website and 49 calls to the helpline.

The headline finding of the consultation showed that the majority of the residents were in favour of Option 2 - comprehensive re-development of the area. More details on this and the main opinions expressed by the community can be found below. All of the hundreds of comments received throughout the process will be taken into consideration by the Partners and will help shape the revised regeneration plans to be put forward to Tower Hamlets in the Spring.

Strong views voiced at the consultation

The consultation clearly identified that the majority of residents preferred Option 2 - comprehensive re-development. 80% of survey respondents and 82% of those that took part in the straw poll at the event expressed a preference for this option. The consultation also highlighted six priority concerns which the Partners will take into account when developing the revised regeneration plans.

• Is there a ‘right to return’ for all secure tenants?
• Ensuring secure tenants are no worse off in the space they have as a household
• Ability of leaseholders and those aspiring to buy a property to afford to stay in the area
• Importance of maintaining or even developing the community services provided by the school, health centre, community centre and mosque during the regeneration
• Importance of reducing pollution and noise throughout the whole site
• Tackling drug use and reducing crime through better designs and layouts for homes and green spaces.

"We’ve been delighted with the amount of feedback we have had from the community and grateful for the time people have taken to get involved. All the Partners have listened to people’s hopes for the area and their concerns surrounding what the changes may mean to them. These priorities give us a clear indication of what matters most to the community."
                    Eleanor Purser, English Partnerships

What’s next?

Over the coming months, Tower Hamlets Council, English Partnerships and the Local Voices Group will be discussing possible changes and solutions to meet the views expressed and developing a revised regeneration plan.

This revised plan and the report on the consultation process will be submitted to Tower Hamlets Cabinet in February. They will make a decision whether or not to press on with the regeneration. We will let you know about the Council’s decision in the next newsletter to be published in the Spring.

If the Cabinet decides to proceed with the regeneration, a formal planning application will be made in the spring of 2008. At this stage, there will be a further period of consultation. A final decision on whether the plan has been approved is expected in early Autumn.