London,
06
June
2014
|
11:53
Europe/London

Developments in the Wenlock Road area

We would like to thank residents who have commented and given their feedback on the issues in the Wenlock Road area.

This page explains some of the issues and is being updated as developments progress.

Update on number of developments

Construction at a large site on Taplow Street site and a large site on Wenlock Road has now finished. This should have an impact on the amount of traffic in the area.

Update on hoardings

We have told the developers to replace the wooden hoardings at two of the corners of the United House sites with clear Perspex to increase visibility and safety for road users.

The hoardings at the Regal site had to be completely redesigned. A new wooden hoarding has now been installed which is much more secure and fits the defined authorised space. This has also tidied the deliveries at the site and improved the look of the site and its impact on the location.

Clear signage for pedestrians has also been instructed at all sites.

The United House development in Wenlock Road at the junction with Sturt Street are craneing deliveries onto the site directly from an un-barriered highway and are being advised to stop this.

Update on highway obstructions

Sites have been told to place wooden baulks at the base of hoardings to prevent waiting vehicles sitting in locations where they would create an obstruction. We are also addressing other issues such as machinery and materials on the highway at a number of sites.

Our parking team will issue fines if vehicles continue to cause obstructions.

Noise

The Environmental Enforcement and noise pollution teams are meeting to discuss how to deal with the collective impact of noise from sites. Residents and businesses are advised to report any noise nuisance they experience to 020 8356 4455.

Background

There are several large building developments underway in the Wenlock Road area. We want to make sure the impact of these works is kept to a minimum as far as possible.

Number of developments

Over recent years several planning applications have been made for this area. Once permission has been granted, a developer has a maximum of three years to start work. This means that planning consents for sites in an area may be granted some time apart but construction can start at a similar time. Unfortunately the Council has little control over this.

Highway obstructions

Before building work starts, developers need to consider the logistics of how they intend to operate. Access for large vehicles and pedestrian safety means that footways next to sites are often affected. 

To control this impact the council may grant permissions for footways to close. We can also grant a highways license to erect hoardings or fences to divide the works from highway users, minimise impacts and to maximise the safety of those highway users. All the sites in the Wenlock Road area have been granted highways licences.

These licences were reviewed together to minimise the negative impact upon pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

The council holds large deposit sums from developers for the replacement of highways and footways after the building works have finished and there are conditions which ensures they contribute to improving the vicinity.

Vehicles and road closures

There was a road closure due to Thames Water sewage works which has been completed.

We are still exploring a solution to the vehicles parking in the location and ultimately enforcement action will be taken if they are in situ for too long. We have notified the relevant departments to ensure appropriate enforcement action is taken and that developers are warned about the behaviours of drivers who visit the sites.

Feedback and contact

If you have any concerns or want more information you can comment at the bottom of this page. As a single point of contact we can liaise with various council departments or developers to ensure you are kept up to date.

You can also email Wayne Stephenson at enforcementsupport@hackney.gov.uk if you do not want your comments or questions to be public.

There are also contact details displayed on each building site which you can use if there are urgent issues or emergencies.

Comments 1 - 13 (13)
Thank you for your message. It will be posted after approval.
Mr Perkins
03
June
2014
In addition to the noise, pollution, disruption, ad-hoc public footpath, cranes hovering tons of material directly above footpaths/roads, and 24/7 building site conditions: The road junction at the corner of Wenlock road and Sturt street has increased in danger for both pedestrians and bike users due to the additional traffic from large trucks, alongside parked large trucks and cars with limited visibility cutting the corner to turn at speed. I believe a review of road markings / signage / parking / pedestrian
zachary pulman
01
April
2014
Dear Hackney,I work from 7 Wenlock road and the huge amount of development mean that sometimes it is impossible to speak on the telephone. The drilling is so powerful it makes the computer screens wobble and not easy to work. Additionally to this the dust generated is so huge that we are not able to open our windows - so we are forced to have the air-conditioning on and that is very expensive.The road works have also meant that there is no place to park cars - so not ideal for client visiting.I know this for a limited period of time however it does lower our working conditions to a point that sometimes we are forced to work from home to avoid the noise and dust.It does not seem fair to me that we are charged full rates when we are not able to have clients come to our office due to noise , dust and no place to park !
Umberto Emoli
31
March
2014
The area has become a huge building site and most contractors are not looking after their site and the area adjacent to them. In particular the site at no. 20 (? next door to no. 23-25) has very poor quality hoardings which are regurlarly collapsing , not high enough and not of decent visual quality. The street in front of the site is never cleaned/washed and it is actually muddy. We are currently surrounded by a nummber of noisy and dusty building site - at the moment 8 no. huge cranes, 100's of men banging around and smell of concrete and dust.The roads are constantly blocked by delivery vans,street services supply blockages without informing the residents. It is really too much, all we would ask for the contractors to take more care of cleaning regurlarly the streets and erect more secure and decent looking hoardings (no. 20 Wenlock Roadand inform the reidents of any imminent inconviences.
Frank Hubin
29
March
2014
The more roads you build, the more cars will come fill them up.With the above in mind, I don't believe disfiguring London with high-rise buildings will cure the housing issue in our city. Please stop developers morphing London into Anycity USA. If people want to live in high-rise flat complexes, they can go live in New York or Dubai.
L Haire
28
March
2014
The positioning of building site hoarding and closure of pavements has made it at best unpleasant and at worst dangerous to walk down Wenlock Road. Pedestrians heading for the top left-hand side of Wenlock Rd (canal end) are forced to cross in front of Tower Ceramics busy entrance (lorries, forklift trucks etc)/ Wenlock pub corner which is always dangerous with traffic speeding along to cut through to New North Road, all because a 20/30m section of Wenlock Rd pavement has been incorporated into a building site for several months and counting. The junction of Wenlock Road and Micawber St is even more dangerous with pedestrians forced to step out into the road to peer round the building site hoarding and round huge parked works vehicles to check for on-coming traffic before crossing. This is very hard, especially with little children.
luca
28
March
2014
it is defenetly not responsable how the council is managing the area together with he permission granted at the same time. it's my opinion , due to the number of works present in Wenlock road , tha the council need to pay more attention to clean the street regularly. i would expect not a normal cleaning as all the other road in the area, but at least double the cleaning service in WENLOCK road. Every single day of the week, and expecially the weekend the street is dirty from everything happening at the development site. Also please note that the small park is also affected , and you should cleaning regularly the park too. You should also avoid that all the trucks park on the street. this needs to be minimaze if possible with alternate routes, from also back access door not only from wenlock road. last, we realy hope that no additional permit will be granted now , it's unacceptable that you allowed so many buildings , completly out scale ( the one in front of the park is 10 floor and will totally obstruct afternoon sun in park. and Please while you allow to poor all that concrete please allow a SUPERMARKET !!!! THANKS
sarah campbell
28
March
2014
Another impact on the environment is the number of construction vehicles damaging the pavement, knocking down bollards and verges. Particularly on the grass area as they turn into Windsor Terrace and drive over the grass. This is evident from the tyre tracks. I assume that it is us as council tax payers who foot the bill for the repairs?
Sarah Campbell
28
March
2014
Whilst the council claims It is unable to control the timing of the developments, there is much they can do to control the impact on the environment and health of residents. I am concerned about air quality. The construction sites have a cumulative effect on particulates in the air and it is clearly way about legal EU guidelines.This is apparent from the amount of thick residue on the pavement and cars parked. We are breathing this air and its dangerous to health! The council should install air quality sensors and make the data available to all.
Chris Gordon-Coker
28
March
2014
Following the 'cement in the sewer' incident, I'm pleased that LBH are finally addressing the problem but it really is a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Would this feedback forum have existed if not for constant pressure on the council from the residents? Meanwhile, I trust that the culprit has been identified and made to pay compensation for the cost of the subsequent replacement pipes and road re-surfacing.Furthermore, I find it incredible that LBH has ‘little control’ over the start of construction – why the lack of ability to regulate? To say that the planning permission is granted on a case-by-case basis is simply not good enough. I expect my elected councillors to see the bigger picture and consider the impact on the area as a whole – surely that’s not much to ask.There is clearly still some way to go for at least three of the developments and a lot of inconvenience for the local residents. Whilst it is pleasing to see that the standard of the hoarding on the new Regent sites is of far higher quality than that of the rickety corrugated fence next to Union Wharf, there appears to be no thought in their placing and the impact on pedestrians – is there any inspection by the Council? There must also be a limit to the number of vehicles allowed to operate simultaneously. The upper end of Wenlock Road is often effectively cut off because of the building traffic (I have seen in excess of ten trucks during the day) and you take your life in your hands when hiring a bike from the docking station in the midst of the works. (Suspending it again is not the answer! The developers must work around the residents, not vice versa.)
Wayne Stephenson
28
March
2014
In response to Jens Peters - A major site on Taplow Street and Wenlock Road are due to be completed within the next two weeks. Othere developments in the area are at various stages of completion with all current sites expected to be completed in 2015. We will be providing more information on expected completion dates on this website. A number of the developments do have conditions relating to the improvement of footways and highways outside of their developments. I will explore this further and post the information on this page.
Wayne Stephenson
28
March
2014
In response to YiYing Wang - Please email me direct at the above email address advising your business premise and I will visit you to make an assessment of impact. A degree of disruption is to be expected during the demolition phases of building projects however there are actions that can be taken to minimise noise etc and these can be explored further during my visit. Regarding commencement of works - the Council has little control over the dates works commence and individually the developments have been granted planning permission on a case by case basis.
Jens Peters
28
March
2014
Thanks for the information.Is there anywhere to find the estimated completion date of the building projects? Without visiting each individual project site? Also what contributions will these projects make to the sourroundings? Park improvements? Cleaner streets? Jens
YiYing Wang
28
March
2014
We have been suffering from continuous loud noises, building shakes, blockage of the road (which cause disruption for deliveries of goods) since last year. We have also filed complaints and reduction of business rates, but not yet seen any reaction from the Hackney council. At one point there are 6 building sites in such short road, which is unbearable, how can all these developments even got approved to be going on at the same time?