Walthamstow station yesterday was surrounded by young women shouting ‘Free community newsletter! Free community newsletter!’ and thrusting a publication at passers-by.
I took one, naturally assuming they were either Trotskyists or evangelical Christians. But no, they were working for property developers Solum (rhymes with Gollum).
It’s sad that most people don’t seem to know that among the keenest environmentalists of our age are property developers. For example, the plans for the Walthamstow dog track development show the A112 completely free of traffic (we’re talking a stretch of this road shown here) while happy, smiling Chingfordians stroll south, obviously heading for a picnic in the sun-drenched, family-friendly Crooked Billet underpass.
And now there’s a proposal to ‘regenerate’ the area to the south and east of Walthamstow Station.
Sally Stephens, chair of Priory Ave Residents Association, said the computer generated images were a “gross misrepresentation” of what the development will actually look like.
It’s a shame when people are so negative, isn’t it? I am happy to reproduce the image (above) from the Solum Community Newsletter which shows beyond any possible doubt that this part of central Walthamstow will become an unbelievable car-free paradise. No one will drive to the station any more, nobody in the block of flats or the hotel will ever want to use a car, and the station car park will fall into disrepair as drivers suddenly realise what they are missing out on by not walking or cycling.
And for cyclists there will be an effortless transition from this little piece of Groningen straight on to Hoe Street (below), where 23 miles of prize-winning cycle lanes open up glorious possibilities of safe, convenient personal mobility in an attractive urban environment.
