Building work preparations to turn Walthamstow Stadium into a housing estate have now begun.

Housing developer London & Quadrant (L&Q) has got contractors on site as it begins work on turning the stadium in Chingford Road, Walthamstow, into a 294-home housing development.

It marks the start of the process of dismantling buildings and ridding the site of any materials containing asbestos, but the heavy digging work is not expected to commence for some weeks yet.

Residents expressed their confusion last month when a digger appeared on the site on Friday, May 17, but it emerged that it was a sub-contractor preparing for work to begin.

L&Q won planning permission last year for its controversial plans after a long campaign by groups opposed to the development.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson then decided not to call in the decision and Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, was denied the chance to intervene when Waltham Forest Council quickly approved all the final paperwork.