WOODFORD BRIDGE: £3m homes project axed

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association had submitted revised plans to Redbridge Council proposing to build 19 houses and 25 flats on its property in Manor Road, Woodford Bridge.

However, the plans were subsequently withdrawn when the charity realised its Section 106 contributions - money procured from housing developers to ensure the social infrastructure can deal with the rise in resident numbers - could top £300,000.

The estimated costs included £158,039.28 for primary and secondary school contributions and £29,868 for transport and traffic management.

The proposals, which were amended after initially being too high for the area at three storeys high with 56 housing units, were opposed by local residents who raised concerns over the increase in traffic the development would cause.

The charity has previously considered closing the residential training centre on the site to save money.

Louise Szlezinger, of Grovewood Place, Woodford Green, said: “The area on a bad day can become gridlocked during the rush hour and any more congestion will just add to what is already a miserable experience.

“I dread to think what the traffic would be like after completion of the development.”

It also controversially involved the approval of turning green belt land into public open space to be built upon as part of the development.

But developers DNS Planning and Design wrote to the council on behalf of the charity to pull out of the project after the Section 106 costs were revealed.

Senior planner Dan Drayton wrote: “Our client no longer wishes to pursue this application. The reason for this relates, on one hand to Guide Dogs [sic] ongoing long term review of operations on this part of existing training centre [sic], and on the other hand to issues of viability of the terms of the s. 106 Planning Obligation in the current economic downturn.”

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