The Canal and River Trust are planning to redevelop Bow Wharf to provide 66 new homes, a ground floor commercial unit and a public open space by the Hertford Union Canal. The developers have a dedicated website ( https://bowwharf.communityuk.site/ ) with further information.

The developers delivered letters to some 3000 homes and business addresses around Bow Wharf inviting them to attend online meetings on either Thursday 28th November at 7pm, or Monday 2nd December at 1pm. Both online meetings were recorded and available to the public (each around 90 minutes long). Usefully the recordings are indexed so that you can easily jump to any of the ~75 questions that were asked at EACH meeting.

At the meetings concerns were raised about a large number of issues including the amount of affordable housing, timescales, heights of blocks, fire brigade access, loss of light, what will happen to the existing business units, bat surveys, car parking and a large number of other questions.

If you have some spare time I would recommend watching the recordings (make use of the indexed contents if you don’t have a couple of hours spare!)

The developer has yet to formally submit the plans to the council, and perhaps the online meetings will have led to some rapid redrafting of the application documents to placate residents. Perhaps the existing “hutted” businesses can be kept or relocated to the ground floor of “Block D” which is parallel to Grove Road but seems to be beneath the street level of the bridge?

What others are saying about the proposals

Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Forum

Readers may recall that the Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Plan was adopted by Tower Hamlets Council at a full council meeting in November 2022. Page 60 of the neighbourhood plan has a policy specifically about Bow Wharf which includes the following:

• Development proposals at Bow Wharf must demonstrate how they reflect the historic character of the area and how they will enhance both its heritage significance and cultural vibrancy.
• Proposed development must therefore submit a comprehensive statement of historic significance clearly demonstrating how proposals positively reflect and are informed by the existing historic context and how the proposals will enhance the historic character of the area.

Private Eye (Issue 1639) has a piece on the scheme:

Once again, the Canal and River Trust (CRT) remains a menace to waterways heritage, as it tries to squeeze more housing into Bow Wharf in East London.

The Friends of Regents Canal

The Friends care for the upkeep of the Regent’s Canal. They aim to promote the benefits of the canal, monitor current and future developments and disseminate information to interested parties. They have some useful pages about the proposals which are well worth a look:

https://friendsofregentscanal.org/projects/planapps/Bow-Wharf/Goodbye-Bow-Wharf.html
https://friendsofregentscanal.org/projects/planapps/Bow-Wharf/review-of-BW-proposals.html
https://friendsofregentscanal.org/projects/planapps/Bow-Wharf/Bow-Wharf-model.html

The Friends of Mile End Park will likely be commenting on the plans once they are submitted. Please let us know what you think of the proposals. Email: info@fomep.org.uk