In the second of a series of articles documenting the development of Wanstead’s Evergreen Field, Geoff Horsnell looks at the contractors’ breach of conditions that caused work to be halted. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson
When the Metropolitan Police first put the Evergreen Field up for auction in the late 1990s, a number of local residents clubbed together to try to submit a bid, which was ultimately unsuccessful. From this beginning, the Wanstead Society was formed.
The first matter on the agenda for the society was to try to preserve the Evergreen Field, perhaps as part of the adjacent Christ Church Green. On the whole, this action was successful until the latest application in 2023. This application – to build a residential block of 24 flats atop a ground-floor nursery – was approved in early 2024, subject to some 41 conditions. Earlier this year, a planning amendment (1759/23/01) was submitted, laying out the proposed plan of action and how the work would be staged. This was in response to condition 1 of the original approval.
Recent events have seen contractors on the site preparing the groundwork by clearing the undergrowth. We witnessed high hoardings being erected around the site with the inevitable graffiti following soon after. Unfortunately for the builders, the application approval came with a whole raft of conditions, some of which needed to be met before any work could begin. The Redbridge Enforcement team was alerted and sent a case officer to the site. He instructed the builders to stop all further work until outstanding conditions had been met. One of the actions had been to start felling some of the mature trees on the site and to pollard others in breach of condition 9 of the application approval.
At this point, I should point out that at least one of the mature trees on the site is a rare Holm Oak tree. This variety is unique in remaining in leaf all year round. For this reason, these oaks have the nickname ‘Evergreen Oaks’, seemingly giving the site its name in the process. A further complication is that the site lies within the Wanstead Village Conservation Area where all mature trees are automatically protected.
As a result of the condition requirements, the developers must now provide a number of written reports to the council. Currently, some five separate amendments have been submitted and have now been validated. The reports have been placed on the planning website for public scrutiny. Generally speaking, these amendments must then be approved before any work can restart. The target date for these amendments is 15 August.
There is also the matter of the mature trees that have already been felled or pollarded. Cutting down or pollarding a protected tree without permission can result in a substantial fine per tree. We can only wait and see if Redbridge Enforcement bite the bullet and go for financial remuneration for this breach.
For more information on the Evergreen Field development plans and to view the full application, visit wnstd.com/field
