Walthamstow Stadium Update

About our plans

Over the last few months we have been working hard to consult local people – holding focus groups, meeting with local organisations, knocking on doors and holding one to one meetings with local residents. In response to this consultation to date we have revised our plans which include:

• A new leisure centre offering a range of activities for all ages
• Children’s nursery with up to 80 places
• Around 300 new homes for local people
• Pocket Allotments
• New public spaces
• £50m regeneration of the site
• Creating 250 new jobs
• Bringing the heritage of the site into long-term use for the whole community

Latest news: Community Consultation Events

We recently carried out two public exhibitions of our proposals; we sent invites to these events to 8,000 addresses around the stadium and advertised for two weeks in the Waltham Forest Guardian. The events were well attended by around 300 people overall and we received a wide range of comments from local residents, many of them positive. Some residents were concerned about the height of a couple of the buildings and so we have been contacting them to arrange one to one meetings to discuss this further and to see what can be done.

The purpose of all our ongoing consultation is to engage with local communities to hear their views about our plans and to address any questions or concerns they may have. Full details of the community consultation we have conducted will be included with the submission of our planning application as part of the required ‘Statement of Community Involvement’.

It has been really interesting to hear people’s ideas for the use of the proposed leisure centre and we will look at incorporating some of these where possible. Suggestions for the use of the leisure centre and public spaces have so far included:

• Activities such as bingo and short mat bowls for senior citizens
• Activities for teenagers such as youth clubs
• Snooker, table tennis, Pilates, Tai Chi, Zumba, Salsa and other exercise classes
• Art exhibitions/installations
• Some kind of film screening facility for special occasions
• Space for arts and crafts
• Community meeting space
• Cyber cafe
• Rehearsal/performance space for local music and theatre groups

Next steps

The Walthamstow Stadium site is a complex site which we are committed to developing to the highest possible standard. We are now reviewing the results of the consultation events and continuing our community engagement as we work on finalising our plans.

We are confident that our plans will deliver a £50m iconic development which preserves the heritage of the site and provides around 300 new homes, a modern leisure centre run by the community for the community, a children’s nursery and allotments, as well as over 250 jobs to meet the needs of local people.