Protect Our Common Right to Light!

A small East London charity, the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, is leading a public campaign against plans for a major development which threatens the future of a widely treasured urban woodland nature reserve in Mile End, London. 

A development proposed for the former Bow Common Gasworks would permanently damage wildlife and ecosystems in and around Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, place unsustainable pressures on local greenspaces and impact the well-being of surrounding residents.

We’re asking the public to sign this petition in support of our request to the developers to dramatically reduce the height and scale of the buildings to minimise the detrimental effects they’ll have on wildlife and the local community. 

What You Need To Know

Proposals for the Bow Common Gas Works development submitted by St William Homes (a joint venture between the Berkeley Group and National Grid) include 14 very tall, densely packed tower blocks consisting mostly of luxury housing. Eight of the blocks would rise between 48 and 89 metres high, four of these directly border Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park (THCP), a designated Local Nature Reserve.

The buildings would plunge large areas of the neighbouring Cemetery Park into shadow by day and pollute it with light by night. Changes in light and temperature would disrupt the park’s unique habitats for wildlife and its carefully balanced ecosystems. A critical site for regional biodiversity, THCP is home to many species of birds, bats, insects and plants. Among these are rare and threatened species which risk further decline if the plans go ahead.

How You Can Help

Sign and share this petition to support our campaign and show that you share our concerns over the height and scale of the submitted development proposals. Thank you very much in advance for your support!

You can also help by sending formal letters of objection to the planning authority. So far, 150 residents have done so. Find out how you can too in our campaign newsletter https://mailchi.mp/fothcp/urgent-protect-thcp-from-shady-development-new or get in touch with kenneth.greenway@fothcp.org to get involved with the campaign. 

Find out more about the campaign and read our press release on our campaign webpage: https://fothcp.org/gasworks-campaign/

Please note that any donation made on this petition does not support the Friends of THCP, it goes directly to change.org.  If you would like to support us with a donation please visit our Local Giving Page