Sainsbury's have hired a team of charming, suited agents who are visiting local homes and businesses to try to persuade locals to sign and support the development. These people don’t live in the area and they don’t have an interest in the community. They are simply being paid by Sainsbury’s to help legitimise their oversized and harmful development. Many people who I have spoken to, and many who have commented on this petition, do not believe Sainsbury’s officers presented them with the full picture. Many signed not realising the negative effect the development will have and regret their support. Faced with this challenge, it is even more important to spread the word and send an objection letter to the Tower Hamlets development committee. The council have received only 117 objection letters so far. You can make a difference today, by sending an email directly to dr.developmentcontrol@towerhamlets.gov.uk (template below). We’ve had an incredibly 5,021 people sign this petition but please continue to share. We’re confident that with enough objections and community support we can really make a difference. Thank you! #StopSainsburysSaveWhitechapel Name Address To whom it may concern, I would like to register my objection to the Sainsburys Whitechapel development (application PA/15/00837) which offers little public benefit to counteract the irreversible harm it will cause to Whitechapel community, residents and businesses. - Of the proposed 559 apartments only 89 apartments (16%) are to be ‘affordable’, falling far short of the Council’s targets of 35-50%. Just 6% are family dwellings, making the mix wholly inappropriate for this part of Whitechapel, and contributing to the wider London housing crisis. - The high rise development is radically out of scale with the surrounding low rise Whitechapel. The 8 towers of up to 28 stories would introduce a density beyond Council guidelines, would block daylight to hundreds of homes and businesses, and overlook countless more. - The proposal will overwhelm historic Whitechapel causing irreversible damage to many listed buildings, including the Grade 1 listed Trinity Green, just 100m from the tower. - As required by planning policy, the application has not considered alternative massing arrangements, which is a fundamental obligation for developments of this scale (EIA Regulations). Instead, it appears to be driven by density and high value apartments. I urge Tower Hamlets to reject the decisively reject this application on the basis that it contravenes policy and offers little to the local residents. Kind regards, Name