Public consultation: what you've told us

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For over a year, Poplar HARCA and EcoWorld London have been collecting residents’ views and aspirations about the Aberfeldy West and Nairn Street estates. This culminated in the ballot result of 93.1 per cent of tenants and leaseholders voting in favour of comprehensive regeneration in the autumn last year on a 91.1 per cent turnout. Since then, a consultation was launched to incorporate the views of the whole Poplar neighbourhood.

This page sets out the initial results of that exercise, feedback from the first two Resident Steering Group (RSG) workshops and ongoing youth engagement work. The full report can be downloaded HERE or from the bottom of the page.

Round 2 public consultation

Now is the time for us to think about the changes we will make to the masterplan, using what you’ve told us. If you haven’t got in touch yet, there are still plenty more opportunities for you to tell us what you think. The second stage of public consultation is expected to take place in Summer 2021. We will contact you again closer to this time.

Poplar HARCA and EcoWorld London held the first public consultation on the Aberfeldy new Masterplan in late 2020.

More than 2,800 people visited our website, with over 200 people completing our survey either online or by post. This is what you told us:

Overall, 60 per cent of feedback was positive , with 21 per cent broadly neutral, and 18 per cent negative.

Your feedback by theme

Broken down, here’s how people felt about each theme. You were particularly positive about the principle of regeneration, traffic reduction measures and new affordable homes.

Your priorities

We asked people to rank their priorities for the regeneration of Aberfeldy. Improved infrastructure, including social facilities and transport options was a clear winner. Making the neighbourhood safer and more cohesive was second, while improved public realm and open spaces was third. The top three was followed closely by new homes, particularly affordable and social rent housing.

On specific elements of the plans:

By a margin of two to one people were supportive of the proposed relocation of Culloden Primary School, but some were concerned about the size of the school and the amount of play space.

Nearly two thirds backed plans to pedestrianise the vehicular underpass and provide a new A12 junction. However, some were concerned about vehicle access to the area.

Our plans to deliver up to 1,880 new homes, including affordable housing was very well supported. Almost two thirds of you felt positively about our plans.

ZCD Architects have carried out five sets of sessions with pupils from year 5 at Culloden Primary School and pupils from year 9 at Langdon Park School in November and December 2020. The sessions involved talking to them about their everyday lives in their local area, how they get about, the places they like and don’t like and what ideas they have to improve them.

We went on a walking tour of Aberfeldy, looking at the high street and the open spaces, including the River Lea and the pupils analysed the spaces, letting us know where they felt they could play safely, meet friends and enjoy themselves and when and where they couldn’t.

Travel to school amongst year 5 pupils at Culloden Primary School

At Culloden Primary School we talked to all three classes in year 5 and found most of them would love to cycle to school, but at the moment only one does.

At Langdon Park school they told us how much they loved the area, but also about the bad bits, such as the Jolly’s Green foot tunnel and many of the spaces after dark.

Over three sessions they developed their own manifesto for Aberfeldy which the design team are using to help develop the proposals.

We will be returning to Langdon Park this term, with an online session, to show the pupils the proposals for Aberfeldy so that they can tell us whether their manifesto is being met. We will meet the children from Culloden School again once we can.

We hope that in the summer term we will be able to hold an exhibition to showcase all the pupils work, so that everyone in the community can come and have a look at what they have been doing.

The Residents’ Steering Group(RSG) has a major say in decisions about the regeneration and have been involved throughout the process. The RSG are currently being consulted on shaping the masterplan and the design.

Aberfeldy residents can join the RSG at any time. Contact Fintan, from Poplar HARCA, on 07852 998 909. You can also contact your Independent Tenant & Leaseholder Advisor, Mo Ali, on 07940 431 503 or mo.ali@talktalk.net for advice and guidance.

Masterplan principles meeting - 4th November 2020

The RSG were updated on the ballot result and congratulated for their time, effort and patience in achieving such a high turnout during a pandemic. The programme for engagement was set out, including a series of design workshops. Residents were particularly interested in the timescales of the project and location of new homes, and this workshop was moved to first in the programme as a result.

Levitt Bernstein described how the previous consultation had shaped the emerging masterplan. Plans of new streets and how the plan will link/connect different areas together were introduced. These were identified as ‘Threads’ and further more detailed examples will be presented in the workshops. The two different scenarios of the masterplan design were explained.

Resident asked how workshops and consultation would be organised during lockdown. The team said they would aim to provide info via post, similar to ‘planning for real packs’ as well as online workshops.

A number of general comments were made during the meeting including that there was a lot of information to take in, and some concerns about the long timescales and detail on where new homes would be located. There were positive comments about the plans for greens space and connectivity, but residents wanted more information about their new homes as a priority.

Housing - 10th December 2020

Our first RSG workshop took place on 10 December 2020, focusing on homes. The meeting covered a range of topics, predominantly focussing on housing, both inside and outside, as well as outdoor community spaces, giving residents an opportunity to express their priorities and aspirations.

Inside homes, the clear consensus was for kitchens to be separate. Views on storage was mixed, with some residents commenting their satisfaction with their storage space while others felt they needed more. There were few comments on bedrooms, but for those that did, it was positive. One aspect many residents wanted to see improved upon was windows, with the majority of feedback in this regard focusing on size.

Residents were also asked their views on outdoor space. A lack of privacy was noted as a top concern for many residents, and fences around the garden was a key aspect that residents wanted to see improved. There was also strong consensus around improving public spaces, particularly in regard to Millennium Green. Amenity space for uses such as planting flowers and growing food was also mentioned several times.

Reflecting on their homes one resident told us: “A separate kitchen would be very important. We also need storage next to the entrance door. We would like a separate entrance to the kitchen and the living room.” As was a common theme on privacy, one resident said: “It’s important that gardens offer privacy and aren’t overlooked.”

Open Spaces - 26th January 2021

Our Open Spaces RSG workshop took place on 26 January 2021. The meeting provided residents with an opportunity to directly communicate with the project team and to express their priorities and aspirations for open spaces in Aberfeldy.

Alongside the project team, members of the RSG explored and debated Aberfeldy’s existing and proposed open spaces, including Braithwaite Park, Millennium Green, Leven Road MUGA, the Jolly’s Green underpass and the proposed new open space, Highland Place. There was a clear consensus that Millennium Green was inadequate and was predominantly being used, as one resident bluntly put it, as “a dog’s toilet” with many other residents sharing a similar sentiment.

Safety and security were key themes across most of the existing open spaces. This was true of Braithwaite Park and Millennium Green but particularly of the pedestrian underpass which was described as “horrid”, “scary”, “dingy” and “dangerous” by residents with one noting that “[You] have to turn back when going through to see who’s behind you.”

In contrast however, the proposed open spaces such as Community Lane and All Hallows Square were mostly well appreciated. Residents said they “liked the concept”. However, residents did raise a couple of concerns such as how Community Lane will be maintained. Residents were keen to see good quality retail offerings on and would prefer natural wood to the use of colour, which was a widely shared view.

Streets and Environment - 11th February 2021

The workshop provided residents with an opportunity to directly communicate with the project team and to express their views on safe and friendly streets. Alongside the project team, residents explored and debated existing and proposed streets including Abbott Road, Dee Street, Aberfeldy Street and Enterprise Yard.

Regarding Abbott Road, there was a clear consensus that the main issue is non-resident vehicles using the road as a shortcut, as well as a lack of space for cyclists. This rat-running leads to traffic and pollution, most noticeably at rush hour. Residents were keen to reduce traffic flow and regulate heavy vehicles, while making more space for cyclists and pedestrians.

On Dee Street, the main concern was a lack of information around what's happening to the school. There were also some concerns expressed around the underpass on Dee Street, which many feel needs to be made safer.

Residents expressed a desire for a a better pedestrian experience and variety of affordable and convenient shops and cafes on Aberfeldy Street - particularly a bakery, butchers and grocery store - while others were concerned at the idea of the area changing, as well as disliking the name 'Aberfeldy High Street', rather than just 'Aberfeldy Street' as it is currently.

There were positive comments around Enterprise Yard, with residents expressing approval of plans to activate the street and make it more people-friendly but some ongoing concerns about parking and how much benefit residents would gain from it.

Other issued that residents raised were better bike and bin storage, with complaints around how hidden the current bike storage space is and excessive rubbish. Separately, uneven pavements were raised as a hazard, along with a lack of safe cycle routes. There were a number of questions around parking, including around the security of podiums and the design of on-street spaces.

Finally, residents would like to see more spaces that feel safe for people to sit and rest in. There was strong support around the idea of an art installations and improved lighting, and residents also expressed approval of the idea of solar panels.

Community – 04th March 2021

A pillar of the masterplan is celebrating community and was the focus of this RSG session. Firstly, residents discussed grant funding offered by Aberfeldy Big Local (ABL) who were in the process of opening a shop at 39 Aberfeldy Street.

Following a presentation from the team on the new community centre in phase 3, currently under construction, there was a discussion in breakout rooms on community and meanwhile uses in the new masterplan. There was a desire for Aberfeldy Street to be complementary and affordable, not just the same as other retail centres such as Crisp Street. It was explained that the team is exploring a range of options and ideas and we are consulting with retail strategists on how Aberfeldy Street would sit within the surrounding economy. 

There was also appetite for the future of the area to reference the past, with shops that replaced former tenants such as a butcher (which should be halal), a baker and a delicatessen. This would help create more of a ‘destination’ and other uses such as cafes will improve this notion. There were a wide range of uses suggested and broadly a wide range of independent local shops was the consensus.

Many residents showed strong support for the continuation of meanwhile or experimental businesses, including further along the timeline into the masterplan. Pop-up shops were particularly popular. But the stores must cater for the diverse local community, so a pound shop, halal options and a pub that serves food were all noted as desirable.

Outdoor workspaces were a popular idea, but residents wanted to ensure that internet connections were strong and nice places to sit, shade and shelter were essential.

Finally, some ideas for ‘meanwhile’ interventions and activities were raised. Ideas for improvements to safe walking and cycling were very well supported, as were play, pop-up community or movable gardening. There was similar support for the pop-up cinema, food options and events, but needed to be affordable and accessible to all.