Landmark Passed by Campaign to Save Toland Square
Petition against Roehampton development reaches 500 signatures
Toland Square
January 16, 2024
The Save Toland Square action group is celebrating its petition to Wandsworth Council reaching 500 signatures.
The organisation, made up of people from an estate in Roehampton which the council wants to add more housing to, has been campaigning against the proposals since they were first revealed.
They want a rethink of the scheme which would see the development of the green space at the centre of the housing court. Garages and a community centre would also be removed with the latter being rebuilt close by.
There are only 200 or so residents in the estate so it is claimed that the landmark for the petition reflects strong local feeling across the Roehampton area about the plan and the group is calling on its local councillors as well as Wandsworth Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Aydin Dikerdem, to take concerns about the proposed development seriously.
“We have been very vocal in our opposition to these plans that would remove and build on almost our entire green space,” spokesperson for the group Zara Tomkinson said. “But we’re not being listened to. The council is more focussed on pushing through its new homes plan than in listening to local residents and taxpayers.
“People can’t believe it when we show them the actual plans. We understand Wandsworth Council is trying to get more people housed but squeezing them into estates and taking away the only green space that existing residents have is not the way to do it. If they go ahead with this they’ll need to change the name from Toland Square to Toland Tower Blocks.”
Toland Square playground
Current development plans would see Toland Square’s actual square, complete with mature trees, levelled and replaced with a three-storey building. The current play structure and recreation centre would then be relocated to between two existing blocks, further reducing the green space available to residents. This would remove the current amenity space from the estate and the nearest public park a 20-minute walk away. The council says there will be a play area for children within the estate once the project is complete.
The centre of Toland Square which is surrounded by homes
It would also result in a more than 50% increase in population density on the estate which opponents believe will cause greater traffic congestion, noise and air pollution, a significant reduction in privacy and safety, and will overload what they describe as an already straining waste and rubbish disposal system.
The development is part of Wandsworth Council’s 1,000 homes programme which began under the previous administration and has been converted to one comprising of social housing under Labour.
A spokesperson for the council said, “We are building 1,000 council homes across the borough under our ‘Homes for Wandsworth’ development programme, using land we own to build new council rent homes for local families. There is a compelling need for new council housing in Wandsworth, from existing tenants who are overcrowded, the 3,600 homeless families in expensive temporary accommodation or the 11,000 on our waiting lists.
“We want the local community to benefit first, which is why any new homes built will be offered to those wishing to move from over or undercrowded homes on the same estate. All homes vacated will then be re-let to those on our waiting list.
“We recognise that building additional homes on our estates is not always popular with existing residents but where we are proposing this we will actively engage with those communities to see how schemes can be improved, and in the case of Toland Square a significant number of changes have been made to what was originally proposed to ensure this project better meets local needs and wishes.”
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