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Action4Whipps rally outside Town Hall, 24th November 2021

Along with about 50 other members and supporters of Action4Whipps, Jean and I attended the Planning Committee meeting at the Town Hall last night (Wednesday 25th November) arranged to rubber stamp the Planning Application for the new hospital. The session was scheduled for 7.00pm in the main chamber of the Town Hall, which meant that it was dark and quite cold on the steps of the building where we assembled at 6.30, but at least it didn't rain.

We came along with our banners, placards and leaflets, and there was a PA system so that people could address the crowd. Jean (my partner) and I brought along a video camera and a sound recorder on behalf of Forest Radio and video recorded the brief speeches before we all went into the hall for the meeting itself.

Technically, filming was not easy, with the only sources of light the shaft that was falling on the steps through the glass doors of the brightly lit foyer and the coloured lights from the amazing (and no doubt amazingly expensive) illuminated fountains where the single classical fountain once stood. This complex of "dancing fountains" was running intermittently throughout the speeches, while it was on creating a blindingly bright multi-coloured light source behind the speakers that turned them into strange blue-aured silhouettes, as well as tending to drown (no pun intended) their voices with its hissing noise. For breaks in the dance of the glaring fountains the council provided "muzak" from loudspeakers in large boxes around the fountains' perimeter. So please excuse me if the film quality is not up to the standard of Forest Radio's best. However, it was heartening to see and hear such enthusiasm for and commitment to our campaign, and of course the event provided a chance for people to put faces to names and soak up the ethos of Action4Whipps.

Inside the hall I video recorded for a few minutes, but all I could see from where I was sitting at the back of the public gallery was the big screen above the participants' heads, and the sound was echoey and difficult to make out. Also the presentation was just a re-hash of the material that has been on the council's website for months if not years, and with which anybody who is following this will be very familiar. It's also rumoured that the session was recorded by the council anyway and will be uploaded to their website. If this happens don't miss your opportunity to listen to two hours of platitudes and evasions from the Committee you have come to know and love. We will reproduce the highlights here if there are any.

When it came to the turn of the speakers from the floor (twelve of them, selected from those requesting a spot in advance) I turned on the sound recorder, and considering how difficult I found it to make out what was being said myself, the resultant recording, which I have included below, isn't too bad.

This is a crude first edit of the material we recorded last night. It is very likely that we will be returning to this page to amend and add more material. Please visit again in the next few days to see any new material that people may have sent in.

There were others besides us taking pictures and video recording, so if anybody has good footage, or even good still photographs of the rally, please send them in and they can be incorporated into this report. Email info@forestradio.co.uk and I'll discuss with you how to share your files. Do please have your say in any medium you like by getting in touch with Forest Radio on the above email address.

David & Jean
for the Forest Radio team.


Speeches from Action4Whipps members and supporters on the Town Hall steps (22 minutes)



      Floor speakers at the Planning Committee meeting (42 minutes)


P.S. A final comment from Adrian Stannard:

"Although the Planning Committee was sadly totally predictable and even more boring than usual the A4W battle is not finished. Barts now have to plan the details of the hospital, albeit on a site we would regard as too small, and ensure they don't lose any of the existing services to be compliant with the London Plan. There is also the question of transport links which so far seem to be just changing single decker buses for double decker ones. The funding is still a key question so it could be some time before work can commence and the chances of them opening by 2026 is dreamland stuff in my view!!

"The next part of the process is for the Mayor/GLA to go to Stage 2. That is simple: the Mayor (his planning team) can either agree with LBWF and leave them to finalise the Planning Permission, call it in, whereby the Mayor takes over the planning process or refuse it. In the Whipps case I expect he will leave it to LBWF to deal with the next stages. The next stage is for LBWF to draw up the Section 106 agreement with Barts, which may take a few months. Meanwhile Barts has to deal with the NHS and get the funding and agreement to their plans which now have Outline Planning Permission and full permission for the Car Park. One thing we need to keep a close eye on is whether they will sell off a bit of the 'spare' land early so they can get some revenue in."



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