Residents of the normally quiet town of Orpington, in deepest suburbia, who live in Bromley are up in arms in response to a recent Planning Application submitted by a developer, who is proposing 15 tower blocks housing 990 apartments in their Town Centre.
This planning application has attracted a record number of objections, these currently stand at just under 3500 and are growing daily, as the Planning Application is still open for comment until 31 July 2022.
Such Is the impact of the proposals and the outrage it has generated, with 96% of the comments being objections, with the original closing date being extended to enable Council officers to carefully analyse each comment.
Tim Webb, one of the co-founders of the Facebook Campaign Group ‘Nuts to the Walnuts’ said: “Local Residents and visitors to our Town have reacted furiously and are very upset with the fact they believe a major redevelopment Is being imposed upon them. I am very disappointed and annoyed with the way we have all been misled During the consultation process. The proposal to demolish most of the Walnuts shopping centre and replace this with a High Rise and high density Housing Estate, with Artisan Shops in the ground floor of each of the fifteen Residential Tower Blocks, has been greeted with dismay”, Tim continues.
In addition the Walnuts Leisure Centre Is also being demolished. According to the proposals, it will be at least 2 years before a replacement Is made available.
Two public meetings Have been organised, with hundreds of concerned residents attending the most recent.
A Facebook Protest Group has been formed and has 2,400 members.
In addition, the group is using Twitter and YouTube to alert people to their concerns and worries.
Webb concluded: “ We keep pressing on with our Campaign and continuing to raise Public awareness, as we are finding some Residents in the surrounding areas appear unaware a Planning Proposal has been submitted, whilst others are not clear as to the likely scale and scope of the Planning Application”.
