Multi-million pound plans to demolish and re-build a ‘state of the art’ sports centre have been axed from the council’s agenda for next week.
Campaigners, parents and budding sports stars had been preparing to protest at the town hall in Walthamstow, on Tuesday, as plans for the Chingford Road Pool and Track were to be debated for a second time.
A petition which has been signed by over 1,500 people was started two weeks ago, calling on the council to consult local people.
The plans, the second ones to reach the planning committee, have been slammed as the new centre will not include a 5m diving board, dive pit and will alter facilities for disabled people.
Waltham Forest council’s contractor, GLL Ltd, said the board is too expensive but are putting spa facilities and a BMX area in the plans.
In September the first plans were rejected over the proposed loss of amenity for local residents.
Today, it was revealed that the meeting has been deferred until March, where the will be a dedicated meeting over the facility.
In a letter to campaigner Ian Capes, a council officer wrote:
Due to the amount of interest in the plans it is important that we can accommodate as many members of the public as possible who wish to attend the meeting and play their part in the decision making process.
The decision comes on the same day the chairman of the planning committee was suspended from the Labour group over a Facebook rant over the words of the Prophet Mohammed.
The petition can be seen here: