It was a dark moment when I heard the news that the Planning Inspector who oversaw the Public Inquiry into the future of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry had made a judgement in favour of the boutique hotel.
An even darker week followed as I awaited the news from the High Court of the verdict on Tower Hamlets Council’s decision to permit developer Crest Nicholson to dig up the four-hundred-year-old Bethnal Green Mulberry. With the Council’s decision upon the Truman Brewery’s application to build a shopping mall due in June, I feared I was presiding over a hat trick of catastrophes for the East End.
Yet Sir Duncan Ouseley ruled Tower Hamlets’ decision to grant permission to dig up the Mulberry tree was unlawful and the planning application for the bad redevelopment of the former London Chest Hospital was quashed. I was overjoyed and sat at my desk shedding tears of relief. The hat trick of catastrophes was averted and there is hope.
Under paragraph 175c of the National Planning Policy Framework, a veteran tree such as the Mulberry cannot be destroyed without ‘wholly exceptional reasons.’ In this instance, there are no ‘wholly exceptional reasons’ and, if the tree is dug up, the obvious risk of killing it cannot be denied. The law has been clarified at the High Court and, after four years of fighting, the Mulberry is now safe.
We expect Crest Nicholson to come back with a revised and better development plan but they cannot touch the Mulberry. We hope they will take public opinion into account and build with less density, more affordable housing, and not sacrifice mature trees. Developers’ generous profit margins are sufficient for their scheme to be entirely viable without the necessity of maximising to such an exploitative level.
The day after the news of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry decision was announced by Luke Hall, a junior minister in Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, there came a tweet expressing regret at the closure of the foundry from Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State, revealing that all was not quite as straightforward as first appeared.
In June 2020, Christopher Pincher MP misspoke on record in the House of Commons, saying that the Secretary of State had called in the Whitechapel Bell Foundry application to stop the boutique hotel. If, in October 2020, the Planning Inspector had made a judgement at the Public Inquiry against the boutique hotel and the Secretary of State had ratified it, then this would be open to the charge of predetermination. By deciding in favour of the hotel, the Inspector asserted the integrity of the Planning Inspectorate and avoided any exposure for the Secretary of State. Yet if Robert Jenrick supported the boutique hotel, he would not have called the Public Inquiry at all.
So this leaves an almighty mess which can only be resolved within parliament. There has always been strong cross party support in Westminster for saving the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, especially since it is where Big Ben was cast. In 2019, Sir Edward Leigh MP recognised the significance of the foundry, writing publicly to encourage Robert Jenrick to call the Public Inquiry and urging his party ‘as Conservatives’ to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Equally, John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor wrote, ‘London should never countenance the loss of such an iconic national and international business.’
In response to the recent decision, Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal Green, wrote, ‘It was a source of pride to have Big Ben and America’s Liberty Bell made right here in Whitechapel. This short-sighted decision destroys the hopes of it ever returning to a working foundry and is a tragic loss of a really important part of our local and national heritage.’
Two major projects already in the pipeline emphasise the need for the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to cast bells that meet important moments in our cultural and political history, as it has done for centuries past.
Artist Grayson Perry has designed an ‘End of Covid Bell’ in support of our campaign which will be produced by Factum Foundation. We plan this will undertake a national tour to major NHS hospitals, starting in Whitechapel. Those who have been bereaved by Covid will be invited to toll the bell and leave a message in remembrance.
Whitechapel was where the Royal Jubilee Bells were cast which now hang in St James Garlickhythe. 2023 sees the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation and we need the Whitechapel Bell Foundry operational again to cast the ‘Elizabeth Bell’ to celebrate this moment. At the time of the Diamond Jubilee, the bell tower at Westminster was renamed the ‘Elizabeth Tower’ and the Elizabeth Bell would be hung there, replacing a broken nineteenth century bell which has not chimed in over a century.
It is easily within the power of government to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry for the nation and we hope that all those supporters in Westminster will come together to deliver this outcome.
Beyond the Mulberry Tree and the Whitechapel Bell Foundry campaigns lies the Battle for Brick Lane to prevent the corporate redevelopment of the Truman Brewery in disregard of the needs of the community. It is evident that the current proposal for a shopping mall is the thin end of the wedge and, if consented, would create a precedent permitting the transformation of the entire brewery into another Broadgate, Spitalfields Market or Fruit & Wool Exchange, with a plaza of large office buildings including possible towers.
Despite an all-time record of over seven thousand letters of objection, Tower Hamlets Council appear set on approving this development. At a recent meeting, the Development Committee considered the application but deferred their decision to allow further discussion of the 106 agreement, which outlines the community benefits of the scheme. Councillors recognised that there is a problem with the development driving out existing businesses in Brick Lane and the lack of any housing provision, which is the priority for the local community. Yet their superficially well-intentioned initiative attempts to placing a sticking plaster over a gaping wound.
Jason Zeloof, owner of the brewery, is proposing that he will discount 10% of his workspace to local businesses and offer 20% of his shops to independents. Yet the reality is that the cost of his expensive development will require high rents, which even at a discount will be unaffordable for local businesses, and that his shopping mall will be 80% chain stores.
The increase in land values in Brick Lane resulting from the redevelopment of the Truman Brewery will mean a rise in business rents, driving out the independent shops and the curry restaurants which give the place its identity. Additionally, the rise in already high housing rents will drive out all but those on the highest incomes. Brick Lane is the heartland of British Bangladeshi culture but this development will mean the death of this community in Spitalfields.
For centuries, Brick Lane has been the point of arrival for migrants, representing centuries of struggle by generations of people seeking to build a life and belong, creating the multicultural Britain of today. In this sense, it is of the greatest cultural significance as the closest we have to an ‘Ellis Island’ in this country and it needs to be protected.
Tower Hamlets Council must reject the current application and commission a Planning Brief for the entire brewery site, based on local consultation, which responds to the needs of the community, especially for genuinely affordable housing and workspaces.
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the Bethnal Green Mulberry and the Truman Brewery have been fundamental to the identity of the East End for centuries, and we cannot let them to be taken from us and destroyed for the sake of exploitative corporate monetisation.
Visit www.battleforbricklane.com. The accompanying exhibition is open at 25 Princelet St from noon-6 each weekend.
Grayson’s Perry maquette for his ‘End of Covid’ bell