About us

Our story so far
Timeline
2017 6 February 2017. Tower Hamlets Council approved the Neighbourhood Plan area March 2017. Public meeting at Chisenhale Art Space where draft constitution and next steps were discussed. 16 August. Tower Hamlets Council approved the Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Forum, the body responsible for overseeing the development of the plan. The area was sub-divided into 8 sub-areas and the Forum sought champions for each of the sub-areas to represent their area.
2018 A series of public engagement events in the sub-areas was held early in 2018 to gather evidence about people’s likes, dislikes and ideas for what could be improved in their area. The findings were consolidated with evidence posted on the interactive Placecheck map on our website. A unified report was produced, followed by a set of ‘heat maps, showing this evidence in visual form. We also undertook desktop research into the wider policy context of the neighbourhood plan, including the New London Plan 2019-41 and Tower Hamlets Draft Local Plan 2031. The Forum supported the development of the Roman road Land Trust, pioneered by Sarah Bland, to work towards developing genuinely affordable housing in Bow
2019 Post-graduate students from the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London worked with the Forum and produced a report ‘Green Spaces and Connectivity’ focusing on these aspects of an emerging plan. May. The Roman Road Community Land Trust was registered as a Community Benefit Society. A first skeleton draft plan was written by the committee, who also conducted further background research into the wider planning context A ‘Q Consult’ team from Queen Mary College carried out a survey of 50 businesses in the area to explore the potential for greater flexibility in the use of business premises through multiple use classes.
2020 The Forum committee continued to meet monthly via Zoom. Since April the committee has focused on fleshing out the skeleton plan, ensuring its policies are sufficiently focused at neighbourhood level and justified by strong evidence. Valuable help was provided over the summer by architecture students at the Royal College of Art, who mapped for us the many locations mentioned in the plan. The Forum have been supported by a consultant, Chris Bowden from Navigus Planning through this process, which has been facilitated through small annual grants from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Governance

Read our Constitution and see the Minutes from our meeting

Boundary

Explore the boundary of the Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Forum

Steering Committee

See who is part of the Forum’s Steering Committee and find out how to join.

Join Forum & Vote

Whether you want to be involved in shaping the plan or simply to have a vote when the Neighbourhood Plan goes to referendum, register your interest by signing up to the Neighbourhood Forum’s newsletter.  At the end of the sign-up form you will be given the option to register to vote at the Referendum.