Forum Newsletter – June 2026
Join us for the Forum’s Annual General Meeting
12:15pm, Sat. 4th July @ Bow Idea Store
1 Gladstone Place E3 (opposite Tesco).
Thank you for your support over the past year. This has seen significant planning challenges for Bow, and your support has been a big help and encouragement.
We invite you now to join us for a short meeting at:12.15 pm, Sat. 4th July at Bow Idea Store (opposite Tesco).
We will:
- report on the past year and current issues,
- elect the Forum committee for the year ahead,
- share concerns together about our neighbourhood
The coming year will see detailed proposals emerging for housing at Chisenhale Art Place and the large Council-owned site extending from William Place to Bow Idea Store. It’s important your voice is heard over these developments, and others, such as the future of Bow Wharf, which is still uncertain.
We warmly invite you to consider joining the Forum committee
We meet in person quarterly, on a weekday evening.
If you would like to serve on the committee, we would be delighted to hear from you:
Please send a short email to the address below saying why you would like to join the committee and what you think you can contribute.
Bow Wharf
In December 2025 Tower Hamlets refused planning permission for the conversion of the banqueting venue into flats, the demolition of three timber buildings providing employment space, and the construction of two mainly privately owned blocks of flats (shown in the image above.)
The site owner, the Canal and River Trust, had previously appealed against a decision of the Information Commissioner requiring the Trust to make a fresh response to the Forum’s request for the 2019 heritage report on Bow Wharf. The report was commissioned by the H20 Urban partnership, which is jointly owned by the Trust and the private developer, ‘bloc.’ The Trust’s position is that it does not ‘hold’ the heritage report because it’s held by the H20 Urban partnership. If this is correct, it would mean the report falls outside the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), and the Trust doesn’t have to share the report.
A judge in the lower tribunal of the General Regulatory Chamber will hear the case online at 2pm on Wed.1st July. It’s possible for the public to observe the hearing, but a request in advance is required:
Email: grc@justice.gov.uk
Your email should include: the case reference:FT/EA/2025/0429
The hearing date: Ist July 2026. That you are a member of the public requesting observer access, your full name
The decision is likely to come a few weeks after the hearing.