The 02 Centre: scheduled for redevelopment 

• CLIMATE change has been in the news a lot recently.

We have all seen news bulletins of terrible fires and people being drowned on the subway. We have ourselves experienced significant flooding locally.

Yet the authorities appear keen to go ahead with the O2 Centre redevelopment! If the plans proceed it seems there may be 16-storey tower blocks.

Many of the proposed future residents may well have cars, which will increase pollution of the already very polluted atmosphere. With little parking space proposed, quite possibly cars may be parked – maybe illegally but still parked – in the surrounding streets.

There is already insufficient parking space for vital visitors, such as district nurses, plumbers, electricians etc, and I doubt plumbers and electricians will want to use public transport with their heavy tools.

This would appear to be bad news for the poorer in the area (who do not have driveways) and the sick and elderly (I am envisaging unattended cancer patients seriously ill or dying in the cold).

Talking of medical matters, are there enough GPs or schools to cope with this great population increase? There is enough backlog of medical attention already due to Covid-19.

Knocking down the O2 and building all these tower blocks will I suspect likewise create a lot of pollution. It was built in the 1990s – rather soon to demolish it surely?

There are some very popular businesses there. If other businesses hadn’t possibly taken fright at these proposals, and I suspect not renewed their leases, the whole building would now have more shops, restaurants etc and presumably be generating a better financial return.

Another point is affordable housing which, it appears, may drop considerably. This is not much good for struggling people wishing to get a foot on the housing ladder. These plans require a lot of modification.

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