FAMILIES won their fight last night (Wednesday) to stop a new development overlooking East London’s famous Victoria Park when the local authority threw out the proposals. The big guns’ at the Town Hall backed residents and small businesses who had protested at the plans to demolish Gun Wharf

FAMILIES won their fight last night (Wednesday) to stop a new development overlooking East London’s famous Victoria Park when the local authority threw out the proposals.

The big guns’ at the Town Hall backed residents and small businesses who had protested at the plans to demolish Gun Wharf.

The planning application for high-rise blocks of flats and offices on the banks of the Hertford Union Canal at Old Ford were blocked by Tower Hamlets council’s development committee.

The developers, Durkan Estates, wanted to put up four tower blocks with 140 flats and 7,400sq ft (250m) of commercial office space on land now occupied by workshops and small industrial units.

Residents were worried about the neighbourhood’s increased population and its impact on already-crowded bus services such as the No 8 to Central London as well as NHS services.