A planning inspector has upheld a council’s decision to refuse an HTA-designed mixed-use scheme in east London, citing the 16-storey development’s impact on local heritage.

Tower Hamlets rejected the 189-unit proposals, drawn up for Telford Homes, in May last year. Members of the authority’s strategic development committee said the development, which would have replaced a 1950s London Electricity Board office block on Cambridge Heath Road in Bethnal Green, failed to meet affordable housing requirements and was poorly designed.

Tower Hamlets originally included Telford Homes’ proposed tenure mix for the scheme’s 65 affordable homes in its reasons for rejection. However it did not seek to defend the point at appeal. The scheme also sought to deliver 1,676sq m of flexible commercial space on the 0.38ha site.

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