Neighbours of the former News International HQ were today gearing up for a new “Battle of Wapping” in protest over building work to create hundreds of homes.
People living near the former base of the Times and Sun have discovered a last-minute change could mean HGVs making up to 50 trips a day down a narrow road to remove 50,000 tons of rubble.
St George East, which is building the 1,800-home London Dock development, has asked Tower Hamlets council for permission to use Vaughan Way, after a complaint from a recording studio on the initial route.
Today residents were meeting the council to demand builders stick to an entrance in Pennington Street. The council said it would work with residents, businesses and developers.
The 15-acre site was the scene of the 1986 “Battle of Wapping”, between unions and police when Rupert Murdoch moved there from Fleet Street. News UK, previously News International, sold the land to St George East for £150 million.