Potters Fields campaigners petition Prime Minister

Alan Chapman, vice-chair of the Shad Thames Residents Association and a long-standing opponent of the Berkeley Homes scheme, has set up the petition on the new 10 Downing Street e-petitions service.

The petition calls on the Prime Minister to "rescind the decision dated 14th February 2006 of the First Secretary of State to allow Berkeley Homes on appeal to build eight tower blocks immediately opposite the Tower of London and adjacent to Tower Bridge".

One important factor in the complicated history of the Potters Fields site is that although Berkeley Homes now has planning permission for eight towers, the land where five of the towers would stand is owned by Southwark Council.

Despite pledges to work together, no agreement has been reached between the local authority and the housing developer to bring forward a joint plan for the entire site.

In October it emerged that Berkeley Homes intends to press ahead with the construction of three of the towers on the portion of land it owns. Hoardings were erected around the site and preliminary groundworks have been taking place.

Berkeley Homes also owns the former St Olave's Grammar School building on Tooley Street which it intends to sell for development as a hotel. The building was advertised in the Estates Gazette earlier this month.

Southwark Council has yet to make a formal response to Berkeley Homes' intended partial development, though council leader Nick Stanton has reiterated his support for a cultural building on the site. The local authority is thought to be taking legal advice about its next steps.

The petition can be signed at petitions.pm.gov.uk/Faulty-Towers/.