A community garden could be demolished to allow lorries to access a building site if plans get approval from the a town hall at a meeting due to take place tonight.

Hackney Gazette: Bayton Court seen from Blackstone Estate.Bayton Court seen from Blackstone Estate. (Image: Archant)

An orchard, three communal gardens which grow herbs, flowers and vegetables and two grassy verges which are tended by residents’ could be flattened to allow developer Hanover Housing to build a six-storey sheltered housing block at the neighbouring Bayton Court in Lansdowne Drive, London Fields.

This means that more than 150 residents at Blackstone Estate in Lansdowne Drive could be left with virtually no green space.

It is one of two access route options that developer Hanover Housing has submitted for approval to Hackney Council’s planning department.

It is the latest blow to the residents who were told last year that around heavy goods vehicles would be going through their estate 50 times a day six days a week to deliver building supplies to an unconnected estate for at least five months. The entire building project is expected to take a year to complete.

Hanover Housing presented residents with two access route options through the estate at a Tenant’s Resident Association (TRA) meeting last March.

Around 50 residents at the close-knit estate, which has long prided itself on its community spirit, met on Monday night to express their anger and discuss an action plan.

Concerned residents have sent in 73 objections to proposals.

Sian Jones, a resident and member of the TRA said: “People are really concerned. Most of the green space is going to be destroyed. We submitted 73 separate complaints from 150 households. We still don’t want traffic to go traffic to go through the estate.

“I think the feeling at the meeting was that it’s also an incredible imposition to have construction traffic coming in and out, especially when we campaigned 10 years ago to make the estate traffic-free. We feel this is being presented to us without consultation. We want them to explore other options first. We want the planning committee to have a look at the situation on the ground and look at the problems it will impose.”

Neighbour John Hunt, 73, added: “It will be like the M1 with lots of bulldozers and coming through the estate. We don’t want it.”

A spokeswoman from Hanover said: “Demolition work has been carried out during December. A small number of complaints were received concerning dust and noise; these have been addressed with the contractor, and the demolition works are now being completed. In order to transport materials through to the site, there is a need to use the estate service road and some soft landscaping will be affected. This will be temporary, during the period of actual construction, and we are in discussions with the local residents’ association and Hackney Homes about the arrangements for reinstating the soft landscaping at the end of the project.”