The latest Canada Water Masterplan has confirmed local residents' worst fears. Colin Boyle, Southwark Green Party Chair and local resident, stated that: "The Rotherhithe we know will be lost, and in its place we will have a high-rise, densely packed urban landscape. We need to develop Canada Water, but this proposal is entirely out of keeping with the area and ignores the feedback that local residents provided in previous consultations."

The knock-on effects have also been ignored, with no evidence that our already stretched roads and public transport will cope, or our schools and health services.

This vast development brings no new social housing and insufficient public space (e.g. one new park that is just 6% of the size of Southwark Park). Our little local nature area will also be lost because the Council failed to get the leisure centre included anywhere else in the plan (see the Canada Water West Residents Action Group).

Sian Berry, Green candidate for Mayor, commented: "This masterplan seems to be an unpopular development which hasn't won the support of the existing community. Nobody disputes that we need many more new homes in London, but we also need to site them sympathetically, and that means persuading the local community of the benefits of a scheme rather than imposing it on them. I urge Southwark Council to work with the community to come up with better ideas."