Contentious plans for temporary accommodation on a green space in Hainault have been dropped by Redbridge Council.

The authority had planned to build 90 units of modular housing, providing family accommodation in a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom homes, at two sites on Brocket Way and Manford Way.

But it has now announced the Brocket Way plans have been dropped, while the Manford Way plans will go ahead.

As soon as the proposals were announced earlier this year they were met with fierce opposition from those living nearby.

Many feared losing green space in the area and were concerned about the impact it would have on pollution levels.

One opponent of the plans, 11-year-old Victoria Williams, delivered a blistering speech last month at a community forum meeting.

She demanded council leader, Cllr Jas Athwal, leave the green spaces of Hainault as they are, before “an entire generation of Hainault children turn their back on your party.”

Victoria and her fellow campaigners then took the cause all the way to No 10 Downing Street, delivering a petition with more than 3,000 signatures demanding the plans be revoked.

Now, their hard campaigning work has partially paid off.

Cllr Mark Santos, of Hainault ward, took to Twitter this morning to announce that he and his Hainault colleagues Cllr Roy Emmett and Cllr Joe Hehir have pushed for the Brocket Way plans to be withdrawn.

In a joint statement the councillors said: “Following a strong local campaign and pressure from Hainault Councillors behind the scenes, the Leader of Redbridge Council, Jas Athwal, today announced plans to withdraw proposals for a development on Brocket Way.”

Council leader, Cllr Jas Athwal, said: “As I promised residents, I have taken the time to reflect upon the proposals to build modular housing in Brocket Way.

“Local Hainault Ward Councillors have made a strong and compelling case to me to change the council’s approach and I have been deeply moved by the arguments made by Victoria Williams at the last North Neighbourhood Forum.

“I understand the concerns of local people, including the Hainault councillors and so I have made the decision to withdraw proposals for a development of modular housing on Brockett Way.”

However, Cllr Athwal added that plans for housing on the Manford Way site would continue as planned.

He said: “We do have a housing crisis in Redbridge and there remain over 2,300 families in temporary accommodation. We will therefore still be proceeding with the request for planning permission for the modular housing development on the Manford Way site.

“Should this be agreed I will be working with the local councillors to mitigate as much as possible the impact on the existing local community.”

Cllr Howard Berlin, deputy leader of the Conservative group and Fairlop ward councillor, said: “This is a great victory for Hainault residents and I am very pleased to have played my part. I am now calling for this land to be designated as green space and to have ‘Fields in Trust’ status which would mean the land would have long term protection from development.

“I became a Fairlop councillor with the aim to work for the protection of Redbridge greenbelt and green spaces. There are other battles looming and I will continue the battle to protect our valuable Redbridge greenbelt.”