Planning applications

I've been working with residents on quite a few planning applications.

1) 2-8 Ansdell Road
There was an entirely inappropriate application to build a block of 31 flats on a site where there used to be 2 prefab bungalows. The application was refused by the planning department on 11 seperate grounds. Astonishingly the developer has appealed against the decision and there will be a hearing on it, probably in March. In the meantime the developer also seems to be considering building some terraced housing on the site as there is already permission for that.

2) 1a St Mary's Road
This site is currently two empty houses and some storage garages just to the north of Frobisher Place (aka the Grade II listed Pioneer Centre). There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the application to build some mews houses on the site, but I think they were just trying to squeeze one or two too many on. The wall of the new houses would have been just a few meters away from the living room windows of residents in the Pioneer Centre. I spoke at the Community Council meeting and the committee was persuaded to refuse planning permission.

3) Brabourne Grove
This was an application to build new homes on an industrial site behind Brabourn Grove. Not something I'm opposed to in principle, but there were some big problems with this particular proposal and the planning department refused permission on 6 seperate grounds.

Juniper House Ball Court Planning Delays

I've spent quite a lot of time over the last month battling with council bureaucracy on behalf of the kids of Juniper House on Pomeroy Street.

The Nunhead & Peckham Rye Community Council gave the estate £30k in 2003 so they could build a multi-sport ball court at the back of the estate where there used to be garages. The council owned estate is run by a very efficient tenant management committee and I was very surprised to find the ball court still hadn't been built. It turned out that they needed planning permission and instead of processing this in the normal 8 weeks, Southwark Council had been sitting on it for nearly a year and a half!
Myself and the management committee made numerous attempt to resolve this quietly, but promises from the planning department were repeatedly broken. On 2 May parents and children from Juniper House came to the Town Hall to make their anger known and to present their petition. Thanks must go to the Southwark News, South London Press and BBC London Radio who all covered the story.

Following the protest the council pulled their finger out and planning permission was granted on 22 May. Hopefully the ball court will be ready in time for the summer holidays.

Nursery to relocate - new health centre to be built in its place?

The Council has recently revealed plans to relocate Nunhead Green Early Years Centre to a site at Rye Oak Primary School. The new Childrens Centre at Rye Oak will be able to offer a much wider range of services and I suspect will be a good thing.

I say I suspect because I knew nothing about the plans until a few days before the Council Executive decided to go ahead with the proposals. I believe that parents with children currently at the centre were consulted, but no other local residents. It's difficult for me to do my job of representing residents if council officers don't tell me about their plans till so late in the day. My experience is that some departments are better than others at consulting and I've now made arrangements to meet with senior officers in Childrens Services every six weeks. I've also got the agreement that the relevent officers will come and make a presentation about their plans at the Nunhead & Peckham Rye Community Council so anyone who's interested can find out more. I'll post again when I've got details of the meeting.

The thing that troubled me most when I found out about these proposals was the lack of information about the future of the site on Nunhead Green. Fortunately now the area has been declared as a Conservation Area and the Planning Department says

"there are significant limitations to the amount of development the site could sustain due to the presence of trees on site which have protection, the conservation area status of Nunhead green and the setting"

They also say they would not support development of any more that 2/3 storeys on the site.

More good news is that Southwark's Primary Care Trust (which is responsible for managing local health services, eg GP services, community nurses, preventative health) are seriously considering buying the site and building a new health centre there. It would mostly like involve the Nunhead Grove GP practise relocating to the new centre and providing more services. Sounds promising so let's hope it happens. I'm also pressing for the Council and PCT to involve local residents in developing the plans.

Nunhead Grove "Age Concern" building

Residents may have noticed the "SOLD" sign on the old Age Concern building on Nunhead Grove. The building actually belonged to the council and has been empty or squatted since Age Concern moved out a few years back.

The building has some structural problems (primarily with the roof) which is why Age Concern had to move out so I was worried that the new owners would be planning to demolish this historic chapel and put up a block of flats, but fortunately not.

I don't have much information, but according to council officers in the property department.

"The purchaser is a New Cross based “orthodox doctor”, who also deals with various therapies, and intends to turn the building into an alternative practice and ‘community’-focused space - healing, meditation, yoga - along with some performance, music, poetry, etc. He has links to www.festivaloflife.net"

I've asked the officers to put me in touch with him and I hope to find out more about his proposals.