You may know that two very similar applications – for a large, mixed retail and residential building up to four storeys in height, opposite the Brockley Jack – were turned down by Lewisham Planning Officers in November 2011 and May 2012. On 20 September 2011, I chaired a public meeting attended by the Planning Officer, the developers and their architect and by 73 local residents and business people to discuss the proposal.
Both applications were refused by Lewisham Council on the grounds of overdevelopment, poor urban design and lack of an acceptable servicing regime. The Council considered the proposals to be in conflict with elements of the London Plan (July 2011), the Local Development Framework – Core Strategy (June 2011) and the Unitary Development Plan (July 2004).
More detailed reasons for refusing the second application, which received 190 objections from local residents and businesses, were:
- The proposed development’s excessive bulk and scale, poor urban design and mix of commercial and residential floor space would result in an over-development of the site.
- Its bulk, scale, design and close proximity of the building to adjoining residential properties would be out of keeping with the street scheme and visually detrimental to Sevenoaks Road homes.
- The applicant did not demonstrate that the proposed retail unit could be adequately serviced without significant impact on adjoining residents, highway safety or bus service provision.
- The internal planning, mutual overlooking between units and poor overall size of most of the flats would provide a poor standard of accommodation.
Appeal and new application
The applicant is now appealing to the Planning Inspectorate for London against Lewisham Council’s decision to refuse the second planning application. At the same time, he is also submitting a new application to Lewisham Council.
This is a similar application to the previous two rejections, but with a smaller retail area. Lewisham Planning have referred this to their Design Team for a design review. Full details of this new application (reference DC/13/82946/X) can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/ceugzky.
What can you do?
The old application
If you have any new comments to make against the second rejected application (reference DC/12/79879/FT), go to http://tinyurl.com/d7krxko, where you’ll find all the relevant dates and the Case Officer’s details. Please note that all previous correspondence will be forwarded to the Planning Inspectorate by Lewisham Council – so there is no need to resubmit. The closing date for new comments is 2 May.
The current application – submit your views by Wednesday 1 May
Details of the new application can be found on Lewisham Council’s website at http://tinyurl.com/ceugzky where you can make your comments and register any objections. The closing date for objections is 1 May 2013.
Please contact me if you have any queries relating to this development.
Cllr Pauline Morrison
[email protected]