Manor Avenue Nursery - The BrocSoc verdict

The Brockley Society will be taking a delegation to the Lewisham Planning Meeting on Thursday 16 April at 7.30pm to campaign against the proposed nursery in Manor Avenue.

They write:

The first item is an application for a nursery in Manor Avenue where the private social club has been for many years. Following a long investigation and several meetings, Brockley Society and many local residents are opposing this application for a number of reasons, including the traffic and parking problems that this substantial nursery would cause in an already very congested avenue. Some of the other reasons are listed below. This is a campaign to 'Save the Avenue' and has nothing to do with opposition to children or nurseries as such.

Here are the reasons we oppose this application which runs contrary to the preservation and enhancement of the conservation area, based on Lewisham Council's guidelines for development [As the list is very long, BC has selected what we regard as the strongest of their arguments - there is a bit of double counting in their list of objections, where they at once object to the plans as a loss of housing and a loss of community leisure space]:

Parking

Dropping off and picking up children will cause traffic congestion, particularly in the narrow 'shoulders' of the street; which also has inadequate spare parking capacity due to the number of dwellings versus the car usage, and may be a traffic hazard. The council's own policy dictates that 'Where appropriate one off-street parking space should be provided for every two members of staff.' That's nine spaces.

Residential Buildings

There is a general shortage of housing in the borough. It is important not to lose homes to other uses. 60 Manor Avenue has let part of the house as 5 bedsits, and should be retained in residential use. 'In order to minimise the loss of residential accommodation the Council will look favourably on schemes which retain part of the house in residential use.' Added to which, policy also states, the applicant must 'demonstrate that this is the only suitable building for it.'