Brockley Bites - Planning Special

We have a round-up of local planning stories for you now, all of which are sourced from our readers, including one we almost plagiarised from a forum without knowing that the author was actually a BC regular...

Unit 5 - Ashby Mews

The building was demolished by the Council as a dangerous structure following the recent fire - it is now a charred heap. The owners, St Aidan Commercial Ltd, will be billed for this work. Lewisham Council will also be writing to them requesting clearance of the site and the erection of a hoarding to screen the vacant site and prevent dumping. They will be given a reasonable period of time to do this work.

United Services Club - Manor Avenue

This building will no longer be used as a club. Planning permission is needed for any other use. Lewisham Council will encourage the owners to restore it for residential use, rather than allow it to be converted to a church - a use that has been proposed but which is not considered suitable.

1-3 Ashby Road

Developers Ashby Healthcare had their appeals rejected for this site. They had wanted to convert the building in to a "care home" and had been refused permission.

Both appeals (Conservation Area Consent and Planning Permission) were dismissed. The main reason was the size and appearance of the building and its impact on the street scene in Ashby Road.

This will probably mean that a care home development, which according to the developer, was always dependent on scale, would not be viable and it is unlikely that we will see another application.

For those who say the planning system is prone to caving in the face of a persistent developer, this should be a satisfactory result.

The Seager Distillery, Deptford

The residential development plans, which include an 82 metre tower, have been re-submitted for planning approval to Lewisham Council. A revised application was already rejected last year but developers Galliard are back for another go, trying to squeeze more flats in to the low-rise portion.

It's been suggested by some local residents that this is not a suitable site for a "tall" building, which seems odd, given that this site is surrounded by fairly tall commercial and residential buildings and neighbours a high-level DLR crossing and a very wide road. Nonetheless, standing more than 20-storeys high, this will be considerably taller than anything else in the area.

The site has been cleared, ready for construction to begin.

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Thanks to JPM and Bolted.