180 Brockley Road - consultation report

It's like the summer riots of 2011 all over again, when one issue dominated BC coverage and debate for days and Brockley Kate provided front line reporting. Ah, great days.

Here's her report from the 180 Brockley Road consultation:

- The murals will go, but there is a plan to photograph them, blow them up really big and put the pics under the railway bridge to brighten it up. I suggested that they could commission Known (the graffiti artist who created them) to re-do them under the bridge instead. There was some muttering about cost, but BXAG are interested in fundraising for it.

- The planning gain will be delivered through public realm works rather than affordable housing. In layman's terms this means that the developer will pay for works to the wider public realm around the site, rather than subsidising some of the housing units. The housing will therefore all be for market sale, I understand.

- There will be 23 residential units, of which 1 4-bed house on the northern edge of the site, 1 3-bed, 11 2-beds and 10 1-beds.

- They did not know about the fact that the southern edge of the site is used as a stage for Brockley Max each year, but said they would take that into account in their public realm planning.

- BXAG are looking at creating some vertical planting on the north and south sides of the site.

- The commercial space will be classed for planning purposes as retail (A1, I think it is) and offices; it won't be classed as suitable for fried chicken shops or bookies.
Not clear whether this rules out restaurant/bar usage too.

- The commercial space will be flexible, so it can be easily subdivided or opened up, making it appealing to a range of sizes of businesses.

The architect and developer seem very keen to hear people's views and very open to discussion, which is really positive. They do appreciate the immense regeneration opportunity which this development offers for the wider community, and therefore the site's key importance. They are very keen to get the council to appreciate that as well (as are BXAG). They would therefore appreciate help from local people in lobbying the council in support of the development.