LurkyMcLurker

9 hours ago, ianr said:

There's a set of what seem to be statutory directions pertaining to a set of specific protected  vistas, from points such as Greenwich, Primrose Hill, Kenwood, Richmond, at https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/LVMF Directions 16 March 2012.pdf, and I don't find Nunhead mentioned in it; though I don't know that it's the only set of such directions.  I do doubt that a "protected view within the Southwark Plan" is a creature of the same species.  Perhaps someone can find it.

A quick google search found it. "New Southwark Plan - Borough Views" is what you want. Also, you could search something like "Southwark Council Protected Views" and it comes up.

Anyways, The council's taken this upon themselves to protect a few views of St Pauls from within the council's boundaries. It's not the same as the protected views that result in the designs of properties in the city like The Cheesegrater and The Scalpel.

The most important part is this: "Development that exceeds a Threshold Plane is likely to harm a viewer’s ability to recognise and appreciate St Paul’s Cathedral and is therefore likely to be refused."

It doesn't seem that the development in the photo harms both the viewer's ability to recognise and appreciate the cathedral therefore it was given permission. It does look like for it's gone right up to the line of what is acceptable and stayed there.

You're looking at the developments on Glengall Road.

I'm pretty sure it's the development with the contractors HG for Southern Housing

Unfortunately it's not a protected view so it wouldn't have been a consideration at the time of application to the council.

 

The choice to build PBSA has nothing to do with trying to find space for students at local universities like King's.

PBSA, Coliving, and BTR developments generally concern themselves with their proximity to local transit within larger cities. While East Dulwich isn't the best connected station in the city, it's good enough and the development is in a prime location. Combined with the massive demand for PBSA, it's no wonder the majority of the development space will be dedicated to students.

If any element of this development should change it should be dropping PBSA and building more homes that can be purchased.

 

They're really going for the hard sell on why we should care about this.

The bit about new PBSA properties freeing up local houses for families in nonsense. A very important factor to developments like PBSA and BTR is the development's proximity to transport links. It's unlikely that the students that would be occupying these spaces attend the nearest university or even live in East Dulwich. "By providing accommodation for them it is hoped the houses will return to family occupation" - The Savills article I link below reports that 5+ room houses to let have dipped by over 31% since 2019. Know what's a really good way to free up housing for families? Just make more housing for families.

PBSA properties are fantastic investments because the occupants can never own, the demand continues to be strong due to low supply, which pushes forecasted rental growth. Here's a really good Savill's publication on PBSA from earlier this year: https://www.savills.com/research_articles/255800/346721-0

I'm all for new homes being built, but this development should be pressed to drop PBSA and simply provide more homes available to individuals or families to purchase, and not just provide rental income to owners in perpetuity.

On 24/11/2023 at 14:26, Borderlands said:

Why on earth are they doing this move around? Was loads of stuff being missed by complaining customers, or were shelves full of food'n'stuff that no-one bought? Beware, it's a major mess up. I know their stocks seem to be poorly managed nowadays since supply chains have become more difficult, meaning from week to week you can never be sure an item you usually buy will be there. But added to that, during their current game of pass the parcel with products, is that it might be impossible to find because of some weird shelving choices management have made.  What's more they haven't bothered to put up any signage for temporary positioning of goods at the end of each bay. Other aspects of recent developments in store show total contempt for customers on foot who pay by cash or want to use serviced tills. Presumably management in this branch want it to become a product warehouse with minimum footfall, leaving aisles free for their delivery service staff to whizz around unobstructed by actual shoppers who know their way round. I pity the staff who are trying their best. May be the local manager would like to explain the whys and wherefores to posters here.

The changes aren't being made by anyone whose set foot in the DKH Sainsbury's more than once a year, if ever at all.

Biggest overhead for the company will be paying staff. So it's easier to put the responsibility on the customer to scan and pay without input from an employee. Lots of people will gladly take on that responsibility (myself included). It's faster for me to scan my own items, pay, and leave without input from a member of staff. I also don't need to queue which saves me time.  Is it a good thing? For me, yes. For others, maybe not. Some people would need assistance and probably enjoy the social interaction. Anyone who isn't tech savvy probably finds it frustrating as well. I'm not sure if those members of staff would have lost their jobs or been offered an alternative within the shop. Anecdotally, whenever I'm in Sainsburys it seems to be split pretty evenly between shoppers and staff picking up items for home delivery.

Changing the layout of the shop would also be a decision from corporate. In the past, I'd be in and out of Sainos in 25 minutes because I knew what I wanted and where it'd be. When they changed the layout, it was probably 35 minutes for 2-3 shops. Now I'm back down to 25 because I know the new layout. The point is, during that time when I'd be in the shop an additional 10 minutes, it was likely I'd end up in an aisle with products I don't normally browse, and it's likely I saw something new I hadn't seen before and I'd considered purchasing it, if not purchasing it. I bet Sainsbury's have statistics showing that they see an increase in sales in the month after a shop layout change.

As long as people keep shopping there, and as long as internal analytics deem these processes worthwhile, things will not change. Best way to make any sort impact would be to vote with your wallet, I'd assume.

7 hours ago, Sue Klein said:

but they did not action this, probably because of brain fog induced by over exposure to mobile phones

It is widely accepted that over-exposure to mobile phones makes people forgetful, irritable, and confused.

Perhaps you should practice kindness as said brain fog is likely causing a lapse in their judgment in relation to your freedom pass. Perhaps your own over exposure to mobile phones is making you forgetful? The owner of that Londis has been dead for twenty years. It's a Gail's.

JAGS do a kids party hire. 

https://jagssportsclub.co.uk/jags-kids/#kids-parties

They section off a portion of one of the basketball courts and provide a bouncy castle and other soft toys for kids to play with. Was a great place to hold my child's recent birthday party. £205 for 90 minutes. All things considered it made the party pretty affordable and really easy. We really only had to show up, set up food, pack up and leave. There were 2 teens on hand to do the set up and breakdown of the bouncy castle and they helped clean up. 

You're responsible for bringing your own food and drink. I don't know if alcohol is allowed or not. 

All in all, really recommend them for a party if you want to keep it easy. We hosted one there and have been to 2 or 3 more at the same place and each time it's been a breeze from the hosting and attending perspective. 

29 minutes ago, NewWave said:

I predict an Obesity outbreak in ED.

Burrito,Pizza,Burgers,Noodles.....

When I was in LA in the 90's there was a place called Souplantation (I believe it was a South Cali chain) where it was a serve yourself Salad/Raw food bar and you could then add from a vast selection of protein and toppings.

As the name suggests the other offering was...Soup.

And I think they offered fresh juices too.

You paid by the size of the bowl for salad and soup was a flat rate and you could add a bread roll.

I remember it was very reasonable and I ate in or got takeaway there most days.

I wish there was something like this in London.

 this is a chain I'd welcome.

 

Souplantation closed permanently due to the pandemic. It's also a really unfortunate name that didn't age very well.

I'd welcome a Chipotle. It's the sort of place I'd pop into on a Friday night after getting out of work for a fast dinner.

I'd rather a space have a tenant than be vacant. Ideally I'd want small businesses, but I don't think it's practical. Larger companies will beat out independently owned every time. They can afford higher rental rates, sign longer leases, and are generally the safer option for landlords.

This will continue unless schemes are going to be introduced to heavily assist smaller businesses. Schemes better than what currently exists, which is a pretty low bar to clear.

There's more people whinging about people whinging about poundland than there are people actually whinging about poundland.

Please keep the conversation focused on the topic.

There's plenty of other threads about car usage and cyclists and all of that.

This thread isn't one of them and doesn't need to be one of them, regardless of who said what first.

Lee Scoresby Wrote:

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> They refuse to end their ludicrous 'jihad

> on dogs' and take even modest steps to make these

> core park-users welcome

You've got a real flair for the dramatic.

The mini golf may be a bit too expensive for my liking, but I'll probably wander by and see how it looks.

I reckon this is a case for Mulder and Scully.

BusyRabbit Wrote:

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> I?m afraid I?m too busy to reply to any comments

> there may be

Too busy keeping an eye out your window for anyone who crosses the street at an undesignated location, i figure.

I, for one, applaud you Moondancer.

For too long we've had to put up with subpar service from local shops and eateries.

I remember a time when customer service meant something! Nowadays the help don't even bow when I enter the M&S.

It's all a travesty.