Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hi all,

Does anyone know whether the big blue office building with loading bay on crystal palace road is vacant?


As far as I know it's not had anyone working from within for many years. Are there plans for development?



I did try to call the number for Jones lang lasalle on the outside but they don't seem to have it on their records.

The planning application for this site will be decided next week Tuesday 3 February.

http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=119&MId=4805


The full planning applicatino can be seen here: http://planningonline.southwark.gov.uk/AcolNetCGI.exe?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeDocs&TheSystemkey=9553144


Cllr Rosie Shimell and I requested the decision be called-in and decided by planning committee. WE have fomally objected to the scheme...


The proposal is 22 homes:

? 9 one bed flats

? 6 two bed flats

? 3 three bed flats

? 4 four bed town houses.

Council officers have recommended it be approved.


We think is't an over development - it breaches the maximum density levels for the area.

Undoutedly it will cause extra congestion and despite proposing 44 under ground car parking spaces will attract visitors who will add to the existing parking pressure.

Developer's summary of feedback here.


http://planningonline.southwark.gov.uk/DocsOnline/Documents/373009_1.pdf


Nice to see the EDF getting a namecheck though I don't think the summary of responses on page 3 really reflects the responses on page 12.


James, maybe worth noting the developers' history of trying to renegotiate s106 agreements after the event... see #53 here


http://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/(S(0jvmmq45oktuyd55cs22ct45))/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=581&MId=6891


They also seem to have taken on a new planning adviser DP9.

It's a shame because good office space is hard to come by too. It could have been a building which created long term job opportunities or a school to target the current shortage in the area.. rather than attracting more people who's children will need schools etc etc you see where I'm going.


That said, a 4 bed townhouse sounds nice.

I doubt there's much demand for large amounts of office space in what is essentially suburban south London. Small offices for up to ten people, maybe.


There are already other schools under development nearby... Lordship Lane, East Dulwich Grove, Bellenden Road, and probably Dewar Street.


Realistically I'm not sure what else people were expecting to be built on this site.

If office space was needed, wouldn't the building have been in use all these years?


Don't think the site would be anywhere near big enough for a school, and as Jeremy says, there are schools popping up in other locations.


Wasn't there some talk of underground parking, or did I imagine that?

The site is a warehouse. The previous business occupying the site needed 18 wheeled lorries several time a week.

A warehouse of this size on a residential road doesn't work.


The plans propose 44 underground car parking spaces. Seems OTT. But I still think it will add to parknig stress as visitors won;t park underground.

Should have good cycle parking.


If you think this is good or bad tell the planning officers.

Exactly how is London 'in desperate need of additional housing'? London is in desperate need of additional transport infrastructure to cope with the spiralling population growth that all the (for profit) property development is adding to. There's a lot of singing and dancing about how positive all the current transport improvement is but it's nowhere near enough.


All of this while a significant amount of high-end property is bought as an investment and sitting empty.


We're struggling to get on a bus or train now, how are we going to in the future? The London Bridge development looks like it's going to provide us with less of a service than before.


I can see the benefit of more affordable housing obviously, however the fact that this extra housing is situated in East Dulwich would probably render it fairly unaffordable from the off.

Commercial property is constantly being labelled as 'no longer viable' and then converted to flats. The thing about the viability of a business is that it is highly dependent on the rent being asked for the property it leases. If there wasn't any prospect of change of use being granted, then the market would find the right price for a commercial unit, the point at which the business would be viable. The truth is that there is significantly more money in residential property.


During a recession say, many businesses may find that they are 'no longer viable'... but that's not to say that 5 years on a similar one may well be. But once a commercial property has passed over into 'private residential' it is rarely going to travel back the other way again. What this means in practice, is that over time, we get lower and lower amenity to housing ratios. Amenity ends up reflecting demand as it was during it's lowest level in any given area.


The reduction in the number of cheap commercial properties is a barrier to entrepreneurism. It's leads to clone high streets, lack of creativity, lack of dynamism and an unbalanced economy.


Councils can't bear for there to be boarded up shops or offices (and property speculators play on this), but sometimes leaving a property empty can be preferable than loosing it's commercial potential for ever.

Very good point RRR. Reminds me a little of the discussion of the viability of Dulwich Hamlets FC on its current ground and the move to overturn the restrictive covenant limiting the property to sporting / educational purposes so that it can be redeveloped as housing.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Staff get taxis in and out and get paid extra (which I think is x2). Some people like to work on Bank Holidays and others don’t. Some people actively avoid Christmas for personal reasons. Long live freedom of choice! 
    • Here is another article from the excellent Special Needs Jungle (SNJ) with tips for responses to the SEND conversation survey. Including shoe horning in EHCPs which they "forget" to ask a question about in the conversation. And living as we do in Southwark with the huge misfortune of 100% academy secondary schools, some thoughts on this and how unlikely inclusion in mainstream is within the current education landscape. Closing date 14 Jan 2026. And please consider a donation to the excellent entirely run by volunteers SNJ. In my view the government could save money by creating some smaller mainstream secondary schools for kids who can cope in primary school but not  with the scale of secondary, and need a calmer less busy setting. The funding would have to be different - it is currently on a per pupil basis which favours larger schools. But it would undoubtedly be cheaper than specialist provision, and the huge cost to individual children and families (emotional and financial) and to society. https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/tips-help-complete-governments-send-conversation-survey-law/ If anyone wants to take a radical step to help their struggling child, my tip is to move far away: these are the best two schools I have ever visited and in a beautiful part of the country. I only wish we'd moved there before it was too late for my son who had to suffer multiple failings at Charter North and then at the hands of Southwark SEND, out of education from February to October in year 10-11, having already suffered the enduring trauma of a very difficult early life, which in combination with ADHD made his time at schools which just don't care so very unbearable for all of us. https://www.cartmelprioryschool.co.uk/ https://settlebeck.org/ As an add on, I would say to anybody considering adoption, please take into account the education battles that you are very much more likely to face than the average parent. First you have schools to deal with, already terrible; then being passed from pillar to post within Southwark Education, SEND, Education Inclusion Team, round and round as they all do their best to explain why they are not responsible and you need someone different, let's hold another multi-agency meeting, never for one minute considering that if they put the child at the centre and used common sense they would achieve a lot more in much less time without loads of Southwark employees sitting in endless meetings with long suffering parents. It is hard to fully imagine this at the start of your adoption journey, full of hope as you are, but truly education is not for the faint hearted, and should be factored into your decision. You'll never hear from people who are really struggling and continue to do so, only from those who've had challenges but overcome them and it's all lovely. And education, the very people who should be there to help, are the ones who make your lives the most hellish out of everything your child and you face.
    • It’s a big problem all over London. I’ve seen it happen in Kennington and Bloomsbury in the last year. I think there has been some progress recently with some key arrests, but you do need to be very careful when walking around with your phone out, especially, as you say, if wearing noise cancelling headphones. Sorry you experienced this 
    • Luke Johnson (prominent director and co-owner), supported Brexit and backed the Vote Leave campaign. He also described the response to Covid as ‘a campaign of fear’ and 2020 funded a media consultant for the ‘Covid-recovery group’ of anti-lockdown MPs.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...