Proposed 44-storey tower scheme on Newington Butts revived and Cycling on Southern Elephant Roundabout?

London-SE1 is reporting that the planned 44-storey tower on 80 Newington Butts (site of the former London Park Hotel) has been revived.  In its former incarnation, it was named by the developer First Base as "London 360" and recognisable by the unusual "fins" planned for the the top of the tower.  Southwark Council approved the site for the development of a 44 storey (mostly) residential tower back in 2007, but the scheme failed to complete due to the Homes and Communities Agency deciding it no longer represented good value for money.   The Homes and Community's Agency apparently intend to appoint a new developer to continue with the old scheme (which somewhat fails to make sense of the "not good value for money" point).

You can take a look at the most recent planning application for the site (transport related proposals) on Southwark's Planning site at 11/AP/0406.  Note that the postcode is wrong on the Southwark Planning Portal; it should be SE11 4QU. 

On a geograpically related note... Last July, Kennington People on Bikes wrote to Transport for London to check whether Toucan crossings (which allow pedestrian/cyclist use) were being installed at the junction that replaced the old Southern Elephant roundabout.  TFL confirmed that they'd install a toucan crossing, but KPOB has noticed they're installing pelicans... Naughty...

130 - 138 Newington Butts - Planning Exhibition for Affordable housing from Dolphin Square Foundation

(Image (c)Google 2010 and taken from Google Streetview)

I've received notification of a Planning Exhibition to be held by the Dolphin Square Foundation on the possibility of building (mostly social housing) on 130-138 Newington Butts, a sadly neglected commercial building squeezed between Jewson Building Yard and student accommodation.  Back in 2008, a company applied for permission to build a mixed-use development (08/02352/FUL), but withdrew the application before it had been heard.  Dolphin Square Foundation (a charity) hope to place 49 affordable homes, 30 low-rent homes and 4 private flats on the site.  The flats/houses will range from 5 storeys to 8 storeys across the site.

The exhibition about the development is to be held on Saturday 12th March at from 10:30-15:30 on site at 130-138 Newington Butts, SE11 4QU.  See posters below (click to enlarge) for more details.

Developing this piece of land is, in my view, a great idea. The site's current building has been dilapidated for years and is a real eye-sore.  There are two matters that should probably receive further consideration...  Low-rent housing is often rented through housing associations by members with children.  Newington Butts is an extremely busy intersection which receives traffic from both Kennington Lane and Kennington Park Road, and is likely to have very high levels of noise.  I'm presuming that noise could be dealt with by triple glazing, but living on a main road can be hazardous and I'd hope that play space, away from the road, was planned for children.

Commments?

Unconfirmed cycle and motorcycle accidents today in Kennington

The stats. and Twitter are indicating that there have been one or maybe two traffic accidents in Kennington today after 9am.

It seems that there was one accident involving a cyclist at the junction of Kennington Park Road and Kennington Lane on Newington Butts.

It now looks as though there might have been a different accident involving a motorcycle near the junction at Kennington tube station.

These two separate reports might of course have been conflated.  I hope that nobody is badly hurt.  Does anybody have any more info?  I'm very concerned, with the imminent implementation of the CS7 cycle superhighway, that TFL examine the incidence of traffic/cycle accidents around rush hour, and maybe consider some traffic calming measures.

I didn't report it, but there was also a cyclist death (Everton Smith, 48) on Vauxhall Bridge Road (the north side) on 22nd May.  If you were unfortunate enough to be passing through the area (a 436 bus was nearby), please contact the police as they're looking for witnesses.

March against knife crime and Ashes in Kennington might cause traffic

There is another potentially large event (other than the Ashes) to occur in the vicinity of Kennington / Oval this weekend.

It appears that a march and rally will lead to the closure of Newington Butts and Kennington Park Road (and possibly part of Elephant) at some point between 13:00 and 17:30 (according to the Met police). Further digging (and a couple of Tweets spotted earlier this week) appears to reveal that the march and rally are being held to raise awareness and campaign against knife crime.

The event is known as the "LIVE" rally (Living Intentionally Versus Existing), and appears to be linked to youth leaders in the 7th Day Adventist church (I say "good on them"). They'll be marching with a group named F.A.M.E (Families against Murder Escalating).

It's great to be able to report on positive action re. knife crime, and since the event ends at Kennington Park (rather than beginning there), I should be able to take some photos and report further tomorrow.

I hope that both the cricket fans at the Ashes and the anti-knife crime marchers are aware that due to the road closures (as a result of the march) and the closure of the Vauxhall tube station, leaving Kennington or Oval after both events might prove difficult.

That news brought courtesy of an eagle eyed commenter who spotted a sign about road closures at Elephant...

Peluqueria, Kennington Park Road and the credit crunch

I've made a few changes and additions to the map. It seems somewhat peculiar, but despite travelling past certain locations daily, I can't remember what's where.



One piece of interesting news is that Peluqueria, the small Spanish-speaking ex-hairdressers, ex-video shop, ex-internet cafe (see above) is to become something else. It's currently undergoing refurbishment in order to become.... possibly, a cafe. I popped in a day or so to check it wasn't disappearing completely, but they were reticent to say much except for "cafe". It sounds promising.

One piece of sad news is that I have heard that H Morrell & Sons (the attractive shop near to Kennington Library on Kennington Lane) will be closing down. As a building supplies firm, I imagine that they've been driven to the edge by the credit crunch. They now have "closing down" notices plastered over the shop.

I will have to walk up Kennington Park Road to check whether I've got some of the other locations on the map quite right. I've added Dominos Pizza Takeaway. I've also marked on the map properly that Mansion House pub seems to have been closed down. (I'm not clear whether the building will form part of the new flats planned for that area of Newington Butts).