Consultation re. Nine Elms Parkside (Royal Mail Sorting Office)

I didn't actually go to the Nine Elms Parkside (Royal Mail sorting office) consultation as I opted to have non-planning fun at the weekend.  I have, however, emailed the chaps who were running the exhibition to check whether they displayed any additional material than what is already available on the Nine Elms Parkside website.  Other than a 3D model, which could be viewed at the event, all of the other material is available online.  My main complaint is that the website eg. interesting map detail is just too small to view properly (however, some of it is probably available in public documents and viewable elsewhere) and the website is simply not particularly informative (and is full of general VNEB and "other landowner" info. that is already in the public domain).
I wrote a previous post with some background on the unhappy Royal Mail workers and their potential job losses, as I want this blog to form a kind of history for the area, so feel free to read that.  Additionally, we now know...

The Nine Elms Parkside development will be located at the centre of the new development, split either side of the linear park, with a landscaped public square, "Tideway Green" at the centre of both the Parkside development and the linear park itself.  Tideway Green will be linked to Nine Elms Square (another public square) on Nine Elms Lane.  The Nine Elms Parkside buildings will range in height from 7 to 13 storeys (it sounds more pleasant than some of what Vauxhall might end up with) and car parking and cycle parking will likely be located underground underneath the park/green land.  The masterplan shows that the east of the development appears to link up with the new US embassy and Ballymore land. 

As you'll know, I'm always a huge fan of pictures of faceless people that don't really tell us anything useful eg. how much of the development will be affordable or given over to local housing associations?  Will there be playgrounds for children built anywhere?  Will the housing be for families or "young professionals" eg. is it studios or 3 bedroom flats?  What are the transport options if the Northern line tube extension isn't put in?  How will Royal Mail use the site for its "retained" operations in a way that allows for quiet living for the eventual residents?  What will Section 106 money be spent on?  All we have are a few key facts... 2000 units, 600 parking spaces, 2000 bike parking spaces (that sounds positive), over 2.5ha of public space and the fact that it will be sustainable. 

I'm a bit disappointed by the lack of architectural information available compared with the excellent detail provided by Kylun's Vauxhall Island Site PR team where it's clear from the plan exactly how the buildings will be laid out.  To be fair, I didn't go to the consultation, so feel free to leave comments if you did attend and have more information about what size the flats are likely to be, how they'll be laid out, how Royal Mail operations with co-exist on the site, and how much affordable housing will be provided.

Vauxhall Civic Society AGM tonight

Vauxhall Civic Society are holding their AGM tonight (7pm for 7:30pm) at St Peter's Church, SE11.  A representative from the US Embassy will come to the meeting to speak about their plans. 

Vauxhall Civic Society have a fantastic new website with a very comprehensive and amazing archive of historical material about Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall.  Take a look here.  They're also running an excellent news section, with snippets of information about events in the area.  (I wonder how they heard that the Queen Anne pub was to become a theatre) :-)

Kennington hero arrests drug dealer, US Embassy info. and art/photography (general update)

The top story this morning concerns a local chap, Charlie Skinner, who contacted the police to inform them about a local drug dealer who'd moved in next door.  Instead of keeping a log, as the police advised, he bravely(?) posed as a drug dealer, entered the flat next door, fought of two of the drug dealers' "henchmen" and performed a citizens' arrest, putting the drug-dealer in a headlock until the police arrived.  Unsurprisingly, police found crystal meth (a popular drug in Vauxhall) in the flat  (This all took place on March 13th, so it perhaps has escaped Daily Mail coverage on account of the impending court case.)  The drug dealer was jailed for six years on Monday.  Various Tweeters have been asking "where" in Kennington this took place.  My best guess is that it was somewhere close to Kennington Park, but I'd rather not say more on account of the family's safety.  I really can't decide whether the chap in question was very brave, or somewhat mad, but he achieved the desired effect somewhat more quickly than the "keep a log" suggestions from the police.  Only, umm, don't try this at home, unless you're a "south London boy" who can "look after yourself" or you might y'know, be stabbed or shot or something!  There's an additional report in The Evening Standard.

The US State department showed off plans for their embassy in Battersea to a crowd of US architects late last week.  There's an excellent article about it here.  What hasn't been noted prior to now is that the State Department were tasked with finding the "smallest site, that met our needs, that we could afford."  Shows that they must really love the idea of being based in Vauxhall, eh? :)  Apparently, the building is designed to show off the three American virtues of transparency, openness and equality, except that, erm, it has to be utterly impenetrable.  Difficult to do, unless you're allowed to build your own moat, I suppose!  What's not clear, when they speak about "public realm" and the park outside the building is whether they mean "Vauxhall public" or "the American public that happen to work inside the building".  I like the idea of a new park over there, but not sure I want to be relaxing with friends under the watchful eye of the machine-gun toting police.

If you're interested in art, there's an exhibition by Lisa Yuskavage in the Greengrassi/Corvi Mori art gallery (1a Kempsford Road, SE11) which feature slightly odd images of the female form/psyche with a better review here.  Additionally, the Camera Club in Bowden Street are digging Politicians from the 1970s out of their archives (7th June - 25th June).  More info about the exhibition is on the Kennington Association blog.

Photographing SE11 - you're being watched!

I was obviously very lucky (or quick) when snapping my shots of the large numbers of of police who appear to have been lurking around Vauxhall bus station recently. It seems that there are some agencies who don't like to have their buildings (or even their surrounds) photographed.

To highlight the further liberties that the surveillance minded government is targeting, there's an alarming article in The Amateur Photographer about two photographers taking pictures of London by night.

Where were the photographers?
Apparently, they were on the slipway next to MI6. For those not in the know, there's a large downward slope from ground to river level, next to the MI6 building, used to access the river by (amongst other amphibious vehicles), the London Duck Bus (see helpful picture). I've never seen any other amphibious vehicles, but I suspect that if the US Embassy ever arrives in Nine Elms, they might bring some with them!



What happened?
The young photographers were swooped on by six armed police, who asked to see the contents of their cameras.

Why do we know about it?
Fortunately for us, the news editor of Amateur Photographer was passing walking by, and pointed out, in the article linked above, that there aren't any signs that say that one can't photograph London from the slip way.

Are the police allowed to search innocent people?
Ahh, that would be their "stop and search" powers, which have clearly become so invidious that the Home Office are having to draft guidance so that anti-terrorism legislation isn't used against photographers!

Given the large numbers of security related buildings and entrances in the SE11 area (as well as police stations and police buildings), this is a quick warning to those in the area that you might be stopped by police for taking photos anywhere!

For another curious M16 tidbit, the Disco Damaged blogger recently posted an article on some "door ways" on the corner of Auckland Street, which according to fellow readers, are also related to MI6. The Disco Damaged chap appears to have managed to successfully photograph the doorway without having his camera confiscated though, which just shows how one can manage to successfully Lurk about SE11 and escape detection!

Slipway / duck bus photo courtesey of Days to Amaze website

US Embassy and Regeneration of New Covent Garden Market

All of the local area blogs have recently been buzzing with the news of the relocation of the US embassy to a yet unknown site in the Nine Elms quarter of Vauxhall. Although I say, "yet unknown", a story on the "bd architect's website" refers to the embassy location as the "2ha site" that is "close to Terry Farrell’s high-security MI6 building and the proposed Battersea Power Station development".

However, a piece of news, just spotted in the Evening Standard, indicates that the New Covent Garden fruit and vegetable market is about to receive funding for redevelopment. So now we'll have lots of US embassy employees munching apples wandering about the area. I've never been to New Covent Garden Market but they have a snazzy looking website. In the redevelopment section, they suggest the redevelopment will provide:

an invitation to the private sector to innovate on how the site could be more than just a market - becoming a focus for food and indeed flowers for London

I /like/ the idea of having an entire "focus" for food and flowers in this part of South London. I just hope that Borough market, and East St market, and Oval Farmers market can all keep flourishing at the same time...

Now, regarding the US embassy, it's obviously quite exciting that a major "player" wants to move to the area, but I'm more convinced that the embassy is moving for security reasons, than that they're moving primarily to be a part of the development of the South Bank! I figure that they want to be on the Thames so that they can use motor boats to get away if there's a terrorist attack. I'm vaguely concerned about traffic/planning/nuisance implications of the new US embassy in the area because I know what Mayfair residents have had to put up with, due to the recent installation of tank traps around the current embassy site. Also, I wonder whether it's sensible to have so many "target" buildings eg. MI6 and US embassy and Parliament all so close to one another...

The developments are all just outside the SE11 area, but if it all comes to fruition, I imagine our area will see development (good or bad, I know not) as a result of general investment. I wonder if there's something that they know that we don't, ie. whether anybody is about to enhance the transport infrastructure or go ahead with proposed public transport ideas, such as the Cross River Tram (hint, hint) to cope with all of the new developments.