Unattractive column and landscaping at Spring Gardens cost over £300k and approved on delegated authority

Freedom of Information requests have become an increasingly valuable tool in the armoury of inquisitive locals.  Last month, following a brief Twitter discussion concerning who might have agreed to the recent installation of the large unattractive columns outside Vauxhall Spring Gardens, I submitted a Freedom of Information request to Lambeth Council asking for project costs and a list of consultees.

I received a response today confirming the total cost of the pillars was £181,586 (construction cost £134,908 of that).  The total cost of the landscaping at the base of the columns was £137,376.  The grand total project cost was £318,943.  The money was taken from Section 106 contributions, so, unfortunately, it is unlikely that the cash could have been spent on local jobs or services, but even still...  Do readers think that is a reasonable cost for the job?  That's a genuine question.  I've no objection to the landscaping (only the pillars), and I believe in paying people a fair London wage, but does that justify the total project cost?

Eight local community groups were theoretically consulted.  Letters were sent to 27 neighbouring properties.  Although the Lambeth Planning reference 09/02510/RG3 indicates that there were 19 consultee comments, the FOI notes that only one objection was received within the deadline (objecting to potential height of trees).  One objection was received after the deadline concerning replanting the mulberry trees, but wasn't taken into consideration due to being received late.  One indication of support was also received, but details weren't included in the FOI response. 

Local readers might also remember the furore surrounding the felling of the Mulberry Trees related to this project that even attracted national press attention, but which was then vigorously refuted by Eamonn McMahon of Friends of Spring Gardens.

Hyperlocal media will hopefully continue to act as a means of ensuring accountability on the part of local authorities, councillors, officers and also local organisations.  But lack of apparent response from some organisations shows that even with the levels of concerned residents that live in the area, it is still possible for some bad design decisions to be pushed through.  Of course, I say "decisions", but this particular planning application was decided on delegated authority, which means it would have been rubber stamped by an unelected officer.  It's not a good example of local democracy in action.  A positive response from only one local group and an officer's report appears to be all that were needed for the spending of over £300k.

The groups the FOI correspondence listed as consulted were:

Association of Waterloo Groups - No comment received
Vauxhall Society - No comment received
Manor of Kennington Residents association
Waterloo Action Centre - No comment received
Waterloo Community Development - Chose to make no comment
Kennington Association - No comment received
Friends of Spring Gardens - Support was indicated
Vision for Vauxhall -No comment received

It's hardly surprising that the three Waterloo groups either made no comment or didn't respond.  I can understand why Waterloo residents wouldn't be interested in Spring Gardens and I'm not sure on the reason for their being consulted.  It's not surprising that Friends of Spring Gardens responded affirmatively, but one wonders whether they actually viewed the plans for the columns before their installation.  I have checked with Kennington Association and Vauxhall Society about whether they received consultation documents as I was surprised to see that they didn't respond.  Vision for Vauxhall no longer appears to exist, so checking with them is now impossible.

The most recent correspondence received from Ruth Smithson (who responded in a good and timely manner) notes:

"...my colleagues within parks wish to add that the works were funded by S106 monies. These are funds obtained through legal agreements commonly referred to as Section 106 Agreements (S106), after the relevant section in the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act..."

The delegated officer's report, sent to me as part of the FOI response indicates in the top left corner "S106 Agreement Involved:  No".  (Edit: 19/8/2011):  Cllr Mark Harrison has clarified in the comments that  no Section 106 monies were needed as a contribution from the building of the columns.  Thanks to Cllr Harrison for clearing up my confusion.

For more information, you can see the full FOI request and associated documents here.

Tea House Theatre is open(ish) - and you absolutely must visit...

So, I know, Tradescant Road beat me to it, and discovered that the Tea House Theatre had opened(ish) earlier this week.  He has a fantastic post with photos here.  Not to be done outdone, I had to pay a visit myself.

Well, wow.  What can I say?  The place is positively spiffing.  I even visited twice in one weekend (once for breakfast and once for afternoon tea).  Food is absolutely top notch.  Cakes are to die for (even rivalling @CakeHoleLondon at Oval Market).  Decor is exquisite (if still receiving finishing touches).  The other SE11 Lurker was insistent that I mention the fabulous finish in the lavatories too.  So, there we are... Staff are friendly and welcoming.  It was a little quiet, but that's to be expected, and business was reportedly good over the weekend.  And they're experimenting with the menu (of which I have a "this will continue to evolve") version to upload later.  It's currently the only place (I think) it's possible to get a cream tea (ingredients all fresh, homemade jam too) in Kennington or Vauxhall.

Tea House Theatre is currently open from 9am - 6pm, seven days a week.  They'll also be opening from 6pm-9pm on a Monday for Knitter Natter, for folk who want to knit, chat and drink tea.  They're happy to open on other evenings too for special-interest groups and would obviously like to build up a fanbase of  actors, artists and general tea-drinking Kenningtonian layabouts...

You'll love the teapots in their hand-knitted tea-cosies, and there was a great selection of tea which increased between visits on Saturday and Sunday.  If you don't like, tea, I recommend the smoothies.  Apparently, they will eventually offer coffee, but that won't happen for a while yet:

And if tea isn't enough, you can purchase some old fashioned sweet-shoppe goodness, weighed on old fashioned real scales (none of that digital nonsense here, thank you): 

By one of the fire places (just out of shot as not quite finished) is this fabulous gentlemen's drinking corner...  Looking forward to winter already.  Pass the port old chap:

 The new logo, to be emblazoned all over the shop.  They've not yet finished the lettering outside, but I expect this to feature prominently.  What I want to know is when the Tea House Theatre old-school-tie will be created.  And preferably a scarf in blue and gold too.

All I can say is that civility has returned to Vauxhall.  Fine bone china, and, dare I mention it, linen napkins.  Yes, linen.  This is a major competitor with Oval Market for lazy Saturday morning custom now.

In my bid to deliver you every last detail, I even photographed the rather attractive new bathroom.  You're right.  That probably wasn't strictly necessary, but with Tradescant Road hot on my heels, I'm clearly going to have to go just that bit further:

Tea House Theatre is slightly tucked away behind Vauxhall Spring Gardens, based on the site of the former Queen Anne strip pub, just next to Glasshouse Walk playground.

Vauxhall: Spring Gardens robbery, Linear Walkway cancelled, Ugly pillars completed and Vauxhall City Farm small animals for sale

p

(Photo taken from SE11 Action Team (Labour) Princes' Ward Councillors blog)

Well, it's all go in Vauxhall this week.  A shooting on Tyers Street (victim ok), a major fire on Salamanca Place (no serious injuries), a consultation on Spring Mews (proposed hotel/student development near Spring Gardens), and a whole host of smaller stories as follows...

1.  Twitter has been all ablaze this week with a report that two men were violently robbed on Sunday 3rd of July at 1:40am whilst walking along next to Spring Gardens / Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.  The victims were returning home when set upon by about 8 men, some of whom were on bikes.  One of the victims suffered serious facial injuries.  The robbery took place after Pride, but it was not considered to be an homophobic incident.  Anybody who was around that evening and might have witnessed the crime should call DC Annabel Davenport from Lambeth Priority Crime Unit on 020 8649 2477 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. 

I'd urge residents, visitors and revellers to be very careful in the early mornings (between 1am and 6am) because this area is regularly deserted and revellers are easy targets for muggers.  In preference to short-cutting through the park at that time, it's better to stick to the main roads (Kennington Lane and Albert Embankment) if at all possible.

2.  Transport Mark has been very observant and has noticed that the proposed Vauxhall Linear Walkway, part of a CLS development, which might have entailed the removal of Vauxhall ski slope bus station, appears now to be off the cards.  In a letter from GL Hearn Property Consultants to the Senior Planner at Lambeth Council, we learn that there exists "a revised scheme which no longer includes an elevated walkway".  So... bye-bye Linear walkway, and hello to some, as yet unannounced scheme that may or may not include demolishing Vauxhall gyratory and replacing it with some unknown thing that is yet to be unveiled in a consultation that hasn't yet been announced.

3.  The Vauxhall Linear walkway may be off the drawing board, but linear parks are all the rage.  Cllr Mark Harrison is soliciting views on the possibility of converting Tyers Street (not sure whether that's all or part) into a linear park.  A full consultation and public letters will be forthcoming if the idea is proceedable, but if you have any early views, do get in touch with him.

4.  The ugly pillars / giant cigarette butts or striking columns (delete as applicable) have been completed and named as the entrance to Spring Gardens / Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.  Talk about a massive waste of money.  I will not repeat the conversation I heard earlier this week about contacting Dulux to use them for an advertising campaign!  Needless to say, they are, in my view, horrific and entirely out of keeping with other local buildings.  But since Vauxhall is suffering from architectural mish-mash issues generally, it probably won't matter too much.  It has taken absolutely ages (a year?) to erect the monstrosites and it's really good to have the entrance to Spring Gardens fixed (just in time) for summer.  SE11 Action Team Princes' Ward Councillors (Labour) blog reported the finished master piece and there's more info over there.  Apparently, we're to endure an opening ceremony soon....

5.  Tradescant Road reports that the gates to Vauxhall Park which were fixed and then hit by a motorcycle have finally been fixed again.  Hurray!

6.  Cabrini Children's Centre... I'm afraid I don't know much about this one, but a petition has been launched to prevent the closure of Vauxhall's Cabrini Children's Centre.  I had no idea what this was or that it even existed, but I think it is part of the Catholic settlement project at St Anne's Community Centre, 40-46 Harleyford Road.  They're aiming their petition at Lambeth Council and the trustees of the charity.  If you've more info. and want it publicised, drop me a line (details in About Me / Contact).

7.  The Commission for Architecture and Built Environment have waded into the "there's no masterplan for the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea high towers mess", which I was going to expand upon, but Tradescant Road has a great piece on his blog, so I recommend that you go and read it there since much of the info. above is behind a pay wall.  Essentially, CABE are hoping to bring all of the Vauxhall developers together to (hopefully) stop the skyscrapers being submitted to Lambeth/Wandsworth in such an adhoc manner.  If only CABE had been reading Lurking about SE11, they could have started planning earlier...

8.  Vauxhall City Farm are selling off some of their small animals.  £35 for a pair of baby guinea pigs, £40 for a giant rabit (eek!) and chickens of varying sizes/prices.  For more info, phone 0207 582 4204 and ask to speak to Jo, or just go and visit them on the farm.

Spring Mews: The Exhibition - new development for Vauxhall

Board 1: General introduction to CLS

Board 2:  The buildings on the current site on Tinworth Street are mostly unattractive and of no particular merit.  That's probably right.  This is generally an uncontentious planning proposal.  (See yesterday's post for a better map showing location of Spring Mews).

Board 3: Shows some of the other buildings in the area, and Vauxhall Spring Gardens/Pleasure Gardens.  I also took a close up of the map shot, as it shows Vauxhall Conservation area quite clearly.

Board 4:  The main "plus" point re. this scheme is the fact that the developers will rebuild and redevelop Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre.  It will get smaller (currently 16k square feet, reduced to 6k square feet), but nothing comes from nothing, so it's good news for the centre, which is rather tired. 

The comment about releasing family housing in the area with purpose-built student accommodation is not brilliant.  Building student accommodation might just increase numbers of local students.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  Lambeth doesn't have a great deal of student accommodation (at least, compared with Southwark), and this is quite a good site for it, given that student accommodation won't be too close to the other residential buildings and the area is known for clubs, pubs and night life.

It will be good to have better links through to the river, as the underpasses are particularly bleak at present.  And this development would encourage more footfall in the area behind Spring Gardens / Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens which can only be a good thing as it has recently been something of a crime-spot (most recently an horrific attack on folk partying after Pride), and before that, a stabbing fatality on Goding Street). 

The architectural shots on offer weren't thrilling, but the building isn't too tall for the area, will fit in with local surrounds and bring a little life and business to an area that's rather run down.

Board 5: 80 new jobs is a good thing for the area, and I iamgine it will be popular for new social ventures.  It might add more diversity in terms of shops, although no doubt the thing will end up hosting another Tesco metro too!  The plan on this one is useful, showing the temporary community centre (which will be turned into commercial space once it has been placed back in the main development).  It looks  as though the new hotel has a relatively small footprint, with most of the site being taken up with student accommodation and retail.  Apparently, there is plenty of demand for hotel rooms in London, so we needn't fear them sitting empty.  Whether they're a good thing for local residents remains to be seen, but I hope people will be in favour of developing this patch because it's pretty dreary as it stands.

Board 6: Shows the floorplan for 400 student studios.  There wouldn't be any parking (except disabled), but would be space for 200 bikes.  Let's hope they sort out the gyratory first!  Might be nice to have some extra Boris bike docks here too!

Board 7: It might have been useful to suggest the possible identity of retail/leisure tenants.  Would residents get another gym?  Small shops?  A bar?  Artist studios?  I suppose the information is unkown until businesses are ready to sign the leases.  There's certainly a lack of convenience stores in this patch; it's a bit of a trek to Kennington Lane Teso and the offering further south on Kennington Lane isn't inspiring unless you're seeking crisps and alcohol!

Board eight: Some ideas for the architectural style of the Mews (looks like brick and glass).  This is not the Shard (thank goodness), but neither is it particularly creative!  Still, I suppose Vauxhall doesn't need any more trendy up-turned cigarette butt monuments, so there's reason to be thanful.

Board 9: Reiteration of the above, also noting that the scheme would be sustainable.  Good, good.  Doesn't entirely address added stress to Vauxhall Tube, but if the students don't need to travel in the rush hour, and just use their 200 bikes (that's 1 bike for every two students, right?), there won't be too much problem.  I guess there are also buses too.  The hotel residents might be in for a shock if they try and board at Vauxhall at 8am though...  But, in the grand scheme of things, this is a tiny development, so nobody will need to ask the "won't we all be squashed in a nasty rush-hour crush" question...

Board 10: Submission of designs to Lambeth Council is planned for October 2011, with completion in 2.5 years if all goes to schedule.

Finally, I understand that anybody invited to the preview was invited to contribute ideas re. Section 106 monies.  I asked a local resident to take the above photos for me, so now you can see the early ideas from the sensible (new fencing and improved play area) to the downright mad (new Lido!!)

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens: £250k for a gold statue & Tea House Theatre refurb

(Photo taken from Tea House Theatre blog)

The Tea House Theatre (formely the Queen Anne strip pub) are moving ahead rapidly with their renovations.  They've got a new Tea House Theatre blog, where you can view photos of their renovation work and track their progress.  They've uncovered centuries of old wallpaper, discovered original fire places and cleared and cleared and cleared to reveal 1200 square feet of space.  It's very positve and will hopefully encourage further development of an "arts quarter" in SE11.

(Photo taken from Friends of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens site)

What are they building on Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens?  Two 18 metre lit-columns to mark the entrance to the park.  Last night, as I was waiting for a lift outside Vauxhall station, I noticed that the two Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens "columns" appear to be surrounded by scaffolding, but progressing quite well.  They look a bit tall and rather strange in comparison with the surrounding buildings (reminding me of two down turned cigarettes), but art appreciation has never been my strong point.  What do readers think?

(Photos from Cinema Museum website and Bangalore.metblogs respectively)

Finally, how much does it cost to erect a statue of your favourite guru (or guruette) in Lambeth?  It appears that all you need is the backing of the Mayor and a £250,000 bribe (or, ahem, offering) to a local "friends of" group for regeneration of the Gardens.  Obviously, with looming council cuts, the money is attractive to the Friends of the Pleasure Gardens, but it does beg the question of whether local residents want a 3.5 foot bust (on plinth) of Basavanna, a 12th century Indian philosopher, on the Albert Embankment?  (I must make it clear that I'm not against public busts of important cultural figures from all over the place, and this Indian chap sounds like a thoroughly progressive guy, but I question the manner in which this has been proposed.  Which councillors would consider objecting and upsetting the mayor?)  It seems that the bust won't technically be in the Pleasure Gardens (which only accepts busts of local dignitaries), but on a grass verge opposite the Texaco garage which is not quite in the park, and therefore qualifies as an appropriate place for the statue.  Sounds a bit, well, below the belt...  Thanks to Vauxhall Society for the heads up on that story, and read more information about the proposal here.

All of this does lead me to wonder whether Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens might accept money for the often proposed (and somewhat unattractive) giant 20 foot outline of Charlie Chaplin that frequently does the rounds?  Will Charlie look down from the park on Basavanna?  And who will have the last laugh?