216 Kennington Road, planning permission refused

I've just heard that despite the fact that the officers approved the application to extend the range of uses for the building underneath 216 Kennington Road, the council actually refused permission.

I made a post last week in which I mistakenly noted that permission had been granted, so I ought to state very clearly that 216 Kennington Road does not have planning permission for retail usage.

Watch this space. I wonder if the decision will be challenged.

Lib Dem Manifesto Planning session

I am very loathe to publish overtly political material on this blog and I've refused a certain amount of material recently in accordance with the fact that it's too partisan, so it's with some trepidation that I publish the following (and would add that I will publish similar invitational offerings from other parties if necessary). As an aside, I've been impressed by Labour Cllr Mark Harrison's attendance at various SE11 social events and public participation in local meetings (he has even added some comments to this blog!).

The Lib Dems are planning a manifesto named Lambeth Liberal Democrat Manifesto for 2010 and want input and ideas. They have organised some working groups for the different topics the manifesto will cover. Details of the first session here:

A resident-led council - devolution, value for money, diversity
Led by Gavin Dosworth on Wed 12th August 7pm

Gavin wants to send out a couple of items for people to look through before the session to give a starting point, so people are asked to inform Rosie Loveland, if they are able to be present on rloveland@lambeth.gov.uk and the venue will be announced once numbers are known.

Future sessions will be on the topics:
Environmental sustainability – greening the council, leading by example, helping residents go green
Children in the borough – safe at all ages, active and healthy, effective education (led by Roger Giess)
Quality of life – improved local environment, leisure and culture, ‘no’ to overdevelopment, lower crime & fear of crime, better health especially for older people (led by Andrew Sawdon)
Housing – a tenant-led service (led by Jeremy Clyne)

It's an interesting opportunity for SE11 residents to contribute to potential future local policy.

Carl Beatson Asiedu - Goding Street murder

I didn't update the entry on the Goding Street murder in Vauxhall on 1st August since London-SE1 covered the story far more comprehensively than I would due to the fact that the car transporting the victim to hospital was stopped in Baylis Road by police on the way.

However, the murdered man was named as rapper Carl Beatson Asiedu and whilst several arrests have been made, the police are still appealing for more information. A special email address has been set up for enquiries. It is: carlsappeal@met.police.uk and metropolitan police would like anybody that isn't comfortable calling them to consider emailing them information about the stabbing. If you do have more details about what happened, you can always set up a free anonymous Hotmail or Gmail account and email police without them knowing your details.

Somebody must know something, and it's incredibly frustrating that so many cases don't appear to be satisfactorily resolved. There are a fair few people up and around in Vauxhall at 5am, given the vibrant scene in the area. Somebody must have been near or outside Life and noticed something at that time in the morning.

I still wonder whether justice might be done for Ashley Kemete's relatives, (he was shot in Kennington late last year). I remember a few people were arrested and bailed, but have heard nothing since.

New Gym in Vauxhall

No, it's not quite SE11, but local residents finally have access to a new gym in the vicinity, just over the border in SW8. I complained bitterly back in April last year that the only gym within walking distance of most of SE11 was Paris Gym (the gayest gym in town, which just happens to have a male only policy). Well it appears that some good has finally come of St George Wharf down by the river (either that, or MI6 decided that their spies were getting fat).

It looks as though the St George Wharf management have signed a new gym contract with The Gym Group. And the really good news? (Keep this one quiet, or it might become popular... it's open to those of us who have tightened belts for the credit crunch.) Sign up now and they're offering membership for £15 per month - I'm not linked or subsidised with them in any way, but I don't need to be to say that that's a great price. Also, there is no contract (it appears to be monthtly payments) and no sign up fees (at least for now). It's likely to be basic eg. no swimming pool, but for brand new equipment 24 hours a day, it's a great addition to the area (by comparison, Paris Gym will set you back £460 per year). The place opens on August 10th.

If you see somebody who hasn't exercised properly for years panting away in the corner, you can even come and say "hi" :)

216 Kennington Road and 38-46 Albert Embankment planning

I've edited the post below slightly in light of Cllr Mark Harrison's comment that the council haven't granted planning permission re. 216. Instead, their officers have indicated that they are in favour of approval. It remains to be seen whether approval is granted.

You might recall from this post back in May that planning permission had been sought for 216 Kennington Road. I was against the request since I was hoping the site might be put to use for some kind of community facility.

It seems that the council have granted permission the council officers have recommended that permission will be granted to allow a retail unit to be put in place (the rumour is Tesco, but nobody knows for sure). The new shop will presumably service everybody who has purchased a flat in the oddly named Kennington Park Square (it's not very near the park!) just behind the site and those in 216 Kennington Road itself (a large residential development) and a number of residents on Kennington Park Road. Even I have to concede that it's better to have something in there than for it to remain empty.

Also, if you read the post I wrote back in June when I was trying to keep up with the number of nasty high rises on our horizon, it is worth noting that we've had an appeal (against the refusal of planning permission) withdrawn on item number 3 (38-46 Albert Embankment) which is on the site of the Texaco garage. That leaves one less ball in the air in terms of pending sites.

In addition, I nearly forgot... I raised the matter some time ago that TFL (despite local objections) had applied for planning permission for one of its excellent cycle scheme pods in Windmill Row (a very bad location due to overcrowding of pedestrians and traffic). The council sensibly overturned the request so that's good news.

I'm sorry it has all gone so quiet... It's silly season in Kennington and what with swine flu and holidays etc. there's not so much to report.

Goding Street SE11 incident maybe related to Baylis Road SE1 incident

Somebody sent me a message on Twitter to make me aware that an incident has taken place on Goding Street, SE11, just behind Vauxhall tube station. A white tent has been erected and there is a heavy police presence in the area.

This is alarming enough, but London-SE1 has already reported that a man was stabbed to death in the early hours on Baylis Road, just up the road in SE1. See here for more info. Early reports from police are suggesting that the two incidents might be linked...

---

Edit (2/8/2009) - see London-SE1 again here for a further update. It appears that the Baylis Road victim (a 19 year old male) was stabbed at in Goding Street, but only actually discovered by police when they pulled over a car that jumped lights in Baylis Road.

In addition, a second male was stabbed in Goding Street, but he recovered and has been discharged from hospital.

The BBC report on the incident is here.

Please contact the police or leave a comment if you've any further information.

RCDT / Kennington Vauxhall Alliance

I'm afraid I've been very busy with work over the past few weeks, so you won't have seen many updates. However, I've been sent the following:

Under the banner of "Kennington Vauxhall Alliance", the RCDT is apparently seeking new members. They've produced a rather snazzy leaflet, which you can print out and send back to them. Basically, they want to build their membership so that they become representative of the Kennington/Vauxhall area, but with a particular focus on the section between the Thames on one side and Kennington Road / Kennington Lane on the other.

You might be interested in this organisation if you want a voice in the future of the former Lilian Baylis or the future of the Beaufoy Institute. They'll also focus on transport issues, planning matters particularly as they relate to the river section of the area and look into the proposed public transport around Vauxhall Cross. My email suggests that they are not interested in encroaching on the work of either Kennington Association or the Kennington Oval Vauxhall forum, but they would like to gain membership from anybody who lives around the former Lilian Baylis or the Beaufoy Institute.

More TFL cycle scheme pod / bay placements for SE11 and SE1

Further to my previous post on the TFL cycle scheme and initial cycle pod/bay placements, there have been some additional requests:

1. 09/01864/FUL 12/06/2009 Pavement Opposite 1-12 Adam Court, Kennington Lane London Installation on pedestrian footway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London Cycle Hire Scheme containing a maximum of 35 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release scheme bicycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

2. 09/01766/FUL 05/06/2009 Outside Former Lilian Baylis School, Lollard Street London Installation on pedestrian footway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London cycle hire scheme comprising a maximum of 25 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release scheme bcycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

3. 09/01765/RG4 05/06/2009 Outside 1-28 Tresco House, Sancroft Street London Installation on the pedestrian footway and vehicle carriageway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London Cycle Hire Scheme comprising a maximum of 29 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release bicycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

4. 09/01755/RG4 05/06/2009 Opposite Prince Consort House, Albert Embankment London Installation on pedestrian footway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London Cycle Hire Scheme comprising a maximum of 24 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release bicycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

I don't see a problem with any of these. The Albert Embankment cycles will be useful for tourists and handy for getting to and from the Albert Embankment, which is somewhat off the tube map and not well connected via the rest of SE11 by bus (there is a Black Prince Road bus route, but that's the only route which takes SE11 residents to the Albert Embankment). The Sancroft street bays are quite central, and a much better suggestion than Windmill Row.

I'm not sure what to make of the ones by the former Lilian Baylis cycle placement (the second half of Lollard St is rather quiet due to being a no through road), but no doubt local residents might comment on the position. I suppose the new bikes could be used by church members, rather than parking in local roads, if the former Lilian Baylis is purchased by the ANC!

Dog snatching, Kennington fete, a new SE11 blog and former Lilian Baylis...

OK, I admit it, I went on holiday for a week, away from SE11 to paddle in the seas of the South West. And I didn't log on to a computer or blog or touch Twitter for any of that time! Obviously, it has been a busy week for SE11 lurkers... Here is a quick summary, for regular readers who failed to notice local things over the past week:

1. The Metropolitan Police conducted a puppy/dog grab from a residence in Renfrew Road, Kennington, where they discovered 6 pit bull puppies and 2 dangerous adult dogs. Kennington Association news blog have a link to the Evening Standard item here. It seems that the police seized about 20 dogs overall, but implies that these were from various South London addresses, rather than one address... Even still, I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbours complained about the noise from 8 dogs!

2. Kennington fete. I hope everybody had a lovely day and enjoyed the weather at Kennington fete in Cleaver Square. I really wish I hadn't missed that, but hopefully there will be another next year. Twitter user El_Nacnud has some photos, of the type that I would have taken had I been there. Please leave some comments with more links.

3. In less than the blink of an eye, somebody has formed another SE11 blog! There's always room for more local bloggers, and the new blog can be found at SE11life.com It comes from the keyboard of the esteemed MayorWatch blog and is written by Martin Hoscik (I'm presuming he is also quite local).

4. And for really dull hyperlocal news, (only relevant to 34082342 commuters, after all), there are some Twittery rumours floating around that lift number 2 at Kennington tube has broken (only about 2 weeks after the six month refurb). I notice that somebody finally had the presence of mind to stick a piece of paper over the sign that says that the stairs are to be used "only in an emergency".

Anything else??? Oh yes.

I'm not too sure what happened at the Special Council Meeting earlier in the week, re. all of the leaseholder issues. More info would be appreciated so please leave a comment re. the council's handling of the matter... What is due to happen next?

It appears that Viva Vauxhall had their meeting and have come out as opposed to the Bondway tower (there's a surprise!), but there's more here about that with further contact details if you want to be involved.

A certain amount of friction appears to have been generated re. the former Lilian Baylis site between ward councillors, various local resident groups and other interested parties. I'm not at liberty to paste every piece of correspondence I receive, but I am particularly interested in hearing from anybody at Lambeth Council who might be able to comment more fully on the future of the site, rather than issuing rather wishy washy leaflets without consultation dates or any mention of governance. I think the initial community consultation on the future of the site was rather weak (perhaps it was conducted at a time when residents were less vociferous), but we're now mid-recession, so perhaps the possibilities for ongoing usage might have changed. I rather get the impression that the discussions are behind closed doors, and there is no longer any room for community input, but watch this space...

Ongoing Lambeth leaseholder debacle

I've been leaked a copy of an email which was sent to Cllr Steve Reed (leader of Lambeth Council) and Derrick Anderson (Chief Executive of Lambeth Council), which I'm going to paste in full below:

I understand from Chris Lee's email response to me late last week that Lambeth Living stand by their estimates as Lambeth has been informed by their vendor, Lambeth Living, that all the estimates are correct and that, and I quote from Cathy Deplissis from Friday news piece, "Lambeth Living has a legal obligation to bill for service charges and Leaseholders have the legal obligation to pay thiose charges",

May I take this opportunity to remind you that those charges have to be "reasonable" and represent value for money otherwise they will not stand up in Leasholder Valauation Tribunal cases and again, this will be costly for Lambeth and will not help the organisations achieve the balanced budget by March 31st.

I am extremely disappointed that given the initial findings of the Audit Commission on the lack of response to Leaseholders' queries and request for information/evidence of charges etc, that we are still in this position and there seems to be no signs of progress to meet across the table to discuss this major issue.

I know that for political reasons, distancing oneself from the shambles of the ALMO might seem like a good idea, however, I cannot see how this will serve the longevity of any officer or Councillor as the fact remains that our Landlord is not ble to manage their property management contractor.

I can only say that after requesting this meeting, and Cllr. Pecks further follow up which has been ignored, that I will now have to email the residents who have again, given up their own time to work out their charges etc and sent copies to me so that I could have a discussion with you both, only to be let down again. I will aslo be sending this to the other Leaseholders that I have contact with as I have promised them that I will do what I can. and this failure is simply not for my lack of trying.

I am very disappointed that there are around 10,000 household in Lambeth being ignored and expected to pay for these hike in charges and the response is to pass this around and not to meet with us.

I will also be sending information to as many leaseholders as I can to inform them of their rights, under law, to hold Lambeth to account for these charges.

Yours in utter frustration and disappointment,

Steve Rice

It appears to me that Steve Rice is doing a fantastic public service for all Lambeth leaseholders. Remember, the inflated leaseholder bills are an issue across the whole Borough, and are not exclusive to SE11.

If progress on the issue (in the form of public meetings, and so on) is not forthcoming, then I will continue to publicise that fact in a way that makes it known to as many people as possible.

Sexual health clinic to move to Kennington or Vauxhall?

There's an interesting news item on London-se1 this morning about the fact that St Thomas' hospital are looking to relocate their sexual health clinic from the hospital itself. The article states that they think they might base it in Waterloo, Vauxhall, Elephant & Castle or Kennington.

Obviously, moving it to Vauxhall and Kennington would be of most relevance to SE11 readers, but I think either Elephant, Waterloo or Vauxhall would make good centres because they're all huge public transport interchanges, which mean it's very easy to maintain anonymity (presumably a key feature for sexual health clinics). I can't see any reason /not/ to move the clinic to any of the areas, but it would be useful to have a list of the actual sites in case they'd be problematic to access for any particular users. I think it would be better to place it in either Elephant or Vauxhall from the point of view of regeneration, in the sense that a large clinic would increase the number of users in an area who might also use other local services eg. cafes. I think Waterloo is further forward with its development than the other areas and doesn't need that extra help.

There's an opportunity to fill in an online survey or take part in a user group on the matter, so do check out the item.

Oval accident - female cyclist died

Stockwell News reported some kind of accident or incident at Oval tube station in Harleyford Road at around 8:30am this morning, and noticed lots of emergency vehicles and somebody on a stretcher. I left for work very late this morning, and didn't notice any traffic buildup in Kennington as a result, but no doubt the road was cleared quickly.

(Edit, 12:12) - One Lurking about SE11 commentator notes that the person on a stretcher was a woman. It is reported that she was a cyclist, and was hit by a lorry.

(Edit, 30/6/2009) - It has now been confirmed (see comments) that the cyclist died in the accident, witnessed by a number of readers yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of both the cyclist and the lorry driver.

I know that the roads in this area are potentially dangerous because they are so fast moving, and I frequently see both cyclists and motorists driving/cycling dangerously.

Thank you for all of the comments you've all contributed. I know that readers will be sad to hear of another accident in this area. Some of the folk at the London Fixed-Gear and Single Speed website are advocating writing to Boris Johnson to request that he makes HGV/cyclist safety a priority. Individual letters are (as with most things) a more powerful catalyst for change than petitions. If you would like to follow up, you can contact the Mayor as follows:

By email: mayor@london.gov.uk
Postal Address:
Boris Johnson
Mayor of London
Greater London Authority
City Hall
The Queen's Walk
More London
London SE1 2AA
Telephone: 020 7983 4100
Minicom: 020 7983 4458
Fax: 020 7983 4057

I lifted the above information from the thread about the accident on the London FGSS forums here.

(For what it's worth, Boris might be more open to listening to comments at the moment because he was involved in a near-miss recently, reported by the BBC here.)

8 Albert Embankment - Initial exhibition / consultation

First up from today (well, yesterday now, but it's much too hot for bed!) was the 8 Albert Embankment exhibition for the proposed development to replace some of the London Fire Brigade buildings on and around the Albert Embankment (technically in SE1, but rather near the boundary). It's worth noting that there are three sites that the developers seek to build upon. New readers should check out this post for a list of all of the major building proposals that affect SE11 and the wider area.

I telephoned the developers before this initial consultation in order to find out what the plans might look like, but the developers (Native Land) technically need to offer an initial consultation/exhitibion in order to demonstrate that they have spoken to the local community, and responded to feedback, so there were no plans on display today (no doubt they've been drawn up somewhere!). There were lots of pretty pictures, which I've photographed in case you couldn't attend the consultation.

The London Fire brigade buildings are currently a mixed bag. It's fairly clear that at least one of them is such a grotty 1970s monstrosity that it could do with being replaced with something that would (hopefully) reveal the Royal Doulton Building in its fully glory. In case you forgot how beautiful it is, here's a quick glimpse:

My general concern, as always, is that the potential buildings will be too tall (and I got the general inkling that the proposed buildings would be at least as tall as Salamanca, but that was only froma brief conversation). The developers have to build high in order to maximise profit. You might remember (if you attended the 81 Black Prince Road consultation) how the the proposed building was so tall when viewed from the south of Black Prince Road, that it dwarfed the low and medium rise residences in the rest of Black Prince and Kennington. It's worth noting that the recently released draft Core Policy for the Local Development Framework (for Vauxhall), p63 states that 'Along the river, Lambeth are anxious to avoid creating a wall effect, blocking out the Thames and want sufficient gaps between buildings.' Consequently, building too high risks a rejection on the basis that the building affects the World Heritage area and surrounding listed buildings (remember that Lambeth Council refused 81 Black Prince Road on such grounds, and we're still awaiting the outcome). However, we'll have to wait until the secondary consultation for architect's plans.

What was interesting about the exhbibition is that it was fairly well attended. Whilst I was there, there were about 10 or so other parties coming and going.

In the meantime, some photos from today (I've not included all of them, but the important images are here! Click any photo to enlarge):

This photo shows all three sites that would be developed:






I beleive that this diagram shows properly just how large the proposed development would be. It's going to be very large:


It's quite interesting that London Fire Brigade will retain part of the site:


It all looks rather unexceptional, but then, I doubt that they'll show us the 25 storey building until the secondary consultation/exhibition:




I think Native Land will have to make a greater contribution to local transport (how about a new bus route along Black Prince Road?) because it's not really enough just to state that the area is well connected. Some existing residents are likely to raise parking issues as a concern:


If you missed the exhbition today, you can still give feedback. Note the address on the following photo:


I will (as usual) keep you all updated as more information becomes available on this site.

More on Lambeth Leaseholders

I'm getting a considerable number of hits from people who are Googling for Lambeth leaseholder charges. Please do keep the comments coming in. It's part of this blog's function to enable local people to have online contact with one another in order to build real life contacts, and hopefully strengthen our community.

In further news, the BBC published an article at lunch time today about the deteriorating relationship between Lambeth Living and the leaseholders here. Some of you might recognise the cheeky chappy in the picture!

[Edit 27/6/2009]: There is a video link to the BBC article now as well. Click here to view the clip which appeared on the BBC news. It's very interesting, and shows local people arguing that it would make more sense to move out, rent somewhere else and lease their properties back to Lambeth Council. I felt rather sorry for the Chief Executive of Lambeth Living, since her arguments about improving the way that they "capture" information on service charges clearly don't stack up against complaints that work stated on the bills has never actually been performed!

One commentator has linked to an article from Inside Housing, which details a massive catalogue of Lambeth Housing's failures from 2005 here.

Further info on crossing the road at Vauxhall

You'll see on the post that I made a week ago, I reported that some of the traffic lights at Vauxhall would be re-phased so that pedestrian crossing times would be reduced. This is a general concern because Vauxhall is not the safest or easiest place to cross the road, even with current phasings.

I then wrote to both Caroline Pidgeon and Valerie Shawcross. Both responded quickly.

It appears that Caroline Pidgeon asked Boris Johnson whether London Boroughs would be consulted on the traffic light re-phasings back in March, and she specifically asked, "what will happen if boroughs object to a reduction in crossing times for pedestrians?". Boris responded by saying, "TfL has a statutory duty under the GLA Act to consult with the relevant borough officers before and after signal timings are changed and they always adhere to this".

Consequently, I wrote to ask the councillors whether the borough officers would consult the community. It appears, however, from my response from Caroline Pidgeon, that Boris' answer was incorrect re. the consultation of the Borough officers.

Caroline's answer is as follows:
"TfL does not (contrary to the Mayor’s statement) have a duty to consult on signals timings changes on their network (however signals timings must be within the limits set by DfT guidance).
If however TfL decides (voluntarily) to consult Lambeth it would be with our Traffic Manager (Thuraippah Sivalingam)."

So, effectively, TfL can rephase the lights without being statutorily required to consult the boroughs. There is no way for local residents to object.

It's all a teensy weensy bit totalitarian for my liking.