==================================================================

ASSA is responding to the VNEB OAPF because we believe that the development of the area will

• increase the burden on local services and infrastructure
• impact the appearance of and views from our neighbourhood
• has the potential to positively impact on the services and amenities available to our residents

In summary of the ASSA feedback on the VNEB OAPF

• The overall density of the development area and the plans for a cluster of tall buildings around Vauxhall would place an excessive burden on the transport, leisure and social infrastructure in our area and the OAPF does not include sufficient mitigants to alleviate these impacts
• The expected visual impact of the cluster of tall buildings is deeply regrettable both the direct impact on views from our conservation area and also views from the very pretty walks around our area, particularly in Vauxhall Park and surrounds.
• The density of the development area also allows little room for green areas (the linear strip of land surrounded by high buildings cannot be considered a ‘park’), community gardens and allotments, sports facilities and other areas of public amenity.
• The VNEB OAPF recognizes that existing business will be forced to relocate out of the area, many of which are SME local employers. They will be replaced by “20-25,000” retail and office jobs. There is no indication that these jobs will match the skills of local residents or whether there will be any training for local residents to work in this new employment zone.
• Our concern is that the development plan creates little incentive for residents of the surrounding areas to enter the VNEB Opportunity Area. This will lead to a ‘ghetto’ of flats with little linkage to the surrounding area.
• There is no clarity in the development plans on what the requirement for affordable housing will be in the area.
• We are supportive of the plans for the New Covent Garden Market and the plans to open up the market to encourage local tourism, training and hospitality facilities to celebrate this unique London asset in our neighbourhood.
• Apart from the district heating plans there is no vision to create an area that is more self-sufficient in its energy use and waste management.
• ASSA would like to see
  • A clear commitment to invest in schools, healthcare and other social infrastructure facilities.
  • An investment in sports facilities, green spaces, allotments and other facilities that contribute to the social value of the opportunity area and the well being of all those living in it and near it.
  • A great reduction in the height and number of tall buildings around Vauxhall with great sensitivity in design and scale being given to any buildings built around our parks.
  • Lower density housing with a greater focus on the quality of design and surrounding environment and amenities. This has the potential to make the Opportunity Area and attractive asset for our community rather than ghettoized dormitory for commuters.
  • Greater emphasis on a diversified mix of businesses. There is a reason New Covent Garden must, by law, be situated at Nine Elms – because of its proximity to central London. The plan should include areas for business that can service the homes, shops and offices of central London. This would also create a greater diversity of jobs and skills for local residents.
  • Measures to encourage the maximum level of energy efficiency and decentralized, low carbon energy generation (ideally carbon neutral as will be required by 2016) for residential and commercial buildings.
  • Measures to minimize the amounts of waste being exported to landfill, maximizing the amount of waste recycled.

Ends

==================================================================

Background

The Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area Planning Framework (OAPF!) covers the triangular area from Vauxhall station to Battersea Power Station bounded at the bottom by Wandsworth Road. See map below.

All documents can be found here http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor/publications/planning/vauxhall-nine-elms-battersea-opportunity-area-planning-framework

• The VNEB area has been designated an opportunity area in the GLA’s London Plan. This means it will be treated as a single area and a planning framework will be developed for it. This is positive as it means considerations like social infrastructure (parks, schools, surgeries) will be included as part of the plan rather than the alternative which is putting strain on the existing infrastructure.
• The aim of the OAPF is to increase land values in the area thereby increasing investment.
• There are a small number of landlords: Treasury Holdings (Battersea Power Station), Covent Garden Market Authority, US Embassy and some others.
• There will be two focal ‘growth poles’ Battersea Power Station and Vauxhall station which will be residential and office space plus retail.
• A cluster of tall buildings at Vauxhall of 150m in height or less (the St Georges Tower already consented is 180m list of tall towers for comparison here: http://www.skyscrapernews.com/britains1.htm) Views from Albert Square and South Lamb eth Road are given below

• 16,000 new homes mostly in 8-10 storey blocks or the towers. 40,000 people including up to 10,000 kids. No family houses to speak of – mostly 1-2 bed flats. Limited social housing.
• 15-20 year development period
• New Northern Line extension from Kennington to Nine Elms and Battersea at a cost of £600m privately funded (the reality of this number is questionable as is the likelihood of it being build in a timeframe consistent with the development or being built at all. There is very limited transport development planned apart from the tube extension.
• Public space will consist of a Thames walkway, a ‘linear park’ (a 50m wide strip of land with 8-10 story blocks either side) and three walkways from Wandsworth Road to the river.
• District Heating Network planned for the area.
• Up to £405m of S106 funds.
• New Covent Garden Market to be completely redeveloped. Funded by selling the flower market plot plus another plot near cringle street Work commencing 2013. This actually looks pretty good. Redevelopment will modernise the existing market area. It will also increase public access and have cafes and restaurants showing off the great food of our land Downside is flower market will be sold as a high rise hotel to fund it all

At a Planning meeting at Brixton Town Hall on Wednesday 24th March  the Council agreed that they would not recommend that planning permission should be granted for the tower in its present form.
Permission had been sought for a 149 Metre tower.  Many locals  effected by this development do not have seem to have been aware of the nature of the development.
About 20+ locals attended the meeting to protest and  about 10 of those whom had  applied to speak were given the opportunity to do so. Some who spoke were passionately opposed. Vauxhall Park representatives were extremely concerned about the shadow that would be cast over the park after 4 pm when  summer peak time use  happens. Children after school and residents relaxing would have their light obstructed.
Michael Ball, Director  of Waterloo Community Development Group and David Boardman of the Kennington Association  had considerable knowledge and had  put in immense research and thought to their representations which concentrated on the areas where the proposed development deviated from planning policy.
This  all was no doubt highly influential on the final decision  and the Councillors’ decided NOT to follow the  recommendation  that  the Council should  grant permission (subject to conditions and Section 106 Agreement.).

Some of the reasons for refusing  were:

• That the building was too wide and too tall and detrimental to the Public Realm
• That there is insufficent floor space for employment. The intention is that  1/3 of floor space within the Major Development Opportunity area should  be given over whereas Octave Tower is  probably less than 10%
• That the Development is too dense-  ( By probably around X3) This density breaches good quality building policies
• That there is insufficient amenity space and a lack of public space.

Additionally the adverse effect on local conservation areas was noted. In particular St Marks, Landsdowne Gardens, Vauxhall Conservation Area and our own in  Albert  Square.

The developers of the Octave Tower had actually have actually appealed against Lambeth for non determination prior to the planning meeting in any event. This matter will therefore be decided upon at appeal and there is still much to play for.

ASSA will make representations and if you would like to discuss the issues over this then please contact Rosemary Ellis ( 0207 793 9538)

The pictures above is from a collection available on our Flickr page – all photos are accessible by clicking on the ‘Neighbourhood Photos’ box on the right hand menu (you might need to scroll down a bit to find it).

The photos show the Bondway development from different angles and perspectives. It should be noted that they are the developers computer generated images and that the trees are generally in full leaf and therefore do cover up considerable amounts of the Building that will be visible through the Winter. In some cases the outlines of Bondway and other skyscrapers are all shown.  Ssme of the images seem to be slightly “overexposed” so that the upper outlines are  perhaps not as dominant as the Building  would be in reality.

The images  should be viewed and assessed for information or illustrative purposes only and not to form part of any future formal application submitted by a third party without the consent of consultant who was commissioned by the applicant for this Bondway application.

The winning design has been announced in the architectural competition for the new US embassy to be built at Nine Elms.  It’s a dramatic and eye catching design which should be a vast improvement on the current scattering of anonymous warehouses. There is a long and well illustrated description on the site of the winning architects, KieranTimberlake.

The design places the embassy building at the center of the Nine Elms site and develops the surrounding area into an urban park. The new embassy meets all the required security standards while honoring the English tradition of urban parks and gardens as the context for many civic buildings. The new embassy, with its gardens, will establish a strong framework for the urbanization of the Nine Elms redevelopment zone.

There are two major east-west pedestrian and vehicular paths, one existing and one to be improved, and the other proposed as part of the enabling infrastructure for the Nine Elms development. The existing infrastructure is along the south Thames embankment and is composed of a river walk paralleled by Nine Elms Lane. The proposed new infrastructure to the south of the embassy site is a pedestrian greenway that will connect the embassy site to Vauxhall Station, the nearest tube stop to the east, and on to the proposed new Battersea developments to the west. Poised strategically midway between these parallel paths, the embassy becomes part of an urban park that connects the Thames embankment to the new pedestrian way to the south.

The paving about and within the embassy site utilizes the familiar limestone used in many London walks and parks. London Plane trees provide shade and form at the perimeter and along Nine Elms Lane as well as the proposed new walk to the south that connects the site to Vauxhall Station.

Seen from the north along the Thames embankment and Nine Elms Lane, the new Embassy Park contains a pond with walks, places to sit and landscape along its edges, all open to the citizens of London.

Trees near the pond are to be North American species, such as the Weeping Willow and the Bald Cypress. Others, while native to North America, were long ago brought to England and are now common to the English landscape.

There is a lot more about the building itself, but it is the exterior and the landscape in which it is set which are much more important for most of us who are unlikely to have much occasion to go – or be allowed – inside.

The original outline plan included proposals for opening more routes through the Nine Elms site to the river, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.  It’s not clear from this description whether all that has survived – but it’s one to keep an eye on, as it is potentially a significant benefit to our area.  The other direct effect is likely to be increased pressure on transport.  The proposed Northern Line extension to Battersea is still in the Mayor’s Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area Planning Framework, but the US Embassy is probably not big enough by itself to provide any assurance that it will ever materialise.  Increased pressure on Vauxhall, further exacerbated by the policy of encouraging new tall buildings there, risks crowding out existing transport users.

According to the Washington Post, construction is due to start in 2013 and be completed by 2017.

Another public meeting has been arranged about the Vauxhall area planning framework (earlier coverage here and here).  The additional meeting has been arranged by the Kennington Oval and Vauxhall Forum and will take place on at 7pm Wednesday 10 February at St Peter’s Church, Kennington Lane, Vauxhall.

The deadline for comments on the draft planning framework has now been extended to 28 February – details are on the Mayor’s website.

From now on, updates on the Kennington Oval and Vauxhall Forum website news page will be picked up in the News From Other Stockwell Sites area of this site.

The future of Vauxhall and the wider ‘opportunity area’ has been a long-running topic, and doubtless will continue for a long time yet.  We featured the Vauxhall Supplementary Planning Document here just over a year ago and the proposed Northern Line extension last summer.

Part of the problem for residents (and their associations) trying to keep track of all this is that the decision making is very fragmented.  In a separate post, Lurking Around SE11 makes the perceptive point that:

It seems that there is an ongoing issue pertaining to the requests for permission lining up with the Mayor’s Plan for Nine Elms and the Vauxhall Supplementary Planning Document. Each time a developer submits a request for planning permission for a new building, the transport and infrastructure questions are only considered for the building in question by the local council (in this case, Lambeth). Does this mean that the developers will keep having planning permission granted because “just one more building” won’t affect the underground tube congestion? As long as Lambeth Council are seen to be proceeding on a building by building basis, there is less need for anybody to consider the overall area, and the effects that new buildings will have on older buildings and the surrounding townscape. Indeed, it’s rather impossible for residents to object, approve or comment on each new building because it’s so time consuming to work in this manner. Please could we consider multiple buildings and their effects on one another, before we have to comment on the next in the series?

The service has now been restored although with a slightly cryptic warning that is functioning with reduced postcode accuracy.  But it should mean that we don’t have to rely on spotting notices on lamp posts to find out what is going on.

The return of Planning Alerts may be linked to today’s launch by Sir Tim Berner-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, of a new government website giving access to a huge range of government data for creating just these kinds of useful applications. Planning Alerts is one of the first batch of applications featured on the site.

I’m delighted to say that both the latest application for the former Di Lieto site (173-175 South Lambeth Road) and the application to convert the Royal Albert to residential use have been refused.

The South Lambeth Road application has been comprehensively turned down on the basic of architectural quality, the quality of the accommodation that would be provided, overlooking of neighbours, and concerns about parking and traffic.  (The loss of employment is not actually mentioned.)

I’m awaiting a copy of the decision letter on the Royal Albert, but the website says that it has been refused.

Royal Mail is now threatening legal action against ernestmarples.com, on the grounds that they are using Royal Mail intellectual property without paying for it.  Nobody involved has the legal resources to take on Royal Mail, so the postcode service has been closed down, with the result that a number of sites, including PlanningAlerts.com have stopped working.  There’s not  a lot we can do about that, beyond signing a petition on the No10 website if anybody feels so moved, so it’s even more important than usual to keep an eye out for planning applications affecting our area.

There are two current applications under consideration.  The more important of the two is yet another attempt  to redevelop the DiLieto bakery site on the corner of South Lambeth Road – details of the application are here.  This is the fifth attempt in eighteen months on my count, with permission now sought for seven flats and a one- to two-storey extension.  That’s an improvement on the original application for nine flats and a four-storey extension, but is still a lot to crowd into a small space.  The deadline for comments is 5 November.

On a much smaller scale, there is also a current application to replace windows and french doors at 37 Albert Square. The deadline for that one is 6 November.

All is not lost
Local residents and ASSA will be opposing the application for change of use. Whilst we would not push for the Albert to remain a pub if were clearly not viable as a business, we believe there is a strong case that it could be a successful business. It doesn’t have to be a pub.
There is a group meeting on Monday, September 28th 7-8pm in St Stephens Church to discuss alternative uses such as a community café and how we might go about funding it. Please come along if you’re interested it is open to all, especially those of you who were locals and don’t want to lose a great pub. And there’s free wine!
And finally, the Canton Arms. It too has closed down. We don’t know the full story yet but we will keep residents up to date.

Background: Lambeth have recently agreed that they are responsible for the maintenance of the path and have agreed to upgrade it from the current mud path to something that will be more hard wearing and less muddy. The money for this work has been put aside in this year’s budget so the work will get done this financial year.

It was the overwhelming view of attendees of the ASSA AGM that they would prefer York stone for the path. This is the recommendation of the Residents Association. The stone is hard wearing and will last many times longer than the alternatives but it is also more expensive and this as a result Lambeth are reticent to offer it.

If you have not already filled in the form we recommend you don’t tick either ‘Modular’ or ‘Clearmac’ but instead write “I would like York stone to be used” in the further comments section.