Planning Update February 2011

Planning Update February 2011

The Government published its Localism Bill on 13 December, which provides for neighbourhood plans, elected mayors and a whole host of community oriented changes. We have some more detailed analysis on the website, but in practice, a lot turns on what counts as a “neighbourhood”, or at least, what the local Council thinks is a neighbourhood. The Bill defines it as a parish council area, or the area of a “neighbourhood forum recognised by the Council for these purposes”. Since KA’s beef with Lambeth is the latter’s tendency to lump Kennington in with other areas, and not address its particular needs or character, the current arrangements may not be the ideal vehicle for our aspirations. But the forthcoming consultation on the planning future of individual sites (the Site Allocation Document, or SAD) will allow us to articulate a broader view about Kennington’s needs, and we are dusting off and reviewing the comments we made back in 2009.

With a view to identifying KA’s geographic spread, Cathy has analysed the postcodes of members from the membership list, with interesting results.

Of 432 postcodes given

• 294 are SE11 - 68%
• 114 are adjacent postcodes - 26%
• 35 SW8 - 8% (South of Harleyford Rd/Oval and west of Clapham Rd)
•  33 SE17 - 8% (in Southwark, west of Kennington Park Rd and Kennington Park)
• 25 SW9 - 6% (South of Camberwell New Rd and east of Clapham Rd)
• 12 SE1 - 3% (Albert Embankment west of railway line , area round Lambeth North tube and north of Lambeth Rd)
• 9 SE5 - 2% (South east of John Ruskin Rd and north of Camberwell New Rd)
• 24 Misc non adjacent - 6%

Back in September  2010, we spent four days arguing Kennington’s corner at the Examination in Public of the draft Lambeth Core Strategy, the successor to the 2007 Unitary Development Plan. The Planning Inspector has pronounced the draft “sound”, with a few small changes, and it was formally adopted by Lambeth Council on 19 January 2011. Again we have further analysis on our website – what will follow is a consultation, probably starting in April, on the planning future of individual sites (the SAD, as mentioned earlier).

Readers will know that the Mayor of London has been consulting on the future of the Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea area (VNEB). The 2009 consultation was in form a consultation on 5 or so different densities of development, but without any costings for the necessary infrastructure. We thought that the top option was intolerably dense, with quite inadequate open space, and a risk that Lambeth would be asked to pick up the tab for Wandsworth’s development. Now we have an Infrastructure Study that confirms our worst fears. There is some detailed analysis on our website, but we consider that the evidence is being fixed to support the densest option, with implausible low assumptions about infrastructure needed, and gross underestimates of the cost of what is, in particular of the costs of any extension to the Northern Line.  As you can see, we are not impressed by the assumptions written in to this study, and the conclusion we draw is that the densest options canvassed (remember that the VNEB OAPF was an options consultation, not the definitive word?) are undesirable in themselves, and unaffordable in public realm and infrastructure terms. With publication of this study, the Mayor has added a revised costing chapter to the VNEB Consultation draft, and asks for further comments by 25 March 2011. We shall relish giving them to him…

As regards individual planning proposals, after the three week appeal hearing in July 2010,  Mr Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, announced his decision on the Bondway/ Octave Tower  on 9 February. We were strong opponents of the proposed development, and were delighted that Mr Pickles agreed with his Planning Inspector and rejected the proposed Tower.  The decision will make the provision of new and improved open space the touchstone for much future development at Vauxhall, and we have a more detailed analysis on the website. We think, by contrast, that the Vauxhall Triangle development is a deal less offensive, and on balance can support it, provided it comes with a seven figure Section 106 offer in aid of open space and local parks. But it is a balance judgement, and some other local groups have come down on the other side.

More recently, the developer has repackaged his proposals for 8 Albert Embankment (the Old Fire Station site), and they look a lot better than before in visual terms. But there is still an issue about how much affordable housing is on offer, and how the development sustains employment, in what has been retained as a Key Industrial and Business Area. CLS Holdings have just published imaginative proposals for their site at 86 Bondway, with a new public square (at last a developer who wants to add new open space at Vauxhall) and a suggest elevated walkway over the Vauxhall Gyratory. We also now hear that Lambeth want to sell off parts of the Old Lilian Baylis site, the Beaufoy site and the former Olive School site.

This is going to make for a busy time. The Planning Forum is a group of talented people who know their stuff, but they could really use a coordinator to make the Forum operate more smoothly.  If you can help, please email  kaplanningforum@gmail.com and volunteer your services.

David Boardman

Chair

Kennington Association Planning Forum

12 February 2011