The council has now received an application for use of the old warehouse on Old Road as a ‘martial arts centre and training facility’.  As readers might be aware, issues around this building have been rumbling on for some time.At present, the building only has planning permission for use as a storage facility (what’s known in planning terms as class B8).   The applicants are seeking to change this so that it can officially operate as a facility for their companies Unified Training Consultants and Firefight Combat Simulations.

You can view the application and supporting documents on the Council’s website.  I’ve set up a short-cut to the right page via http://tinyurl.com/87oldroad  

According to the application, the operating hours would be 9am-10pm Monday-Friday; 10am-8pm Saturday, Sundays and bank holidays. They envisage 12 full time and 10 part time staff. I couldn’t see any reference in the application to the number of customers that would be on site at once.

I know people have a lot of concerns about the noise and parking problems caused by having such a facility in a residential area. We now have our opportunity to lodge objections or make any other comments on the application. I am very happy to support residents through this process, and to use my rights to speak at the planning committee on behalf of residents.

The deadline for comments is 14th September 2009, and these should be sent to planning {at} lewisham.gov(.)uk quoting ref DC/09/71653. Please feel free to copy your comments to me (details here).

I’ve  spent the last two evenings stuck in the Town Hall, so thought I’d explain what I’ve been up to.

On Wednesday, I attended a meeting of Mayor and Cabinet. I don’t make a habit of going to these, but there were three things I was interested in on the agenda.

Firstly, the Mayor was (finally!) agreeing the rent increase for 2009/10. This was delayed as the Government announced – very late in the day – some extra money for rents. This has caused chaos as Lewisham had already announced the rent rise, and so has had to freeze rents til July while they work out what to do. The Government has also managed to exclude thousands of tenants across the borough, who won’t benefit from this cash at all. Not their finest hour. Anyway, the final increase is 3.84% and should come in from July 6th.

Secondly, the Mayor agreed the waste strategy, which (amongst other things) will see a garden waste drop-off point set up during weekends, probably in the Blackheath Station Car Park. A bit nearer than the Landmann Way site for people in Lee Green, but still no good if you haven’t got a car (can’t see many people pushing a wheelbarrow that far!).

Thirdly, the Mayor rubber-stamped the £5,000 the local assembly allocated for community consultation and activities at the Leegate Centre. Excellent news.

After work on Thursday, I met with the Executive Director for Customer Services to discuss various housing issues. The good news is, the Lee stock transfer is still on-track for approval in June/July – can’t come a moment too soon for me or the residents on the stock transfer estates.

Then I was off to housing committee, which was considering the draft homelessness prevention strategy. I was pleased to get the document amended so that councillors will get regular reports on how the strategy’s progressing. It’s one thing having a good strategy (which I think we now have) but it’s another thing making sure it’s implemented.

Once housing committee concluded, I was straight into the Sustainable Development Committee, where they were already half way through taking evidence from Sutton, Islington and Greenwich Councils on home insulation. Always good to hear what some Lib Dem-run councils are up to – and Islington and Sutton do seem to be setting the pace. After that we discussed the new parks management contract (currently held by Glendale). This gave me a chance to put in another plea for a park keeper for Manor Park. I was also pleased to learn that some of the investment cash for this contract will be targeted at smaller parks – so there’s a chance we could get some improvements to the little-known Edith Nesbitt Gardens, Lee Green’s third park.

Thankfully the weekend’s a bit more Lee Green focussed – I’ve got my monthly advice surgery at Leybridge Court, and am planning to drop into the Lee Manor Society Plant Mart and the St. Margaret’s Victorian Fair. Late on, I’m attending a meeting with residents regarding 87 Old Road, and then I’m sitting back to watch Eurovision.

The old warehouse at 87 Old Road (behind the Council depot) has been an on-going issue for some time.  I first became involved back in January 2007 when local residents approached me, concerned that windows had been installed in the building in breech of planning regulations.   Eventually we got the Council to issue an enforcement notice.  Then in November last year, we managed to get an application to turn the building into flats turned down.   After that, the owners appealed against the enforcement notice regarding the windows.   

The appeal against the enforcement notice was turned down in July.   However, Council officers tell me they’re obliged to give the owners another 6 months grace to remove the windows before they can take further action.

So I’d stuck February 09 in my diary as the date to start chasing this and assumed it’d be quiet until then.   So I was astonished to read this article on the NewsShopper website.    It turns out an estimated £2million worth of cannabis was discovered at 87 Old Road in a police raid on Thursday.

If anyone has any information, they should call the Lee Green Safer Neighbourhood Team on 020 8721 2482 or talk to Crimestoppers

One of the reasons the recent application to redevelop 87 Old Road was turned down was that any redevelopment of the south elevation would create a ‘right to light’ which would prejudice redevelopment of the Council depot on Old Road.

I’ve asked a question at tonight’s Full Council, which I’ve already received the answer to, which confirms that the Council has no plans at present to dispose of the depot, though it dsicloses that developers have approached the Council to enquire about its availability.

I’ve posted the full question and answer below.

LONDON BOROUGH OF LEWISHAM COUNCIL MEETING

28 NOVEMBER 2007

Question by Councillor Robson
of the Deputy Mayor

Question

What are the council’s intentions regarding the Council Depot on Old Road? Does the Council have any plans to dispose of the site? Has the Council been approached by, or had any discussions with, any third party regarding the site?

Reply

The Old Road Depot is currently fully utilised by the Environment Division with the borough-wide lumber and bag collection service being based there. The service has 46 members of staff and 13 vehicles operating from the site. It is also a back up site in the Council’s Business Continuity Plan. The Council has no plans to dispose of this site at the moment.

The only third party approaches that the Council has received have been enquiries regarding the site’s availability.

As residents in the immediate area are aware, I have been working with concerned local residents for some time now on enforcement action and planning applications concerning the former warehouse at 87 Old Road.

I’m really pleased that the latest application to turn the building into flats has been refused by the Council.

The application was refused for the following reasons:

• The development would lead to additional on-street parking in an already congested area which could be dangerous for pedestrians and road users
• Residential use, together with the proposed new windows, would lead to residents on Bankwell Road becoming overlooked, and losing privacy
• Any potential occupiers of the property would have a poor outlook and be subjected to noise and disturbance from nearby industrial units and the Council depot.
• The windows looking over the Council depot would prejudice any future redevelopment of that site.

Whilst I am pleased that the views of the many local residents who wrote in to oppose this application have been taken into account, I fear we have not heard the last of applications for this building. The owners may appeal this decision, and could still appeal against the enforcement action the Council has authorised to remove the windows they installed earlier this year. There is also the possibility of an entirely new application for the site.

I’ll keep an eye on the situation, but in the meantime local residents are really pleased that this unsuitable development’s been turned down.