Your Gipsy Hill

The proposed development viewed from Woodland Road

Last week Andrew and Carl attended a meeting with residents living in the Woodlands area of Upper Norwood to discuss the planning application to build 12 housing units in 4-storey blocks on land adjacent to 114 Woodland Road SE19.

The site is at the bottom of Woodland Road and located in the London Borough of Southwark – just over the boundary from Lambeth.  This development would have a substantial impact on parking, the street scene and housing density.

Andrew has now submitted a letter of objection on behalf of Gipsy Hill’s three ward councillors.  The reason for their objections are set out below or CLICK HERE to download a copy of the letter.

To: Southwark Planning

I would like to formally object to planning application AP/09/2130 on behalf of myself and my fellow Gipsy Hill councillors.

My objection is based on a number of planning grounds.

The housing density of the proposals give rise to many problems and as such the application represents an attempt at over-intensive development.

First, parking.  This area is already subject to tremendous parking stress.  Many commuters park-up for the nearby Gipsy Hill train station.  This will be made worse by the large development on Cawnpore Street currently being built, which has little provision for parking for its residents.

Please check when parking stress was measured and how it was measured, as I am concerned that the peak parking stress has not been identified properly, and in any event parking stress will worsen when the new Cawnpore Street block opens.

Related to parking stress is congestion and accessibility.  When nearby Paxton School was closed recently due to asbestos, the pupils were bussed to Streatham.  Such is the congestion in these streets due to parking that the bus did not come to the school but waited at nearby access points.  There is real concern that emergency vehicles cannot access this area.  The scale of the proposed development in Woodland Road would exacerbate this problem.

Next, the applicant is trying to get too much onto a cramped, sloping site next to a railway line.  As a guide one should not approve such dwellings one wouldn’t want to live in.  The homes are pushed up against the pavement at the front and do not have much space behind.  Nor are the internal proportions very generous.  The applicant would have been much better advised to propose fewer housing units.  While I understand the commercial pressures to go for more units, the number would have a detrimental effect on the putative tenants and should be rejected.

Planning Policy Statement 3 puts good design at the heart of good planning.  This is a national policy and weight must be given to it.  Yet the design of this application is lacking in many respects.  It does not follow the street contour (like the rest of the streets in this area) but instead rises to a fourth storey: it is thus out of keeping with the area.  (The applicant benchmarks the plans against the modern blocks opposite, but interestingly these blocks are, I think, less intensive in design than Woodland Road.  Also, planners should be aware of the nearby Gipsy Hill Conservation Area, which must be preserved or enhanced by any later developments).

The height, design, and massing of the proposed development are incongruous and unsightly,  The roofline is out of kilter with its surroundings (despite assertions to the contrary) and the materials are dark and grimmer than their surroundings.

Finally, the applicant says it has sought to incorporate the views of neighbouring residents.  However, its quite cursory consultation was for very different proposals and in any event many of the original objections remain.

Regards, Cllr Andrew Gibson

We will continue to keep residents informed about any further developments.