Wednesday 15 June 2011

1-5 Mercy Terrace, Ladywell - planning application

A planning application has been submitted for this vacant site, r/o Rumbles sandwich bar.  The application is described as "construction of a part two/part three storey building on the site of 1-5 Mercy Terrace SE13 comprising a ground floor commercial area (multi purpose hall for hire), 2 one bedroom and 1 two bedroom, self-contained flats, together with the provision of refuse and bicycle stores".  The plans can be inspected at http://acolnet.lewisham.gov.uk/LEWIS-XSLPagesDC/acolnetcgi.exe?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeDocs&TheSystemkey=63144   
Your views are welcomed, here on this blog, to help LVIG determine whether this is something it would want to support or oppose.  On the face of it a modest development on a vacant plot which has recently been a flytip sounds very positive, provided the design standards are high and the proposed use/mix of the development are appropriate.
The site in question is to the right of the photo below (which shows the rear of the Mercy Terrace properties as seen from the Ladywell bridge).  The development site is behind the tumbledown brown fence infront of the silver van.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

multi purpose hall for hire?


sounds intriguing - but is there really a need for a multi-purpose hall in the area?

Anonymous said...

multi-purpose hall clarified, although sounds a little bit like a token 'community use' thing, perhaps this is helpful in getting Planning permission:

The use of the ground floor is summarised as a ʻmarket areaʼ and it is proposed to run a farmers market on a regular basis using these spaces. There are several existing of these in Lewisham, the nearest in Hilly Fields which runs on one day a month. Our own experience in Faversham where there is one (with which my practice has been associated) privately run, open for a few hours each Saturday and Sunday, the other run by the town once a month, is that by leading people away from the supermarkets in their shopping habits, the former actually helps the latter rather than being in adverse competition with it.
The above will leave the spaces free for alternative uses during the week; our client believes that there
might be any manner of these, from a Pilates class to a small arts or crafts exhibition for example.
These are the sort of activities, with which one would expect relatively modest numbers of mostly local participants, that might take place in a village hall, say, but such suitable spaces, particularly with full access for the disabled, are not so common even outside London. A brief but helpful conversation with the planning officer indicated that it should be possible to agree the parameters that would be acceptable ʻsui generisʼ and set these down by condition.

Peter Tooke said...

Why do you need to be anonymous, anonymous?

Geoffrey said...

Why is Anonymous (2) quoting from the applicant's Design and Access Statement? Unless Anonymous (2) is the applicant! The pic on the blog shows no leaves on the trees, so not a very recent pic then. Champion example of a sycamore in the garden behind Rumbles (but not on the applicant site as far as I can make out) will have to be trimmed (I assume) to accomodate the planned building.
Zinc-clad roofing seems to be "in" these days. Pity as other roofs are slate or tiles.

the same anonymous said...

neither anonymous is the applicant, as the anonymous I can confirm that, and I quoted from the design statement to clarify my earlier question.

For me, it's more than a little bit off the 'beaten track' so unlikely to get the footfall that it might demand to operate well as any of the things mentioned in the statement - in fact a 'small arts or crafts exhibition' is wishful thinking as far as the applicant is concerned - and don't farmers markets tend to happen outdoors?

Actually, although it's a bit run down at the moment, i'm wondering if those 'stables' or whatever you'd call those mews-type buildings shouldn't attract a preservation order of some kind and provide as many dwelling as this new, small development is offering (although I haven't read all the documentation closely enough to understand how much is going to be knocked down to supply the space for the new development).

and, to be brutally honest, we all know that with all these developments, large or small, the bottom line is the profit margin and any statement by the developer is, as might be said, 'embroidering a t*rd'