Some 52 new council homes were given the green light on Tuesday (November 16) by Southwark Council, across five schemes in Bermondsey, Peckham, Walworth and Gipsy Hill.
The planning meeting descended into arguments several times, with objectors shouting out their disapproval at two proposed blocks in Peckham and Walworth. But all of the schemes were voted through, with four out of five given unanimous approval by councillors.
Southwark Council has courted controversy with its mammoth social house building scheme, with some people unhappy at loss of open space and overshadowing that new developments could cause. The council has maintained that cutting down its 16,000-person housing waiting list is a “moral duty”.
Exclusive: Council housing boss hits back at infilling ‘misinformation’
The discussion about eight new council flats in Peckham was the first to break down into an argument on Tuesday afternoon, as local residents alleged to councillors that the consultation process had been ‘inaccurate’ – a claim denied by housing officers.
The new homes, on a garage site on the corner of Fenwick Road and Nutbrook Street, to the east of Peckham Rye Park, were approved unanimously at the meeting.
Some local residents think the three- and four-storey building is too high and out of character with the local area. Southwark Council planners, who recommended the new building be approved, said: “Whilst the building is larger and bulkier than the surrounding residential buildings, this is acceptable for a corner location.”
Speaking at the meeting on behalf of a group of neighbours on Nutbrook Street, one woman hit out at the new homes team for what she claimed was a “misleading and inaccurate consultation process” and the “inappropriate scale of the proposed build.” She claimed residents’ views had not been taken into account during the consultation.
The council officer maintained that five virtual consultation meetings were held and that plans were adapted to reflect current residents’ opinions.
The Fenwick Street homes were just one of several proposals for new council flats that got approval at the planning meeting on Tuesday.
The approval of eight new council flats on the Kingston Estate in Walworth, saw emotional outbursts from residents and one council member receiving a round of applause.
The planning was given approval, but unlike every other scheme put forward at the meeting, the decision was not unanimous – there were four votes in favour, with two against.
Residents argued passionately against the proposal, with key points raised being the loss of green space for children and questions about the validity of the consultation process.
The meeting saw several interruptions, including one resident crying out, “there is no space!” Other residents argued that there had been little consultation, despite claims from the developer that they had sent several newsletters.
When the development manager stated that a project officer would be working with residents to hear out their concerns, Lib Dem councillor for Borough and Bankside Adele Morris received a round of applause from residents when she questioned why said officer would be getting in touch only after the approval meeting had taken place. Cllr Morris was later among the two councillors who objected to the proposal.
The development manager clarified that they had already tried knocking on doors, adding: “if residents don’t want to talk to us, we can’t force them.” She also cited COVID-19 as a reason for difficulty in reaching residents.
The developers additionally agreed to pay a £10,250 shortfall payment for the loss of green space, if the development is found to meet the relevant criteria.
Earlier in the marathon meeting, a new block of 21 council flats in Gipsy Hill got planning permission, despite some debate about their effect on a nearby conservation area.
The five- and six-storey building, which will be on unprotected green space at the corner of Gipsy Hill and Woodland Green, will sit alongside two other seven-floor council blocks.
The new building will be right on the boundary between Southwark and Lambeth. Across the road is Lambeth’s Gipsy Hill conservation area, mostly made up of nineteenth-century buildings.
Cllr Martin Seaton said that he was surprised that the architects had chosen not to reflect the conservation area in their plans, instead designing the new building to look similar to the two other housing blocks.
Architects said that they had originally designed a row of terraced houses, but that residents said they would prefer “a building whose silhouette was simple and direct.”
They added: they had an “incredibly strong response” from the local community and councillors that the building “was not of the conservation area” but rather a “missing tooth from a cluster of three” blocks. The decision was “certainly not a projection of the architects’ ego,” they added.
Despite the discussion, the new building was unanimously approved.
Further north in the borough, a set of seven new council homes in Bermondsey were also given the go-ahead.
The new flats will come in a five-storey corner building with four flats, and three two-storey terraced houses, on the corner of Fort Road and Balaclava Street at the edge of the Longfield Estate.
Concerns had been raised by local residents about the loss of open space at the site , although the council said it was not protected land.
Other objections included the effect of the new buildings on the nearby Thorburn Square conservation area, largely made up of low terraced houses.
The council’s new homes development team said the terraced housing, which will be next to the conservation area, was designed to reflect its architectural style.
Across the other side of Bermondsey on Jamaica Road, an ‘infill’ project to build eight more council flats on the Pynfolds Estate was also unanimously approved at the same meeting.
The new flats will go on a car park site in the north-east corner estate, in a part-five and part-six storey block.
The architects for the new building conceded that it would be disruptive for the people already living in the estate’s 103 existing flats, but said that “mitigation” measures should be put in place.
The planning application has more than twenty comments objecting to the plans, with one in favour. Residents’ arguments against the new build include concerns about possible shadowing effects, loss of parking and the effect on William Gaitskell House, a grade-II listed building on Paradise Street, opposite the planned site.
Recommending the application, Tooley Street planners pointed out that car parks were not protected in planning policy and said that the plans make an “efficient” use of space. “The height, scale, massing and detailed design of the proposed building are appropriate within the context of the site,” they added.