Mayor Sadiq Khan will not overrule Southwark Council’s decision to stop an 18-storey “Ayer’s Rock” office block being built in Elephant and Castle.
In October, the planning committee unanimously refused the Elephant Park application, citing its “excessive height, mass and bulk” and “harm to the character” of the surrounding area.
Campaigners feared City Hall would use its powers to override Southwark’s decision, but the Mayor of London’s planning department has said it will honour the council’s wishes.
Exclusive: Mayor urged not to overturn council’s rejection of bulky office block in Elephant Park
Reacting on Twitter, the 35 per cent campaign, who objected to the development, said: “Good News! Lendlease has failed to persuade the Mayor to override Southwark’s refusal of its contemptuous plans for the last phase of the Heygate redevelopment.”
Developer Lendlease could still lodge an appeal against the council’s decision.
The office block would have filled H1 – the final plot on Elephant Park, which sits on the site of the demolished 1,200 council home Heygate Estate.
The Deputy Mayor has resolved that he is satisfied for Southwark Council to determine the application for Plot H1 Elephant Park itself (refuse consent) #GLAPlanning #GoodGrowth????https://t.co/QMMel6KPNE pic.twitter.com/PtUudDyslG
— LDNMayor Planning (@LDN_planning) November 30, 2022
Although councillors on the planning committee were told not to consider the block’s ‘lack of housing’ as a factor, it often cropped throughout the application process.
This was partially because the H1 development was also originally earmarked as being a ‘residential-led’ building.
Lendlease was able to change it to offices after it fulfilled its housing obligations elsewhere on Elephant Park.
If approved, the site would have contained 48,750 sqm of office space, nearly ten times the 5,000 sqm in the original masterplan.
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The building’s 63,996sqm floor space was also double the 36,100sqm originally planned in the outline planning permission.
At the planning committee meeting, Cllr Kath Whitham said the building was so big it would be like “Ayer’s Rock had landed on Elephant and Castle”.