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SIX YEARS LATER - DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENTS GETS GO AHEAD

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7 November 2008

By Gavriel Hollander
gav@southwarknews.org 

SOUTHWARKS COUNCIL'S planning committee has given the go ahead to a controversial application for the development of the Downtown site in Surrey Docks, ending a six year battle by residents to stop ‘over-development’ of the area.

Members of the committee unanimously voted to approve plans submitted by Barratt Homes, after a marathon four-hour meeting on Tuesday, despite complaints from local residents.

The application - an amendment to previous plans, which were withdrawn after they attracted criticism from the Deputy Mayor of London - will see the redevelopment of the existing health centre on the site near Russia Dock Woodland, as well as the construction of 212 new homes.

However, a potential stumbling block to Barratt's proposals could come in the shape of a series of conditions imposed by the committee.

These conditions revolve around the provision of a community space alongside the expanded heath centre.

Barratt initially provided only 45 square metres for a community hall. This was increased to over 100 square metres in the latest plans, but committee members are still pushing for an increase to this provision, despite giving the application the green light.

Residents’ group the Downtown Defence Campaign (DDC) has been fighting developers on the site for a number of years and had tried to get Tuesday's decisions deferred, claiming it had not been given enough time to formalise complaints to the proposals.

Steve Cornish of the DDC said that the decision to go ahead with the meeting was a disappointment, but was pleased that some of his group's concerns had been dealt with.

"The DDC were unhappy that our request for a deferment was not even heard by the committee," he said. "They dismissed our claims out of hand, so we had a situation where the developers were privy to information that was denied to us as ordinary members of the public.

"It has been a long hard fight to get some sort of justice on the Downtown site and we have forced Barratt’s and council officers to make massive changes to the original application from some six years ago."

Those changes include limiting the height of the new buildings to four storeys after initial plans had them up to three times taller.

Local ward councillors had also expressed their concerns about Barratt's plans for the area both before and during Tuesday's meeting. Cllr Lisa Rajan said: "There's real disappointment that the application got through but the committee was in a difficult position.

"It is not over yet though, and at least the committee have taken on some of the residents' concerns."

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