FROM THE CAMBERWELL QUARTERLY

Now that planning permission has been confirmed by the GLA and Southwark Peter Cooke takes stock

To remind readers of the main elements of the development

(also see CQ 203, 205 and 212):

• redevelop the shopping centre which is largely single storey to

six floors with flats above,

• existing retail tenants will remain although the planning officer in his report acknowledges that there will be ‘short term disruption’ to them,

• 101-bedroom hotel and a cinema with two screens for 80 people.

• shopping mall’s roof will be removed, and the mall will become wider with tree planting and a spur off to Orpheus Street.

• two carparks facing onto Daneville Road will be built over and the redevelopment will rise to seven storeys above the ground floor.

• overall, the development will provide 145 new homes of which 51 (36%) are described as affordable.

The GLA and Southwark require that the new housing be car free, apart from disabled parking. GLA consider this reduction of 80% in the existing provision will lead to traffic reduction and healthy streets in line with Vision Zero. Policies have changed from the proposal 30 years ago to build a second level of carparking in the car park.

The GLA report said that the ‘design will make a positive contribution to the street scene, landscaping, and greenery and will improve the appearance of the area.’

Approval requires development to start by 7 March 2026. The applicant does not intend to carry out the development and aims to sell to another developer. Development will commence on the Denmark Hill frontage, then the part occupied by the supermarket and the smaller carpark, and finally the larger carpark at the south-eastern corner.

The planning approval of June 2021 was expected to be ratified in the legal agreement by 28 January 2022. Since then, the new Southwark Plan for 2019-2036 has been issued, which reiterates the policy from 2017, that the ‘south and east sides should be lower rise’. But this is now the highest part of the development at eight floors. So, the Council have confirmed a proposal which is contrary to their own policies.

It is also based on a seemingly inaccurate official statement made to the Planning Committee