Thanks TommyD, for keeping us in the loop.
This is a massive development that will impact hugely on Camberwell's architectural character. So I would need to see the
design before commenting yea or nay. The profit margin on this is so vast that there is ample room for manoeuvre in negotiating a design sympathetic to the area. We might get 15% "affordable" housing, with keyworkers borrowing 10 times their income for a 40% share, and paying an "affordable" rent on top of that. But why pretend? Let's just get the architectural concessions to the character of this area, on "England's longest Georgian Road" (but for how long given the several impending developments?).
Naturally this represents a further loss of shared community space. But it is also a great opportunity to widen the pavement and push back the frontage, next to perhaps the most important London arterial road in the south. Southwark are under no obligation to grant a change of use resulting in massive enrichment, so they would get this concession if they asked for it. However, I sense that there is an atmosphere of resignation in the planning department. They have been seriously short-staffed for a little over a year now, as successive recruitment campaigns have failed.
Disabled - or indeed any - parking looks like a gross waste of space in this central location, taking into account the space needed for parking manoeuvres. Does this mean that at least one flat has to be occupied by someone who is disabled, in perpetuity, and that this person must drive, and not let their flat? The disabled space will end up being rented out to someone able-bodied.
If only we could wait a few more years whilst we exit this period of architectural mediocrity, and whilst technology and legislation progress so that it is practicable to insist that all new developments are carbon neutral. Meanwhile, it's damage limitation time.
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