Out with the Old... Network Rail tell businesses to vacate Atlantic Road arches

[Brixton Hatter]

Brixton Station Road looks rubbish at the moment, it's sad.

Spend yer money while you can in the local businesses - Brixton Tools DIY shop, the caffs, the kids clothes shop etc.

 

[Gramsci]

And the way planning works is so that people can query things. It's not playing the H&S card. It's up to the relevant authorities to either acknowledge a query as having grounds or not.

 

[friendofdorothy]

So what would you like? The planning has been agreed. The shops have mostly been shut. We all seem to agree that the dead area is having a detrimental effect on remaining shops and market traders. Is it really worth playing the H&S card to further delay matters?

People are pissed off and I can see the appeal of being a thorn in NR's side. And what a great article Buzz could churn out! But who is really going to bear the cost if the arches remain boarded up arches for even longer than they might otherwise?

Is it all done and dusted? Do you really think voicing concerns or displeasure really going to hold anything up now? We're already in for it all being shut for over a year and it doesn't look like anything has even started yet. If people still have concerns - h&s or otherwise, why does it bother you? so do you think arguing on this thread helps? Do you think they should all shut up and let NR rail think all of Brixton is happy with what they are doing?

I see the appeal of being a thorn in NR side - and yes I know its a public organisation and ultimately public expense - which is why it is wrong that they are trying to wring profit out of small traders and rip apart our community like this in the first place. Perhaps if the process takes too long or costs too much NR might not do this everywhere else in London, ok thats unlikely, but if other people want to be that thorn slowing them down then I say good luck to them.

 

[Rushy]

The remaining shopkeepers taking legal action are also a thorn in NRs side. Do you blame them as well for holding up NR?

No G. I haven't said or implied that anywhere, have I. But don't let that stop you flinging the usual tedious shit.

 

[Lizzy Mac]

No G. I haven't said or implied that anywhere, have I. But don't let that stop you flinging the usual tedious shit.

You say "tedious shit' others say "tomato".

 

[Rushy]

Is it all done and dusted?

In respect of the vacated units, I'd say yes it is largely. Do you not?

Do you really think voicing concerns or displeasure really going to hold anything up now?

Your displeasure is genuine. I respect it, the reasons for it and both your need and right to express it.

Trying to slow maintenance and refurbishment works to already empty arches by means of spurious H&S arguments incompetently directed through planning rather than the HSE (to whom any genuine H&S concerns would logically be directed) isn't going to change to the outcome. It might preserve the status quo for a while. I don't think that's helpful.

We're already in for it all being shut for over a year and it doesn't look like anything has even started yet. If people still have concerns - h&s or otherwise, why does it bother you? so do you think arguing on this thread helps? Do you think they should all shut up and let NR rail think all of Brixton is happy with what they are doing?

I see the appeal of being a thorn in NR side - and yes I know its a public organisation and ultimately public expense - which is why it is wrong that they are trying to wring profit out of small traders and rip apart our community like this in the first place. Perhaps if the process takes too long or costs too much NR might not do this everywhere else in London, ok thats unlikely, but if other people want to be that thorn slowing them down then I say good luck to them.

I'd say we agree on many aspects of the arches development. And we both recognise that the ongoing vacancy and lack of progress on the site is damaging to local business and the local environment. But we clearly differ on whether further delaying repair, development or maintenance of the majority of units which are already empty is worthwhile or beneficial.

You've concluded that drawing out the "devastating effects" on local traders is a price worth paying because it might make NR think twice in future. Whereas I don't believe that whatever miniscule effect offering Brixton as a cause célèbre will have on NR policy is a worthwhile upside. I am disappointed that you seem to imply that I should not express this.

If, as a result of maintenance and refurbishment works beginning, the remaining occupied archway businesses were unable to carry on their legal challenges against NR, I would probably think differently. But no one has suggested that is the case.

 

[Ms T]

Given where we are I'd like to see the refurbishment happen as soon as possible so traders can move back in. I hear that in Herne Hill Best Kebab really pissed off a lot of the shop holders by delaying the work.

 

[editor]

Given where we are I'd like to see the refurbishment happen as soon as possible so traders can move back in. I hear that in Herne Hill Best Kebab really pissed off a lot of the shop holders by delaying the work.

If all the concerns being raised are totally baseless as some people are insisting, then I see no reason why there should be any delay at all. However, if they are legitimate health and safety concerns, then it's absolutely right that they should be raised and dealt with promptly.

One thing is for sure: what we'll end up with will have precious little of the original character and many of the sub-letting traders won't be returning. Some businesses have already been destroyed.

And what we'll be getting in return is more shiny, bland anytown shit.

 

[Rushy]

Given where we are I'd like to see the refurbishment happen as soon as possible so traders can move back in. I hear that in Herne Hill Best Kebab really pissed off a lot of the shop holders by delaying the work.

I have a lot of sympathy for Best Kebab. They had a recent tenancy and had spent a lot refurbing. I don't know what the terms of their tenancy was but suspect that they agreed to an insecure lease and spent the money in the hope that nothing was going to change. What they probably should have done is enter into a deed of assurance with their landlord at the outset which set out what they were going to do/spend and an agreement setting out how they would be compensated if the tenancy was brought to an end in the first, say, 5-10 years.

The difference with that case is that the landlord refused to start works until BK was out. In the Brixton arches, they are trying to get on with the development whilst the remaining occupants exercise their rights to legal challenge. If that had happened in Herne Hill then BK's resistance would not have been the, unfair IMO, target for local frustration.

 

[editor]

This is the kind of desperate measures Beautiful Books have had to resort to in an attempt to publicise their new, out of the way location, thanks to NR's enforced eviction of their previous premises.

I dare say that this wooden construction hasn't got planning permission but given that they've already tried writing directions on the hoardings and also sticking up bits of paper, all the signs are that this Brixton Pillars campaign is failing miserably. But then what do you expect when the shiny hoardings don't actually include a map or directions?

 

[Lizzy Mac]

I have a lot of sympathy for Best Kebab. They had a recent tenancy and had spent a lot refurbing. I don't know what the terms of their tenancy was but suspect that they agreed to an insecure lease and spent the money in the hope that nothing was going to change. What they probably should have done is enter into a deed of assurance with their landlord at the outset which set out what they were going to do/spend and an agreement setting out how they would be compensated if the tenancy was brought to an end in the first, say, 5-10 years.

If the terms are the same as the newer arches in HH, the tenants can be turfed out at anytime. I can't remember where the post is but Stardust eventually left for that reason and spelt it out clearly online somewhere. They had been asked to move out twice in a short space of time after having spent money doing the place up. It stinks really.

 

[sleaterkinney]

They were loading bricks into a skip in Herne hill the other day so it's definitely started there.

 

[editor]

I note that all the shiny hoardings have been removed from both Atlantic Road and Station Road. Anyone know why?

 

[editor]

It's really annoying - and a bit amateurish - that for all the 'Brixton Pillars' branding that they slapped all over the (now departed) advertising boards there's no website, FB page or Twitter feed to find out anything. I've tried asking Brixton Bid what's going on, but there seems to be unified contact point.

 

[editor]

So no answers from Brixton BID or the #brixtonpillars Twitter feed about what's happening.

 

[editor]

Brixton Arches: Advertising hoardings disappear along Atlantic Road and Station Road

 

[SpamMisery]

Well that looks much better; they could improve it further by using Farrow & Ball's 'concrete grey' colour

 

[Gramsci]

It's not a joke for the remaining traders on Brixton Station road.

I had a chat with one of them last weekend. The Brixton Pillars was not liked by the traders.

 

[editor]

Update: Brixton Arches development “hopelessly stalled” with Brixton’s ‘Dead Zone’ here to stay

 

[CH1]

Is something Network Rail oriented going on in the space occupied by the Rasta fruit & veg shop in the arch fronting onto Coldharbour Lane under the railway bridge?

There was a gaggle of hefty workmen in there earlier this morning sawing up planks of wood etc.

 

[cuppa tee]

Brixton Arches: Advertising hoardings disappear along Atlantic Road and Station Road

........ and now they're back......on Atlantic Road at least.

 

[editor]

........ and now they're back......on Atlantic Road at least.

Just doing a feature now - they're back in place along Sation Road as well. How much is all this fucking about costing?

 

[editor]

Do the Brixton Arches billboard shuffle!

Brixton Arches farce continues: Billboards go up, down and up again

 

[teuchter]

Just catching up on the latest Buzz article from the mystery contributor.

There has been some news however from Planet Lambeth as the responsible planning officer has now qualified an earlier statement made over the restrictions imposed on the commencement of this project, now confirming that internal enabling works are not actually subject to planning conditions.

So, I was right.

Getting on with clearance/enabling works wouldn't be breaking the planning conditions. The mystery Buzz contributor, having revealed this, goes on to complain that there's no sign the enabling works - which the same mystery contributor was previously saying shouldn't be happening at all - have actually started.

The article also makes a false statement:

It also frees them up from having to consider any temporary arrangements for safety management in areas where there is full public access within the viaduct itself and potentially hundreds of train passengers on the platforms above.

No, safety management is the responsibility of anyone carrying out building work, regardless of whether it needs planning permission. This statement is complete nonsense.

It remains to be seen whether Mystery Contributor's claim that NR have been instructed to move the hoardings closer to the arches turns out to be based in fact or not.

Seriously, this kind of ropey journalism doesn't help anyone.

 

[editor]

I note that Beautiful Books have had their extra advert ripped down. They must really be struggling to survive

I wonder what the point of taking down all the advertising boards and then putting them back up again was? They couldn't even be arsed to take off the graffiti when they put them back, but there must have been a very compelling reason for them to undertake all this extra work.

And how much is all this rearranging and faffing about costing? Such a shame no one seems inclined to explain what they're doing while the heart of Brixton slowly rots away, with no end in sight to these works.

 

[teuchter]

Was just down in Brixton.

I think the removal and reinstatement of the hoarding panels was probably to allow for some readjustment of the line of the hoardings which our Brixton Buzz correspondents have not been observant enough to notice, in spite of their acute awareness of the apparently dangerously cramped pavement conditions they complain about. For example the stretch of hoarding along Atlantic Road, between the telephone box and the junction with Brixton rd, has definitely bee moved back by about 400-500mm. In fact the change is clearly visible comparing two of the photos included in the Buzz article I commented on earlier.

 

[editor]

I keep getting asked this: Seeing as NR have insisted that they needed full possession of all the arches for the work to go ahead, how come the bookies and pawnbrokers are still there, happily trading away?

 

[editor]

Update; Brixton Arches redevelopment: are contractors flouting the rules?

 

[Carpet man]

Lambeth promised the hoardings would be moved back by the end of January but didn't follow it through , they allowed the Contractors to load rubble onto a large lorry in a loading bay for hours but told their parking attendants to ticket every other vehicle after the 30 minute period .
Vermin nests have been disrtubed in the empty Arches by the Contractors and still the remaining Traders carry on trying to run their business its hard !!

 

[teuchter]

Lambeth promised the hoardings would be moved back by the end of January but didn't follow it through ,

As per my post of 2nd March - the hoardings on Atlantic Rd *have* been moved back.