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Plot 85 Brixton Hill "Nightmare on Josephine Ave"

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CocoPops

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Anyone heard anything on empty dumping ground site opposite old job centre on Josephine/brixton Hill recently?

Useless pro-forma type responses from Lambeth Planning to neighbour enquiries & complaints in last few months. Permission granted to build block with 8 (or was it 9) luxury flats in 2011. Just before permission due to lapse, "work" started in June 2014, then stopped after a few days. Now we have giant, rubbish filled hole in ground, mass fly tipping, inadequate hoarding to secure site etc. Landlord has total contempt for local community, seems to be playing good game with Lambeth Planning.
 
CocoPops said:
Anyone heard anything on empty dumping ground site opposite old job centre on Josephine/brixton Hill recently?

Useless pro-forma type responses from Lambeth Planning to neighbour enquiries & complaints in last few months. Permission granted to build block with 8 (or was it 9) luxury flats in 2011. Just before permission due to lapse, "work" started in June 2014, then stopped after a few days. Now we have giant, rubbish filled hole in ground, mass fly tipping, inadequate hoarding to secure site etc. Landlord has total contempt for local community, seems to be playing good game with Lambeth Planning.
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This sort of thing undermines respect for the planning system.
Do you have a planning reference or precise address?
It would be interesting to know who the developer is.
 
CH1 said:
This sort of thing undermines respect for the planning system.
Do you have a planning reference or precise address?
It would be interesting to know who the developer is.
Click to expand...

The developer has a restaurant on Brixton Water Lane named after him. He's as slippery as they come.
 
Jus sayin said:
I think you mean Plot 85? Or at least a search of the planning site shows ref 11/01555/RUS from May 2011 for Plot 85, "Erection of a 6 storey building (including lower ground floor) to provide 8 self contained flats" which has a status of "No further Action - Finally Disposed of" whatever that may mean...
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That must be it - that is the Rush Common consent application. I will check this out later on.
 
Jus sayin said:
I think you mean Plot 85? Or at least a search of the planning site shows ref 11/01555/RUS from May 2011 for Plot 85, "Erection of a 6 storey building (including lower ground floor) to provide 8 self contained flats" which has a status of "No further Action - Finally Disposed of" whatever that may mean...
Click to expand...
Yup, sorry, it is plot 85: letter from planning officer quotes ref 11/01386/FUL. Junction of Brixton Hill & Josephine Ave - rear of plot runs alongside pavement on Josephine Ave, so whole area is fully visible in all its glory. Over a period of decades (apparently) landlord has been submitting planning applications
 
I have pursued this endlessly.

Ansari has no intention of developing.

His consent expired in October. So he feigned a start to prevent any council action.
 
Why is it in the owners interest to leave it empty? And if he wants to leave it emtpy why pretend to be building flats?
 
CH1 said:
This sort of thing undermines respect for the planning system.
Do you have a planning reference or precise address?
It would be interesting to know who the developer is.
Click to expand...
What should planning do? They have given permission. They can't force anyone to build. It's not really a planning issue. Best bet is local councillors instigating a compulsory purchase. Doubt even that would be straightforward.
 
Rushy said:
What should planning do? They have given permission. They can't force anyone to build. It's not really a planning issue. Best bet is local councillors instigating a compulsory purchase. Doubt even that would be straightforward.
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I agree this is a problem for councils - and unlikely to get better under the present government.

Just to widen the discussion is it possible for you to explain how these different applications mesh together? Is it really the case that the applicant can build a block of flats, but cannot build a house or what?
 
CH1 said:
I agree this is a problem for councils - and unlikely to get better under the present government.

Just to widen the discussion is it possible for you to explain how these different applications mesh together? Is it really the case that the applicant can build a block of flats, but cannot build a house or what?
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They are not the same plot. One is "rear of".
 
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el-ahrairah said:
it's just a vacant plot. i can't understand why people get so upset about it,
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I can see why people would prefer not to live adjacent to a long term derelict plot poorly secured with knackered Heras and attracting fly typing and the such like. The "upset" I suspect comes more from the frustration that even after 20yrs it seems no closer to being sorted.
 
brixtonblade said:
Why is it in the owners interest to leave it empty? And if he wants to leave it emtpy why pretend to be building flats?
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He is so rich he doesn't need to build on the plot - but doesn't want to let it go in case he changes his mind.

He has to pretend he wants to build so he can avoid compulsory purchase.

Basically, he's a commercial squatter.

Furthermore, it is not even certain, according to an expert I consulted, that he has the knowhow to develop the site without bringing down the whole terrace.
 
i lived on helix road for three years so i walked past it twice a day. its just a vacant plot. there used to be loads of them back in the day. i think blocking off the road attracted more fly tipping than this plot. but that was done to make it harder to curb crawl. i like the vacant plot, it's like a wild garden. good for insects and bees and butterflies and shit. better than the tiny yuppie flats they'll eventually build there. where are they going to park? helix road is already full.
 
leanderman said:
Furthermore, it is not even certain, according to an expert I consulted, that he has the knowhow to develop the site without bringing down the whole terrace.
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Unless he were a builder, why would he. Surely that's what experts are for?
 
el-ahrairah said:
it's like a wild garden. good for insects and bees and butterflies and shit. where are they going to park? helix road is already full.
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His feigned attempt at development has meant the clearing of the wild garden. Dumping of a bricks and a cabin.

Parking not a huge problem there
 
Rushy said:
Unless he were a builder, why would he. Surely that's what experts are for?
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No idea. But this expert thinks he would lash it up. (I'll send you his email if you like).

And apparently he caused big problems with his inept tearing-down of the property in the first place.
 
The planning has expired. Even if his feeble attempt at commencement were considered material (which it would not, I am confident), non of the pre development conditions have been satisfied as far as I can see. There is plenty of precedent to show that pre conditions must be satisfied before development can be considered to have begun.
 
Rushy said:
The planning has expired. Even if his feeble attempt at commencement were considered material (which it would not, I am confident), non of the pre development conditions have been satisfied as far as I can see. There is plenty of precedent to show that pre conditions must be satisfied before development can be considered to have begun.
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Absolutely true

But the expert claims he would easily get permission again, even if it could be proved that it had expired.
 
leanderman said:
Yep. And it was achieved at the other end of the road.
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Thanks for all the info & history. I've been walking past the site for 11 years & it's never looked as bad as it does now. It sounds like a hopeless case & you seem to have pursued it pretty thoroughly. Any positive leads at all on how to get some progress (I.e. At least get something decent built on it or turn it over to a wild park-ette)?
 
CocoPops said:
Thanks for all the info & history. I've been walking past the site for 11 years & it's never looked as bad as it does now. It sounds like a hopeless case & you seem to have pursued it pretty thoroughly. Any positive leads at all on how to get some progress (I.e. At least get something decent built on it or turn it over to a wild park-ette)?
Click to expand...

You could try to get Cllr Mary Atkins interested. She didn't show much awareness last time I tried - but has taken up other issues such as the notorious, and now removed, Water Lane hoarding.

In the end though, it's hard to imagine Lambeth taking action, especially a CPO.

I think a wild park-ette is the best option.

Ansari told me in October he would start by Christmas. He'll never start.

On a more positive note, work building homes on the ex-job centre opposite resumed this week.
 
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