Whither the East Brixton Regeneration Arc?

Greetings, concerned locals and planning thread addicts.

I've only just found out that Lambeth councilllors discussed the latest state of play on the chunks of the draft UDP (unitary development plan) affecting Brixton last night.

Links to documents are here

This now includes the contentious Somerleyton Road site for possible school use as part of the East Brixton Regeneration Arc.
It also looks as though Mike gets to keep an open outlook for his webcam, as Coldharbour Lane is recreated as a tree lined boulevard! (See MDO 6)

Some posters who have followed the saga of pub closures may be concerned that the proposed text on Loughborough Junction (MDO 43) has the following reference:

Retention of original pub buildings will be encouraged, but loss of pub uses is permitted where this meets community safety objectives.

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This is a new policy, so it would be possible to object to it when the next version of the UDP goes out for formal consultation.

Of course it's possible that Councillors may have overruled some of the officers drafts. I'll post a link to the minutes when they eventually emerge on the Lambeth website.

Originally posted by lang rabbie
This now includes the contentious Somerleyton Road site for possible school use as part of the East Brixton Regeneration Arc.
It also looks as though Mike gets to keep an open outlook for his webcam, as Coldharbour Lane is recreated as a tree lined boulevard! (See MDO 6)

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I guess that'll be Brixton East Plan Number 34823828(a) Revision II (updated Nov 2003).

I've lost count of the amount of ideas that have been spawned for the area. Why can't they just stop fucking gassing and do something?!

Sort out the overground station as it's a fucking disgraceful shithole, encourage the market to return up Station Road, clear out the junkies and related detritus from the criminally neglected Loughborough Park and do something useful with the rotting corpses of Cooltan and The Voice building.

And a tree lined boulevard would be nice.

But I won't be holding my breath on that one.

Yes, a tree lined boulevard, how lovley!
I absolutely approve. How I wish there were such grand plans for Loughborough juction though.

'community safe objectives' ?
What does this mean? And who decides them?

Surely a busy commuter station, at a real crossroads in the community deserves a pub.
Why just beacause the old pub was assosiated with drug dealers does it mean denying the locals that potential forever?



And what about the immediate installation of proper pedestrian facilities to cross the road, connecting all sides of the junction?
Without doubt, a benefit to all.

And how about getting rid of that giant illegal advertising billboard? Actually, we could have a few trees on that patch.

There is so much that can be done in our area, and yet it is left to deteriorate.

What Mike and Aurora said. And as Harry Hill says "what are chances of that happening".

Seriously, thanks for posting that up Lang Rabbie. The UDP seems to be progressing. I think.

By the way Aurora, if the developers me and the BAF encouraged to rethink their plans for LJ (they were commendably helpful) do as promised, you should see The Warrior re-opened as a traditional pub and the Green Man will have something useful at ground floor level (rather than just flats), probably not a bar but a doctor's surgery or shop.

Thanks for posting that up Lang Rabbie.I have a meeting tonight re East Brixton.This also links in with the proposed Popes Rd Car Park sale.The Arup report on EBRA it seems to me is something the Council would rather forget.One of the things I objected to when I emailed Cllr Reed on the car park is that the piecemeal sale of Council Assets will reduce the Councils ability to control a coherent develoment of EBRA.

Also the possible school on Somerleyton Rd.It was interesting to read Brixton Forums objections to way the UDP was dealing with this area of Brixton.That their should be proper consultation and a plan for the development of this area.Now that the council wants to build a school on Somerleyton road all thats gone out the window IMO.

Is there anything in the UDP about increasing housing density/numbers of households in the area?

Haringey's UDP is a bit wild. The council are arguing for 11,000 more homes to be squeezed into the borough, although the Government wants them to increase this to 19,000. In some key areas the UDP urges a doubling of living space density, from 350 rooms per hectare to 700. The most obvious way to achieve is by going for taller residential buildings, the ones formerly known as tower blocks.

I wonder whether this is just peculiar to Haringey or whether there's a similar pattern in other borough UDPs?

Cheers for that Lang Rabbie, a few more reams of LBL doublespeak to get through!

Agree with Aurora Green re: pedestrian facilities at LJ. It's a real nightmare to cross there. It makes you wonder why they don't sort out the simple "quality of life" things like that (which make a real difference to people's lives) instead of waiting for the inaugaration of some grand strategic plan.

I notice the MDO6 paper talks about redevelopment of the overground station - but nothing about opening up the other high-level line (the peckham - wandsworth rd etc line). I remember some discussion about that a while ago - has it been decided that that's too impractical? Also, good to see they mention trams, but again, wasnt there some abiguity about whether the tram wld actually stop at brixton?

Just as an aside - and apols that it's only vaguely relevant to this thread - does anyone know what's gonna happen with the boarded up flats on the edge of Max Roach park?

Sorting out LJ ....

Yes, sorting out the street crossings in one thing. But IMHO LJ really needs 5 things to kick start it:
1 Get the light industry up and running: my bro (who is a photographer who lives in Tottenham) says that the best picture framer in London used to work out of the arches off Coldharbour Lane by LJ, but moved recently out because of lack of BR support for expansion. There is a metalworkshop and round the corner a well-respected cabinet maker / chippe. Why can't we / Lambeth capitalise on this and use a lot of the derelict land / shops to turn LJ into a light industrial nexus ? Lots of retail spinoffs
2 The station - looking at the lambeth.landmark site, there are pictures of LJ when it was a proper junction, with connections into thr Met line. I haven't followed all the stuff about the E. London line, but it can't be that expensive to reopen the disused platform at LJ than would reconnect it with Brixton etc - immediate quick win, much cheaper that new tracks; and why the heel is there only one train on Thameslink north in the critical comute half hour between 8 and 8.30 ?
3 The old pubs: I've lived arounf LJ for over 20 years and frankly the Warrior and Green Man never did a great deal for the community (less still the Harriers on Herne Hill Rd which was also shut down). Either - turn them into low rent housing and /or combine them in housing / workshop / workspace units. There are several housing associaitons in the area that could do the deal. This wd help some economic regeneration of the area plus useful housing without necessarily yuppification (see the revolting block on Hinton Rd for bad pracrice
4 The physical environment / street scene - does it really have to be so crap ? derelict lamposts, lethal paving stones, non-existent lighting. Again cdnt cost LBL that much for some cosmetics
5 The dealers: all the 'successful' LJ initiative did (apart from leaving yet another empty shop front and a couple of closed pubs) was to shift the dealers 100 yds down Coldharbour Lane towards Camberwell; so my kids (who get off the 35/45 in the evenings) have a prickly time negotiating the heaviness. No instant solution to this - everything just shifts the problem. But anything that turns the stretch into a community resource rather than a transient strip (better environment, more local industry, perhaps get the caff in the station reopened) wd help. Sad (but inivitable) to see Cafe Prove further down CL towards Camberwell close down - but perhaps a brave venture could have another go ?
Sorry about rant, but time for a change !

"Just as an aside - and apols that it's only vaguely relevant to this thread - does anyone know what's gonna happen with the boarded up flats on the edge of Max Roach park?"

Part of Angell Town regen I think - remodelling the 70s flats so that they are better designed then renting them out again. Not sure whether an HA or Lambeth will be the landlord.

Squidlet welcome.

I'm not sure it's fair to say the Warrior/Junction, Green Man and Harriers didn't contribute. At various times all those pubs have all provided places to drink and socialise for many people. That's what pubs do. You might be interested to know that the ground floor of the Green Man may well end up a doctor's surgery with flats above and that the Warrior is due to be developed as flats and returned to a traditional pub downstairs in the near future.

I agree with much of what you say about displacement of dealers and the current boarded up state of LJ. I'm fairly confident that LJ will be on the up soon. And by on the up I don't mean just market-forces led gentrification. You might want to attend some of the Coldharbour/Angell meetings of Brixton Area Forum at St Matthews church, Lilford Rd. Not sure when next one is yet. After Xmas probably. But you can put forward some of your good ideas there. I think many people have similar ideas about LJ and think the artists/craftsmen based in that area should be getting more support/promotion.

As regards the ELL extension. Despite the mayor's promises on the front of the SLP that stops would be at Brixton and possibly LJ, TFL now say it's too expensive to bother. Look around on this forum (Brixton) and you'll see discussion about it. You might want to email the mayor about the tram. I mean if we don't get the ELL we should get the tram shouldn't we?

[email protected]

Originally posted by Spud Murphy III
In some key areas the UDP urges a doubling of living space density, from 350 rooms per hectare to 700. The most obvious way to achieve is by going for taller residential buildings, the ones formerly known as tower blocks.

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not neccessarily so spud murphey. i recently worked on a planning appeal where the developer was proposing a development of 61 two bed flats on a 0.7 hectare site. this equated to about 450 habitable rooms per hectare (you dont include kitchens, bathrooms, hallways). adjacent to the site was a row of late 19th century terrace houses. calculating on the same basis the terrace houses on an area about 0.25 hectares in size had nearly 600 habitable rooms per hectare.

you are right in that normally higher density does mean going up but it doesnt mean rising to 20 floors as happened in the 60s. if you go to four or 5 storeys you can still achieve high density with acceptable space standards surrounding the new flats.

the only way of building high density family housing is to do in town house style rising to three storeys. two storey house owners adjacent to these developments for some reason object like buggery. what do you suggest.

The basic plan of the Georgian or Victorian terrace is excellent for density and security. And terraces look right in the city and are can be very attractive. People like their own gate and maybe access to a little garden at the back.



" the Brookside type estates on offer over the last 20 years have been generated less by customer demand, than by a centralised construction industry."

BBC article on the return of the terrace

Originally posted by Brixton Hatter
does anyone know what's gonna happen with the boarded up flats on the edge of Max Roach park?

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I was wondering that only the other day. So now I know.

Angell Town refurbishment

From the Housing Budget update prepared for a Council scrutiny sub-committee (not even a political junkie like me can remember its new full title)

Estate Action

The five estate action schemes at Angell Town, Myatts Field North, Penwith Manor, Stockwell Park and Thorlands are programmed to spend a total of £11.891m in 2003/04, funded by Estate Action Grant and Lambeth’s capital match
funding. To date they have spend £3.647m, £0.555m below their half year target of £4.175m. There are a number of large contracts which are now on site. The last major contract - the refurbishment and newbuild contract on Warwick house on Angell Town – is due to be approved in November and start in December.

Thanks for your info fuzzy.

Some of the key Haringey areas cited in the UDP are already quite densely developed, so I would think that 'the only way is up'.

what do you suggest.

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I wouldn't suggest anything! London doesn't need any more people. I would prefer it gradually to haemorrhage its population and aspects of its economy to other parts of Britain.

Angell Town redvt, density and Max Roach...

There's a mildly interesting and ironic link between these ..... in the 70's Lambeth demolished the entire North side of Villa Road and a stretch of Wiltshire Road, which contained the very type of relatively dense (ie not suburban sprawl, not deck access/high rise) traditional housing as in Hatboy's photo that everyone's crying out for now; and during the same period they were building the Angell Town Estate, which subsequently needed more or less complete remodelling (it would be interesting to calculate the cost - per - dwelling of building Angell Town, then demolishing it, then rebuilding it against the costs of renovating the North side of Villa Rd). The overt reason for demolishing the North side was to enable Angell Park - now Max Roach to be developed, but the non-so-hidden agenda was to undermine the very active and locally-engaged squatting / co-op in the street.

Incidentally, worth looking out some stuff on how parts of Amsterdam are being redeveloped - a mixture of narrow, tall townhouses and larger well designed (and differentiated) blocks - and these are affordable, rnted homes of low cost home ownership. It is possible to be dense and human at the same time (mind you, the Dutch government cotrols land prices so that helps .... but thats another story)

Loughborough Junction station

Thanks for comments about LJ post Hatboy - looking back over some postings I realised that some of my questions were already answered. Will try to get to the relevant forum

One thing I don't inderstand about the station is that presumably linking LJ up to the EL line would be pretty darn expensive. But reopening the the unused platforms to link into the Brixton / Denmark Hill / Victoria line must be much cheaper ? Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick ?

Squid - do look around this site (Brixton button at top). There is alot of stuff on Villa Rd, the 70s plans to concrete over Brixton, links to the squat movement's influence on Villa Rd. Lot's of history you'd probably like.

Please post a link to any info/pictures on th Amsterdam housing ideas.

As regards ELL. Confusing. See if you can get a straight answer out of the mayor? Like I say he's broken his promise on a stop at Brixton - so do we definitely get the tram then? I'm still waiting for an answer from the mayor's office on this. Can others' try too!

Loughborough Junction station

Originally posted by squidlet
One thing I don't inderstand about the station is that presumably linking LJ up to the EL line would be pretty darn expensive. But reopening the the unused platforms to link into the Brixton / Denmark Hill / Victoria line must be much cheaper ? Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick ?

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I think I'm right in saying that LJ only ever had extra platforms on the eastern curve - which leads from the Blackfriars Line towards Denmark Hill.

There was a separate Loughborough Park station (later known as East Brixton station) on the tracks to Victoria.

Nevertheless, building platforms at LJ ought to be cheaper by far than the £50million quoted as the cost for constructing station platforms and escalators up to them on the high level viaduct in central Brixton.

Final para edited for sense.

LJ railway etc

If you look at an aerial view of LJ and the railway lines around it (in 'London - a photographic atlas' ) you can see the branches the the east and west, as well as the main North / South Thameslink axis. From the station you can see the eastbound platform to DH and Victoria that Lang Rabbie mentioned - will look out for what's on the west spur and the possibility of paltforms next time up there. Bizarrely, from above the pattern looks spookily like the Blair Witch Project emblem

Hatboy - have some fascinating images of Amsterdam reinvention of the terrace at work - will try to dig out and post, plus some sites

I'm still waiting for an answer from the mayor's office on this. Can others' try too!

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I've also written to the Mayor about this and am awaiting an answer..................

Ugh Angell Town!! Bad enough walking through there regularly.

Loughborough Junction station

One thing I don't inderstand about the station is that presumably linking LJ up to the EL line would be pretty darn expensive. But reopening the the unused platforms to link into the Brixton / Denmark Hill / Victoria line must be much cheaper ? Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick ? [/B][/QUOTE]

It utilises the existing track but will have the benefit of through tube ticketing - the ELL will be a surface tube.

The petition is still in local shops etc and there will probably be more collecting of signatures at the station before Valerie Shawcross receives it at the next Coldharbour/Angell meeting on 14th Jan 7pm at St Matthews Church Lilford Rd. I think they have over 2000 so far.

There is a plan to plant 40 trees all along Coldharbour Lane by Trees for London (who will then maintain them) before the end of this financial year (Apr 2004)

Going back to squidlets referance to housing developments in Amsterdam I found this site on web.Its a report on a development of an "abandoned landscape of warehouses,railroad sidings and cargo cranes".

http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/course/11/11.332/www/pdf/borneo.pdf

Its an IMO an interesting combination of low and high rise. Its better than a lot of architecture i see here.I dont know how much is social housing.

Rooting around I found something called the New Urbanism.This is from the US and is about building sustainable communities were a mixture of housing,work units and retail shops are built.This is to get away from the urban sprawl(US).Seems relevant to development of LJ and central Brixton.

Here is a definition of New Urbanism:

www.newurbannews.com/AboutNewUrbanism.html

Note that it has its downside in building "nostalgic" communities.I believe one was used for the Truman Show film.

Amsterdam

Thanks for that link Gramsci. At work (if I can dig it out) I've got aCD with some images of innovative housing / mixed devts i took on a trip to A'dam earlier in the year - will try to dig out. The Dutch experience is interesting because they've combined a strong local authority (municipality) role in housing and development strategy - with the municipality owning and leasing out land - with a housing associaition role as housing developer and landlord. The LA sets the parameters for what the HAs provide; the HAs have access to private finance (but no longer state fincance) to deliver. Becuase the HAs have less regulation than English ones, they are freer to set up social enterprise schemes to generate surpluses to reinvest in communities. One (possibly apocryphal) story I've heard was of a Duth HA taking over the running of a (stae-licensed) brothel, the proceeeds of which were reinvested in the equivalent of pensioners lunch clubs

Interesting squidlet.I was wondering whether these develpopments were social housing or not.Only in Amsterdam could a brothel subsidise socil welfare.The Dutch are so much more liberal than here.

Brixton Central Square

I don't think this is worth a thread on it own, but could be of interest if you've followed various planning & regenration threads

According to a new report on the GLA's "architecture and urbanism unit, "a designer will be selected in Spring 2004"

Mayor's 100 public spaces project - update on 10 pilots - see page 3

Has anyone ever heard of "Witherford Watson Mann" architects, who have reportedly been helping to put together a design brief - have they been to any meetings/forums? Apparently they are also working on Emma Cons Gardens (opposite the Old Vic at Waterloo)