Planning Application: Miriam Lodge

The Forest Hill Society has written to object to the planned development of Miriam Lodge on Dartmouth Road.

The plans can be viewed on the council website and include the increase from 125 to 186 hostel places for homeless people with the addition of a six story extension to Miriam Lodge.

The Forest Hill Society have a number of concerns relating to:

• The size of the new building in relation to neighbouring properties
• Potential impact on crime and anti-social behaviour
• Overlooking from rooms in the old and new buildings
• Inappropriate density of development
• Loss of amenity space for existing residents

A full copy of the objection can be read here.

Planning Application: 120 Stanstead Road

The Forest Hill Society has objected to the planning application for turning 120 Stanstead Road into a Domino's Pizza take away. You can view the application on Lewisham website.

The concerns of the Society focus around the impact of the eight moped that will be used at peak times, particularly in terms of noise, parking, and disruption to pedestrians.

Full details of the objection from the Forest Hill Society can be read here.

Funds Found for the Subway

Last week we heard from Lewisham Council that the total funds required for the refurbishment of the Forest Hill pedestrian subway have been safeguarded. This now includes improvements to the steps and handrails as well as wall and ceiling cladding, proper drainage, and lighting.
The extra £28,000 was made available by Lewisham Council as part of monies that were set
aside for improvements to the East London Line Extension.
In total over £150,000 will be spent to on the subway starting in September, finally bringing the subway up to the standard that Forest Hill residents and visitors deserve.

Newsletter: Underpass Impasse

Please note: This article was written before the most recent news on the underpass, which can be read here.

The condition of the underpass in Forest Hill has long been a thorn in the sides of local residents. Despite campaigns progress has been slow. We have managed a few patches in the footpath and to get the lights reconnected.

At a recent meeting with the Council, it was finally decided that they should proceed with refurbishing the subway. Lewisham has a budget of £126,000 (including monies from the developer of the flats on Perry Vale). This will not meet our expectations.The approved works include: installation of new drainage channels to pathway and track bed, resurfacing of the footpath, cleaning, repairing and painting over the mural ready for fresh artwork, and cladding the walls and ceiling of the section under the tracks (the part currently painted white).

The works will be carried out at the same time as the lighting is replaced under the Skanska PFI contract. At the moment, this is envisaged to happen some time after September, but the schedule for Year 2 of that contract has not yet been agreed. In the meantime, Lewisham will keep the pressure on Network Rail to come up with funds to refurbish the steps at both ends, to include repairing and renewing the treads and replacing the handrails with DDA compliant grab rails at both ends of the underpass. You can help by writing to Jim Dowd at dowdj@parliament.uk or House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA, letting him know your feelings and urging him to raise the matter with the Chief Executive of Network Rail. Here is what we sent:

Dear Jim (Dowd)

I am writing to you as the Chairman of the Forest Hill Society concerning the refurbishment of the pedestrian underpass which connects Perry Vale with the London Road side of the railway station in Forest Hill (National Rail code FOH). The Forest Hill Society is a local amenity group representing residents of Forest Hill, SE23 and its environs with some 400 members and over 1000 followers through social media.

As you may be aware, the Sydenham Society was campaigning to improve the subway long before the Forest Hill Society was formed in 2006. Since then, we have both been working with Lewisham Council, trying to make progress.

We have found it impossible to deal with Network Rail. None of our letters or phone calls have been responded to. The only time we have had any success is by working through LOROL and yourself, when we managed to get the graffiti removed from the railway bridge over the A205 - graffiti which had been there for at least 10 years.

Our dealings with Lewisham Council on this matter have been much better, but they too have had a frustrating time, repeatedly blaming Network Rail for the delays to progress - something we have been unable to contradict due to Network Rail's determined silence.

I realise that the state of the underpass may seem to be small fry to Network Rail, but this dilapidated tunnel serves to undermine the good work residents are doing to improve the Town Centre and make it more inviting for shoppers. Lewisham Council have recently invested over £10 million in a new leisure centre and the condition of the underpass is a major obstacle in the way of regenerating the area. Network Rail own the right of way, but share responsibilities for maintenance with Lewisham Council.
 
Lewisham allocated funds to refurbish the underpass before the last election in May 2010, before finally issuing provisional drawings in June 2011 after protracted dealings with Network Rail.

At a meeting on 14 May 2012, we finally agreed that Lewisham should proceed with some works, including cladding and relighting parts of the underpass, repaving the footpath and improving the drainage, but their budget will not stretch to include more parts which are Network Rail's responsibility. It has always been the ambition of Sydenham and Forest Hill Societies that any refurbishment of the subway should include renewal of the staircases at both ends and modern handrails. Not only can these works not be done within Lewisham's budget, they are Network Rail's responsibility.

Network Rail have already tacitly acknowledged that the handrails are unsatisfactory. When the lifts were being installed at Forest Hill Station, Network Rail installed temporary handrails on the staircases. These have since been removed.

Lewisham cannot afford to pay for handrails which meet 21st century regulations, nor to resurface the treads. Both of these tasks need redoing and I would urge you to press Network Rail to attend to these with urgency. Doing the works at the same time as installing the other tasks (expected sometime in September or October) would save time, money and inconvenience.

Richard Hibbert, Chair, Forest Hill Society

The Future of Louise House

The first stakeholder consultation meeting to find out about plans to invite proposals for the future of Louise House in Forest Hill is taking place on Wednesday 13 June 17.00-19.00 at Forest Hill Methodist Church, Normanton Street, London SE23 2DS.

Staff from the relevant Lewisham Council departments will be present and the agenda for the meeting will focus on an overview of the tendering process, with an opportunity to ask questions.

Please RSVP to louisehouse@lewisham.gov.uk if you would like to attend.

Planning Applications: 113 Bovill Road and Forest Hill Hotel

113 Bovill Road
The Forest Hill Society has objected to a three storey office block in Bovill Road.
The details of the application can be viewed on the Lewisham council web site.

Our main reasons for objection are:

1. The site is not suitable for a 3 storey office building and other workshop uses
2. The inappropriate design of the replacement building

The full objection can be read here.


Forest Hill Hotel (Stanstead Road)
The Forest Hill Society has objected to the conversion of this pub to residential units.
The details of the application can be viewed on the Lewisham council web site.

Our main reasons for objection are:

1. The application fails to provide affordable housing

2. Poor internal layout

The full objection can be read here.

Planning Application - 49 Houston Road - DC/12/79665

There has been another planning application for 49 Houston Road following the rejection of the previous application.
The new planning application can be viewed on the Lewisham Council website. The Forest Hill Society have written to object to this application on the basis that the application includes poor internal layout, poor outlook and daylight, and will increase overlooking of neighbouring properties.

Lighting Up in SE23

Under a Private Finance Initiative, Croydon and Lewisham councils have appointed Skanska to improve street lighting across both boroughs including the underpass in Forest Hill. The councils won £151 million of government funding.

The project includes an initial five year core investment period where the main replacement of lighting stock, traffic signs and street bollards will be undertaken by Skanska, with an ongoing maintenance and repair programme until 2036. During this period, 20 subways will be relit, 38,000 new lighting columns (lamp posts) installed and over 7,000 illuminated traffic signs and bollards will be replaced on a ward by ward basis. Perry Vale is the first ward to be upgraded locally, with work expected to start in February. Forest Hill, Sydenham and Crofton Park wards follow in the second year of the contract.

The replacement programme takes many factors into account when considering whether to replace or upgrade the existing lighting including age, condition and compatibility of existing equipment. In many circumstances the roads undergo a complete re-design and positions of the columns may be changed as it's not always possible to integrate the existing columns in the new design layout.

Also, the new design sets light the footpaths in addition to the highway, which means that the majority of the lighting columns will be positioned at the back of the footpath where possible. Lighting on side roads will be converted to Iridium white light sources, rather than the current yellow, sodium lamps.

One of the major factors in the replacement programme is to reduce energy consumption, and a typical saving of 30-40% per road can be achieved by utilising the latest technology. It is also possible to detect faults quicker due allowing the street lighting to be maintained much more efficiently.

Improved Recycling in Lewisham

Lewisham residents can now recycle a larger range of materials from the doorstep collection, now including: juice cartons, all plastics, aerosols, and clothes.

More information on Recycle for Lewisham web site

Planning: 51-53 Canonbie

The Forest Hill Society has objected to the plans for a development at 51-53 Canonbie Road.
You can view the application here. And you can view the letter of objection here.

Since the submission of the objection some amendments have been included in the plans, in particular removing the parking from the rear of the property and adding three parking spaces to the front of the property, within two metres of ground floor bedroom windows. We have adjusted our objection to take account of these amendments.

Planning Applications: 6 Church Rise and 32 David's Road

The Forest Hill Society has objected to two planning applications this week.

David's Road is retrospective application for large banners and new landscaping in front of the church. You can read the submission by the Forest Hill Society here.

The application on Church Rise is to build a number of flats on the site where a house previously collapsed. You can read our response to the application here.

Planning Applications on Dartmouth Road, London Road, Canonbie Road

The Forest Hill Society has responded to three planning applications in the last week. Full details of our responses are available on request but below are the main points:

DC/10/75105: Hoarding to front of 79-81 London Road
We have objected to the size of this proposed hoarding in front of the flats on London Road. The initial response from the planning officer is that he will be recommending refusal.

DC/10/74442: 20-28 Dartmouth Road (above the former Post Office and Paddy Power)
We have objected to the addition of a 6th storey on this building due to the height, scale, and overbearing nature of this proposal.

DC/10/73762: 74 Canonbie Road
We have asked for further information regarding the loss of trees and biodiversity on this site due to the proposed application.

The council has informed us that the application for 29 Ewelme Road has been rejected in line with our recommendation. Details of our objection can be read in a previous post.

Pools Planning Application

The planning application for the new pool can now be found on the Lewisham Council Website.

Forest Hill Street Clutter Report

The Forest Hill Ward Assembly commissioned a report on the state of the high street and street clutter which will be submitted to the Lewisham Mayor and Cabinet, requesting analysis and action to address the poor state of the Dartmouth Road and London Road.

With 25% of retail units now closed in Forest Hill town centre, urgent attention is required to improve the high street. This is a great time to be looking at ways to improve the high street so that shops can benefit best from the East London Line Extension in May and the new swimming pool in 2012.

You can read the full report here.

Forest Hill Local Assembly - Mon 1 February

The next meeting of Lewisham's local assembly is to be held at
Living Springs International Church
8-10 Devonshire Road
London SE23 3TJ

on Monday, 1 February 2010 from 7.30-9.30pm

We hope to see you there!

The following topics will de discussed.

Forest Hill Pools

Forest Hill pools has been an interest at the assembly since the first meeting. The assembly has received presentations and taken part in the consultation over the future of the pools and Roberts Limbrick has now been awarded the contract to design the new pools.
Work on the new Forest Hill pools is now progressing very quickly. The architects and Lewisham's Head of Property have been invited to keep the assembly up to date on progress, and the design team will present their latest designs and ideas to you for this exciting development. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback to the initial designs. This is an opportunity for your ideas and opinions to be taken into account in the final design.

Horniman Triangle play park toilet block

Forest Hill assembly allocated £3,850 from the £50,000 ward fund to take plans for toilets for the Horniman Triangle play park through the planning process. The money that the assembly has allocated means that it should be possible for the new toilets to be open in the summer.
The assembly meeting will be your opportunity to hear about these plans and ask questions.

Forest Hill town centre improvements

The assembly is working with Economic Development to improve the Forest Hill town centre. This will be on the February assembly meeting agenda, along with lessening the worst effects of the economic recession.
This is your chance to raise your concerns and ask questions about what the Council is doing to promote our town centre. Improving the town centre is one of the ward priorities and this discussion will give the assembly a chance to look at the ways that this can be done.

High Street clutter report

Forest Hill Assembly allocated £2,500 from the £50,000 allocation to pay for a report on how the layout and look of the high street can be improved and made to look less drab and cluttered. The finished report and its findings will be presented at the February meeting. The report will make a number of recommendations for actions to improve the look of Forest Hill. An initial draft can be downloaded here (6MB).
If the assembly supports the recommendations, it can request to raise the issue with the Mayor and Cabinet following discussions with officers on options and solutions.

The coordinating group

The coordinating group meets every couple of months and includes the assembly officer, one of the local councillors and other members of the assembly who are appointed by the assembly meetings. The role of the coordinating group is to help plan and run meetings, plan and prepare for the assembly and address the key priorities of the ward as decided by the assembly.
If you are interested in joining the Coordinating Group please contact Sam Dias on 020 8314 3386 or sam.dias@lewisham.gov.uk.

Newsletter

All homes in the ward should have received a copy of the Forest Hill Assembly newsletter. If you have not received a copy, please contact Sam Dias on 020 8314 3386 or sam.dias@lewisham.gov.uk so that she can chase the delivery company and get a refund. In the meantime you can download a PDF from here.

Tyson Road Application Rejected Again

We are pleased to report that following our objection to the proposed development on Tyson Road and almost 350 letters of objection from local residents, that Lewisham council planning department have rejected this development for the following reasons:

The outline proposal, for which scale, appearance, layout and access fall to be determined would, by reason of the layout, height, design, fail to complement or, moreover, be compatible with the scale and character of the surrounding environment, resulting in an un-neighbourly form of development contrary to URB 3 Urban Design, HSG 5 Layout and Design of New Residential Development and HSG 8 Backland and Infill Development in the Councils adopted Unitary Development Plan (July 2004).

We applaud this decision by the planning department but there is a strong possibility that the developer will now appeal to the planning inspectorate. We hope that, should this happen that the inspectorate will reaffirm the decision of the planning department and back the views of local residents.

Many thanks to all those who wrote to object to this planning application.

20mph Zone in Forest Hill

Below is the Forest Hill Society response to Lewisham council's plans for a 20mph zone between Wood Vale and Devonshire Road.

The Forest Hill Society Executive, after reviewing the council’s own statistics and proposed plan, could not support this proposed 20mph zone as it is, nor could we support the road humps being introduced in this wholesale manner. There is widespread support for this view from the Tewkesbury Lodge Estate Residents Association (TLERA), although they will respond separately.

This view was confirmed by the council’s own statistics showing the maximum speed that 85% of traffic are travelling at along these roads are in most cases below the 24mph guidelines.

There were some strong views from the Executive committee that most people “would prefer that drivers kept their eyes on the road, and not their speed odometers”. There was general agreement that most people did not perceive a speeding problem in this area, and council statistics showed that there was not a significant accident problem either. One other view/comment was “the money spent on this consultation could be better spent on improving the bus stop at Sydenham Rise, which would only cost £8k-£10k and benefit the wider community greatly”.

Therefore, the Forest Hill Society asks that Lewisham Council abandon this proposed 20mph Zone and humps as is, and instead look at a more targeted, and better value for money approach summarised below:

• Manor Mount - statistics shows that of 85% drivers are going below 23mph, which is well within government guidelines. The drivers going down the “wrong way” go at 30.9mph because they are trying to avoid being caught.
• We believe it would be better to have temporary or permanent cameras in place on the one-way Manor Mount System, or a sign saying “mobile traffic enforcement cameras operate in this area” to discourage people entering the wrong way down this road, and thus bring speeds below 23mph and thus no need to introduce a 20mph zone on this street.
• We support some limited speed restrictions or traffic calming outside schools, nurseries or places where known accident hot spots are, say at junctions. Although, as per council’s own statistics there is no widespread accident problem within the proposed 20mph zone.
• Waldenshaw Road - This road does appear to have a minor speeding problem of average 27.3 for one-way and 31.5mph for the other, after looking at the Lewisham Council statistics. However, the Forest Hill Society ask that Lewisham Council look to other means of speed control, which does not involve reduction in parking spaces or road humps/cushions.
• General - If against our recommendation the council does pursue their proposed 20mph zone, then we would be happy to work with Lewisham Council to come up with a sensible plan that is targeted and meets local needs.

In summary we welcome the opportunity to consult on this proposal, and ask that Lewisham Council abandon the proposal and implement the above suggestions as an alternative which will be just as effective, but not be anywhere near as costly to implement and run. The money could be better spent on other road improvement work and real safety measures.

Forest Hill Conservation Area Consultation

Lewisham Council are consulting regarding extending the Forest Hill Conservation Area.

There will be a Public meeting and exhibition to discuss the conservation area with council officers and the consultants who have prepared the appraisal and its recommendations.

Saturday 5 September 2009, 12noon - 3pm
Forest Hill Library, Dartmouth Road

More information about the Forest Hill Conservation Area and the proposals can be read on the council web site.

VICTORY FOR FOREST HILL POOLS

We are pleased to report that Mayor Steve Bullock has taken the decision to put the extra money into swimming in Forest Hill. We are now on track to have swimming on the Dartmouth Road site before the 2012 Olympics. The frontage will be retained with a great two pool leisure centre behind.

The Mayor admitted at the meeting that there could have been significant planning problems in building a new leisure centre on Willow Way, a fact that was never mentioned during the consultation. He felt that the additional cost of a pool on the existing site was worth the expenditure compared with the risk of a development on Willow Way being delayed by planning problems. It was also mentioned that if funds were not committed now, a new leisure centre might never be built – public expenditure cuts in the future were a near certainty.

The design is expected to be based on that drawn up by Allies and Morrison and first shown to stakeholders in February this year. A copy of the relevant pictures from the stakeholder presentation is attached. This design really impressed the stakeholders when it was first revealed and it was a major disappointment when it was then revealed that it was unaffordable.

Whilst making the decision, the Mayor agreed to extend the time that the Council would wait for funded proposals from the community for a civic use for Louise House beyond the previous date of November 2009. He also instructed Council Officers to provide some assistance in preparing such proposals. With the Library and Pools site in Civic use, it would be a real shame for Louise House, the building in between, to be converted into housing which has been the Council’s intention. A major effort to develop proposals for Louise House is expected to be the next focus for local community groups now the Pools battle has been won.

The Mayor also said that he had been impressed by the Forest Hill Society proposals that live / work units should be built on the Willow Way site and he instructed the Council’s planners to consider such a use for the site along with any other proposals that might come forward. Any revenues from such a development would offset the additional cost of the new pools on Dartmouth Road. At the moment, the Council is effectively putting a value of zero on the Willow Way site but the Forest Hill Society’s advisors feel that a value of £1.5m is realistic.

This is the best possible result for Forest Hill town centre and for the people of Forest Hill.

This has been a hard fought campaign by the Forest Hill Society and other local groups including Keep Swimming in Forest Hill, Sydenham Society, Tewkesbury Lodge Estate Residents Association, and local councillors.

Particular thanks to Hilary, Penelope, Jeff, Quetta, and Michael from the Forest Hill Society committee who have put a huge amount of effort to getting this result. Without their hard work and dedication it is likely the outcome could have been very different.

Forest Hill Pools - The Third Option

Over the last few years the Forest Hill Society has consistently campaigned for a return for swimming on the site of Forest Hill pools at the earliest possible opportunity.

In May 2009 local residents were given two options to either move swimming into Willow Way, or wait for at least six years to see swimming return to the current site. The Forest Hill Society continued to support the Dartmouth Road site as the best option, whilst recognising that an early return of swimming for vital for the health of Forest Hill residents and Forest Hill town centre.

The report to Mayor and Cabinet now contains a third option which would provide exactly what we ask for; a pool on Dartmouth Road in the timescale of the Willow Way site. We strongly support this option and call on the mayor to support this option when he makes his decision on the 15th July 2009.

We believe that this option would not have been considered without the work of the Forest Hill Society working with other local groups, councillors, council officers, and the mayor. It may be premature, but we would like to thank all those who have worked to return swimming to Forest Hill.