The proposals had already been previewed during a number of public consultations that the developer undertook - the taller of the towers is 41 stories (140m) and the lower is 32 stories (115m). The development would contain 291 flats, a 179-room hotel, a dentist and a cinema. It would have just 30 car-parking spaces for the whole development (which is a mixed-blessing. Fewer cars is good, but there is a danger that it just increases parking pressure in surrounding streets).

In the development’s favour, the proposal seems nowhere near as overbearing as the dreaded Bondway development (now entering the second week of the public inquiry at Lambeth town hall) and the developer here has done a better job of consulting with locals. But it does seems like over-develop of a tiny site, and twin towers are notorious for ‘wind tunneling’, which would make the area around the bus station even more hostile to pedestrians than it is at present.

The consultation documents from Lambeth say that comments on the scheme should be made by 8th August, although when VV checked at the weekend it appeared that site notices had not yet been posted, which means objectors may have a little longer to make representations.

Lambeth Council Transport & Planning had hired a hall, mailed approx. 460 households, produced posters, mounted a really good exhibition, prepared a presentation and waited for people to walk through the doors.  And waited … and waited.

In all only ten people turned up – only some of whom were cyclists!

Very disappointing considering the amount of effort that Kees and his team from Lambeth Council had put into floating this cycle parking initiative and staging this event based on feedback from the local community.

And click here to see the exhibition boards from the recent public exhibition.

Name ‘em and praise ‘em.  Here’s who’s speaking as who at the Inquiry:

Andrea Hofling / Viva Vauxhall
April Hilling / local resident
Charles Pender / Fentiman Road etc residents’ association
Charlie Boxer / Italo
David Spofforth / Harleyford Road Garden Association
Dræyk van der Hørn / Bonnington Café
James Booth / local resident
Jane Vuglar / local resident
James Fraser / Bonnington Square Garden Association
Polly Freeman / Friends of Vauxhall Park
Pauline Gaunt / Regent’s Bridge Gardens Residents’ Association
Patricia Holland / Vine Housing Co-op
Rita Keegan / Bonnington Centre
Victoria Conran / local resident

• 291 apartments, including family-sized apartments and affordable homes

• High-quality, ground-level public space featuring a glass canopy

• Shops, restaurants and office space at a range of sizes

• A new entrance to the Underground subway, providing access to the Tube and underneath Wandsworth Road

• New pedestrian and cycle crossings

• A 179-bed hotel with a ‘Skybar’ open to the public on the 13th floor.

• A digital cinema to seat up to 100 people and flexible performance space for public use

• A commercially-operated soft play area for children

• An NHS dentists’ practice.

You can read Kylun’s letter to Viva Vauxhall here

This from Friends of Vauxhall Park (FOVP):

“FOVP are objecting to the proposed 149m high Octave Tower on the Bondway site.  Having been turned down by Lambeth, this application is now the subject of a Planning Inquiry.

On Monday 19th July the Inspector will visit the park, probably towards the end of the afternoon.  We would be really grateful if you could visit the park on Monday afternoon to play tennis, take the children to the playground, walk the dog, sunbathe (hopefully!) and thereby show the Inspector how much we value our park.

FOVP believe that the dense shadow that this building will throw on the park and the sense of being overlooked that it will produce will be to the detriment of this vital bit of open space in an area of high deprivation.  We would also encourage you to come along to the Inquiry, which is sitting at Brixton Town Hall for three weeks starting on 20 July (Tuesday to Friday 10-5pm).  We will be presenting our objections during the third week and would welcome your support!”

Michael Mac has contacted Viva Vauxhall to say that he is the person who originally notified the RSPB at the beginning of 2009 that the Peregrine Falcons were on BT’s Keybridge Tower in South Lambeth Road. Last year they had four eggs, all of which didn’t hatch for various reasons.  This year, four chicks were born after the RSPB and BT put up a nest tray and installed a video cam.

Here’s a video clip Michael made of the third pegregrine, a female, leaving the nest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyzpNXg__Hk

Also, a pair of kestrels raised two chicks at a nest next to Sainsbury’s on Wandsworth Road.  Here’s Michael’s video clip of when one of them landed on nearby flats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZr2k3UEnJA&feature=related

Thanks, Michael.  Please keep us updated.

Local residents who wish to object to the tower, which will be 149m tall and dwarf our neighbourhood, can come along on the morning of the 20th and put their name down to speak.  Objectors will then be given a date and a time slot, probably in the first week of August, to come and say their piece.

You will be in good company.  We already have an impressive array of local groups/associations lined up to speak as in Bonnington Café, Bonnington Centre, Bonnington Square Garden Association, Harleyford Road Garden Association, Italo delicatessen, Vine Housing and Viva Vauxhall – and slightly further afield, we know that Friends of Vauxhall Park and Fentiman Road, Richborne Terrace and Dorset road Residents’ Association will separately be putting forward a strong case against the Octave Tower being built.  Top billing must of course go to Kennington Association Planning and Waterloo Community Development Group – true professionals who will be heading up the opposition during the three weeks of the Appeal.

What would be work well would be more local residents coming forward who feel strongly that they and the community will be affected adversely if the Octave Tower goes ahead.  You don’t have to speak for long.  It’s expressing how you ‘feel’ as opposed to how well you can speak publicly that is important.

Or if expressing yourself in public is not your thing, just e-mail your objections to the Octave Tower to editor@vivahauxhall.org and Andrea, who’s speaking for Viva Vauxhall, will ensure that they get heard.

There’s also a plan showing optional locations for the Fietshangar overnight secure parking facility and locations marked out for visitor parking.  If you haven’t received it, please ask Kees Frederiks on 020 7926 6241 or KFrederiks@lambeth.gov.uk to send out another one.

And, it’s also an invitation to everyone to attend a public meeting on Wednesday 21 July in St Anne’s Church Hall (corner of Vauxhall Grove and Harleyford Road), which starts at 7pm.

This latest consultation and scheduled public meeting are not only aimed at cyclists.  If you have views on whether the Fietshangar secure overnight parking facility is suitable or not for the Bonnington Square conservation area, then come along and express them. Car owners might also want to protest at the prospect of losing more car parking spaces (one per Fietshangar) or express publicly that they support the scheme.

Any proposal to install secure overnight parking must receive planning approval and, in this instance, it will go before a planning committee and local residents will have the opportunity to submit representations.

Whether you are a cyclist or not, please read the proposal, fill in the questionnaire and return it by FREEPOST to Lambeth Council.  And please come along to the meeting.

“Catesby planning application rejected by Lambeth Council

The developer was planning to develop the ex-Christie site in Langley Lane and offices fronting South Lambeth Road for high-end post-graduate students accommodation.

We understand that the application was refused by officers, without even going to a planning hearing, because the council’s Unitary Development Plan does not support development solely for student accommodation.”

Here’s a photo of the ex-Christie site in Langley Lane:

And here are the offices in South Lambeth Road (next to The Interplanetary Society):

Residents living near to the site have received letters notifying them of a planning appeal that may affect their property and offering them the opportunity to submit representations.

Other local residents who live outside of the distribution area of the letter may consider that the proposed scheme would adversely affect our wider community and may therefore wish to submit  representations.  They may do so by letter or online by reading the submissions process detailed here catesby and here catesby-2

Representations must be submitted latest 30 July 2010.