I met: a retired, disabled older couple who sit home alone most days, they were thrilled to have someone just to chat to and I was highly entertained with the most amazing tales of Camberwell; an illustrator for botany publications; a flight attendant whose passion is lovingly restoring the most incredible period features in a home that had been near its end; a lady keen to have a street party now inspired to make it happen; a woman here from Ghana working day and night to afford boarding school for her three sons back home; three young couples with children convinced Camberwell will provide them with wonderful early-family memories.

Can’t wait to start again.

If the council were to CP it make sure it went to community use along lines abouve with an office and drop in centre housing several voluntary organisations (there’s over 100 based in Camberwell all with space and infrastructure problems) and giving them a public shop front.

Or maybe offer it to Blue Elephant as a higher profile theatre.

A bit naive an idea really. But then.

“There is planning history on file dating back to 2000 relating to the redevelopment of the site which culminated in the granting of planning permission for the ‘Demolition of existing Public House and construction of 6 storey residential building, comprising 9 flats (2x1 bed, 6x2 bed, 1x3 bed)’ in July 2001.

Regarding the implementation of the granted planning permission, I can confirm that Building Control received a notice of intention to commence work in May 2003. The last Building Control inspection was in July 2004. Since then, three unsuccessful attempts have been made to inspect the development. The site was unoccupied on each of the three occassions. The Planning Enforcement Case Officer inspected the site on the 19th of January 2005 following your enquiry and it was observed that:

–the development has been completed up to the 5th floor and window frames and window panes have been installed.
–most of the window panes are now broken and parts of the windows are boarded up.
–there was no evidence of recent works to complete the development and work might have ceased on the site as early as 2004.

It appears that construction work to complete the development has been abandoned for some time. There are powers available to the Council to expedite the completion of the works in the form of a completion notice. Completion notices give local authorities the option of ensuring that permissions do not linger on in perpetuity because of the cessation of commenced material operations. Under sec 94. of the 1990 Act, power is given to local authorities to issue a notice if they feel that, before the expiration of a permission, completion will not take place within reasonable time period. Such a notice invalidates that part of the permission which has not already been carried out, if there is no development within the specified period of the notice, which must not be less than 12 months. At sec.95, it is indicated that a completion notice shall not take effect until confirmed by the Secretary of State(SOS) and that within a 28 day period between issuing the notice and confirmation by the SOS the person on whom served notice may appeal to the SOS. In determining whether or not he should confirm a completion notice, The SOS is not concerned with the planning merits of development and they play no part in the deliberations. He is concerned only with the question of whether there is a realistic prospect of the development being resumed and/or carried through to completion within a reasonable period.

However, it is advised that if the reason for non completion is financial difficulties on the part of the developer a completion notice may not succeed and the only alternative would be local authority acquisition. As such, the Planning Enforcement Case Officer has been trying to establish the current status of the owners, Lebuc London Limited, to get an explanation of the current situation of the development. Attempts at contact have so far have been unsuccessful. Requests for information on the owners and their representatives have also been made with Building Control. Their records show that the last amendments on the scheme were submitted in June 2005.

In the event that the owners are financially incapable of completing the works, the only alternative would be local authority acquisition. In this regard, the Case Officer has contacted the Council’s Property Section for initial estimates on the value of the site as it is now and with a completed building on it.”

What’s the info you can pass on?

On an upbeat note — me and my brother went down to play tennis at Burgess Park on Saturday (Myatt’s Fields have closed down 2 out of their 3 courts — what’s that all about?) and the people at the tennis centre were really nice, and the courts are great. Okay, I was off the pace, and the sun was in my eyes, I should’ve won, but that’s nothing against Burgess. I’ll be back. Bigger and better than ever.

The one that should be finished to look like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41448195@N00/

If so, I can pass along some information someone passed along to me (she may read this and share it herself)