Neighbourhood Development

Heygate Viability Assessment Finally Revealed.

Posted by

0

35percentheader

After three years of appeals by Southwark Council and its development partner Lend Lease, Adrian Glasspool has finally received the viability assessment for the Heygate outline masterplan in response to his May 2012 FOI/EIR request.

Southwark had initially rejected the request and appealed after his subsequent complaint was upheld by the Information Commissioner. A long battle through the Tribunal system then culminated in a 6 day hearing in February last year, followed by a decision notice directing Southwark to release the assessment minus some of its financial modelling figures1.

Following a further dispute about exactly which figures could be withheld, the Tribunal resumed and issued a final decision in March this year. The viability assessment was then received in April and after examination by sympathetic industry experts we can now disclose our findings.

The Heygate tribunal case has since triggered decisions to disclose viability information for other large regeneration schemes including Earls Court regeneration and Greenwich Peninsula.

As well as a copy of the disclosed viability assessment, the 35% campaign has also obtained via FOI a (heavily redacted) copy of the District Valuer Service(DVS) appraisal of the viability assessment, commissioned by Southwark council.

First impressions:

This is a profitability assessment- not a viability assessment.

25% is deemed the acceptable level of profit.

Residential sales prices were grossly underestimated.

Why no review mechanism?

‘Something Sinister’ or ‘crap journalism’?

More information here.

2nd Elephant & Walworth Neighbourhood Forum Conference.

Posted by

0

Saturday, 4th July 2015 from 10:00 to 16:00

Inspire – The Crypt at Saint Peter’s Church
Liverpool Grove
SE17 2HH

The Elephant & Walworth Neighbourhood Forum has been busy since its first conference.  At our second conference on 4 July we will be making important decisions on the boundary of our proposed neighbourhood plan area. 

We will be also be discussing the work we have done on Green infrastructure, Community Assets, Small/ethnic businesses in preparation for a Neighbourhood Plan**.  We need everyone’s views!’  

* Detailed maps of the proposed boundaries can be found on our website

* Reports on the project work on these themes can be found on our website and will be displayed at the conference

The event will be facilitated by our consultant, Tony Burton, who is a leading authority nationally on neighbourhood planning.

Free lunch will be provided!

Email from OBVNF: Next meeting 24th June 6.00pm.

Posted by

0

Neighbourhood Forum agreement
Next meeting 24th June 6.00pm at Tabard community hall, Hankey Place SE1 4LR

“We are pleased to report that following Monday’s mediation Council officers have agreed to reverse their recommendation to the decision maker, Mark Williams, to refuse our application on behalf of OBVNF.

The mediation was attended by a representative from DCLG as well as the independent mediator. In this company and with the declared objective of both sides being to come to an agreement to permit Council recognition of OBVNF the process was very straight-forward: The Council set out their demands and – as we have in the past – we simply agreed to meet each and every one. The difference this time was that in a mediation each side is expected to put its cards on the table and to be bound by any agreement.

A copy of the mediation agreement is attached below. The key elements were focused on meeting the Council’s demands that OBVNF is genuinely open to all who wish to participate in the Neighbourhood planning process and that BVAG doesn’t have some kind of strangle-hold on the group. Of course, we say this has never been the case and meetings have always been open and welcoming to all. But as any reasonable demands in satisfaction of such a requirement are so easy to accommodate that is of course exactly what we did.

One key issue for the council officers was that our meetings are held at a ‘neutral venue’ so as not to deter those who are uncomfortable in Globe House. Although we are aware of no such category of would-be participants, to respect this demand we will be holding a meeting this Wednesday at Tabard community hall, Hankey Place SE1 4LR. The meeting will need to be half an hour earlier than usual because it has to be sandwiched between a martial arts class ending at 6.00pm and a Borough & Bankside Forum meeting that starts at 7.00pm. However, as the purpose of the meeting is to ratify the mediation agreement, following a briefing on its implications, and elect a new Chairman (another of the Council demands we were quite ready to accommodate) an hour should be enough. If it is not we will simply need to adjourn to another venue for whatever business remains.

Amy has put herself forward as a candidate to chair future meetings. If anyone else wishes to stand against her for election to the role please let us know as soon as possible so that we can take steps to publicise the election.

Apologies for the late (and short) notice but before it was possible to call a meeting we had to find and book a new venue.”

2fdae246-7578-4652-8e7c-64b88e85ad70

Knock down London council estates, says housing minister.

Posted by

0

Housing minister Brandon Lewis has called for the demolition and redevelopment of council estates across London in a move which he said would help boost the supply of new homes in the capital.

Speaking at the London Real Estate Forum, Lewis said inner city areas were ‘dominated by high-rise concrete blocks from the 1960s and 70s’ yet a number of inner London projects had shown how ‘these concrete blocks can be torn down and replaced with streets’ – the Financial Times reports.

Mr Lewis’s call echoes that of senior Labour figure Lord Adonis, who before the general election published a research paper arguing that councils are some of the biggest land owners in London and should be encouraged to make more efficient use of their holdings.

More Here: LocalGov

Email from BVAG: Mediation meeting Monday 15th June

Posted by

0

Neighbourhood Plan – Mediation meeting
Monday 15th June Council Offices 160 Tooley street

A mediation meeting has been arranged to discuss the report which proposes refusal to designate us as a Neighbourhood Forum. Attendees will include Southwark’s Head of Planning, Simon Bevan, Planning Policy Manager Juliet Seymour, DCLG representative and an independent mediator. Following the meeting, the report could potentially be amended for Cllr Williams to make his final decision. This is a final chance to obtain our approval in cooperation with the council, as opposed to pursuing it in the courts.

bottom

Email from BVAG : OBVNF Council propose formal mediation

Posted by

0

“OBVNF
Council propose formal mediation

Just as we sent yesterday’s mailout highlighting the Councl’s dilemma over recognising OBVNF we received the letter below effectively acknowledging it.

They have proposed a formal mediation.

Also see my response below.

Next Wednesday’s meeting will need to discuss and formalise our position and also select a delegation for the mediation meeting. But in case we are able to organise it for earlier next week please call if you are interested in being part of the delegation; it should be a bit like Tsipras/Varoufakis -v- the Troika.”

ad58a634-b51f-44ee-a55f-5eced95d501e

406f46aa-2f8d-4183-a966-f051e11db56b

Email from BVAG – Meeting, Wednesday 27th May 6.30pm

Posted by

0

bvagtop

Meeting Neighbourhood Plan – next steps
Wednesday 27th May 6.30pm Globe House
 
Faced with the letter drafted with the help of our legal Counsel (full text here) the Council are now clearly wondering whether they can
(1) brazenly refuse to permit the meeting we propose together with the DCLG and
(2) Press on with their proposed refusal of our application with any confidence that they will not be the first council in the Country to be ordered by a court to stop obstructing local involvement in planning.

Whatever they decide, a meeting is called for and so please try and come next Wednesday to discuss our next steps.

Email from BVAG – Council reject OBVNF Application

Posted by

0

“As our supporters are acutely aware, the Council has long resisted the idea of a BVAG coordinated neighbourhood forum – knowing that we will not meet their condition of being subservient to the Council.

We have just been notified that the latest justification for refusal has been crafted and published on the Council’s website just in time for compliance with the Council’s legal deadline. See [link]

The decision Notice/Report/Recommendation bears the name of Juliet Seymour, as usual, but as we know, it is the work of her bosses. Our legal Counsel has been consulted on how we can proceed and we are looking to set up a meeting with a representative from DCLG in the face of further obvious evidence of determination from the Council to obstruct any neighbourhood plan that may clash with their own objectives for the area.

Help from any followers will be appreciated in identifying the anonymous objectors – the identity of several of whom is obvious. Most are of course sour grapes from the former members of the defunct, Council-sponsored BNF and others whose purse strings are controlled by the Council.

More news to follow as the picture becomes clearer.”