Save Champion Hill + Dog Kennel Hill From from Development Blight

[Flux capacitor]

The Council Plan to redevelop Seavigton House site situated opposite Dog Kennel Hill Primary School. Which I believe is a bad idea. Not to mention the Council failure to maintain existing buildings i.e. squatters in a ?1,111,500 house for 2 years not 830 meters away from where I reside.

There are environmental concern since they would be building over historic land. I've attached links below.

https://consultations.southwark.gov.uk/housing-community-services-department-community-engagement-team/seavington-11000-homes/

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/housing/major-works-and-new-homes/new-homes/new-council-homes-planned-for-champion-hill?chapter=2

[Blah Blah]

It would help if the council stopped selling off existing council homes! Lendlease have made a killing while Southwark loses more green space. I would strongly recommend you contact 'Sothwark Defend Council Housing'. They have had some success in shaping council housing policy and might at the very least be able to help you get the plans ammended.

[nxjen]

?There are environmental concern since they would be building over historic land.?

Would you be able to expand upon this? I?ve looked at old OS maps and can see nothing of historical interest. (Isn?t all land historic?)

[alice]

They want to build council houses. That?s great. Or have I misunderstood?

[Blah Blah]

Yes, they want to replace existing council homes with a higher density of council homes. The issue seems to be how much of a footprint those homes occupy. Does the development have to remove all green space and trees? That seems to be the main area of conflict, not the principle of more council homes.

It is also worth adding that Southark Council aince 2010 have lost more council homes through sell off for private delvelopment than they have built, so much so that in the last two years, the borough shows a minus for homes built for council recnt whilst the percentage of homes built for private sale (and bear in mind a good chunk of those are being sold to Asian investors who will never live here) has increased as a percentage hugely. There are FOI figures on this that demonstrate just how the shift has moved away from council homes and to private sales at market rates. It is not a good record by any measure. And that FOI request was made after council leader Peter John behaved with arrogance on twitter and lied about the percentage of homes built for social rent.

[sdrs]

Blahblah is right, the need for better council housing provision is understood and supported by locals, it?s just the footprint and design that have raised concerns. Initial plans have had huge buildings not set back at all from the junction, which would impact on sight lines for pedestrians crossing the roads and motorists and cyclists turning. This would be particularly dangerous for children walking to and from local schools. Concerns have also been raised about the proposed removal of green space and mature trees as mentioned and excessive height of the buildings, due to their location on the top of the hill and their proximity to neighbouring buildings. I am not aware of any particular historic significance to the site but Champion Hil has historically had a green, open aspect and it would preserve some much needed amenity both for the new occupants of the housing as well as for the neighbourhood generally if the green, tree-lined space to the front were retained.

[betternowthanthen]

Stop This!

[ollieloudon]

Think this is great news and I live 2 minutes away. Everyone seems to like the idea of social housing until it is anywhere near them.

[shelly2106]

I agree with blah blah living in east dulwich estate we have seen the council cramp two new blocks into the estate. One on the kids football pitch and the other part of a car park. These blocks only had a few social housing within them, far fewer than promised. The rest were privately sold off. They are also selling off the flats when able to. If the council do re design that housing block, alot unfortunately will be sold off

[sdrs]

Most Londoners are fine with the idea of social housing near them, I beg to differ with you there Ollie. Also, by definition, any of us living near Champion Hill/Dog Kennel Hill has been living near social housing for years already, it?s not as if social housing is proposed where it wasn?t before. It is just proposed on a scale and on a footprint markedly different to what currently exists on this site. Social housing and good planning should not be mutually exclusive, the quality of social housing provided is important. Here is an opportunity for the Council to get it right, to build some social housing that people will really enjoy living in for generations to come and that will not be at odds with or detract from its setting. Proper scrutiny of these plans is as much in the interests of future residents of Seavington House in ensuring they are provided with a proper degree of amenity (including green spaces etc) as it is in the interests of other local residents. They should not be fobbed off with a brutalist monstrosity any more than the neighbourhood should be expected to embrace one. Concerns about how an oversized structure encroaching onto a notoriously dangerous junction are also legitimate, I struggle to see how such concerns make anyone a snob. Many of us remember a child fatality at the Champion Hill/Dog Kennel Hill junction twenty years ago and wish to ensure that sightlines around the junction are kept as clear as possible for pedestrian safety. None of this makes anyone anti social housing. My concerns and those of many other local residents would be exactly the same if the plans were for private housing.

[SCAG]

The application for this development has now been submitted to Southwark's planning portal. Application number: 18/AP/0532

The deadline for leaving a comment is the 29th March 2018. Quite a few comments have been left already, addressing things like massing (the fact that the development is not coherent with its surroundings and too high at the top of the hill), loss of green space, loss of mature trees, no parking or sufficient bike space, no disabled access. Additionally, the council's visualisations are not accurate and show the proposed development to look smaller than it is actually measured (true height is 16.4 metres).

As others have reiterated, it is not an opposition to social housing - a lot of neighbours have recognised the need for more social housing (much of which Southwark have sold off to private developers!). The campaign is trying to encourage SC to rethink the design and massing so a well designed and safe development can exist that both the tenants and the neighbours can enjoy.

There is more information on https://www.championhill.org.uk/status/ and the design and access statement can be downloaded in full from that link.

[betternowthanthen]

The view from the junction will be servery altered visually from what is now a nice pleasing view out to the sky and the view down the hill to outer regions, very severely!

Why make us loose this?

More worse the cluttered feeling it will create being and living in immediate area as I do! If it's has to be built, it must be no higher than whats there on the site now and far away from the junction as possible! And should be designed with historical local buildings in mind, more than just throwing in modern aspects in design, and that being that with it ect....

The disruption from the works will be slow unbearable mess to deal with day to day, just look at what happened to the horrible block for example that's STILL under construction, the block that is right next East Dulwich train station!

Now does that corner now look great or what? After all that trouble.....No. After what was there before.....no. They destroyed a historical building doing this too, (what was part of the old station) Now East Dulwich station looks so pathetic now! Just by building that rubbish that's going to be dated soon as a 60's block of flats! How THIS even happen is beyond me. That's what this proposal is going to do to us here, harm to a nice corner.

Southwark pulled down quite of few blocks on Dog Kennel Hill estate not long ago,and in Peckham and Elephant and Castle, and created partially them self's the problem of housing people, poor planning of the future that was very ?? to do that then, soon after build what looks like garages to replace this instead, and not achieving anything, this is another example Southwark Council wasting money again of course, not fixing the problem, only creating them.

Now these desperate measures for these proposals are needed to help fix what they have done before, to the cost to what our community will look like, desperate for housing people at cost of poor decisions in the past! Look at Southwarks other huge unattractive (modern) blocks near us in Camberwell and surrounding area's! All these works are slowly turning our area into a concrete jungle, is this what we want? Southwark are hopelessly trying to fulfill their targets that will never fill the gap of much needing housing of any sort in the first place, and how long till they take more drastic measure without any consideration to the area and not spoiling our historic borough for the future generations?

By letting this happen unopposed and successfully at that, this is only going to give them more insensitive for proposing preposterous blocks of rubbish and clutter, in any area they like. Anything green will be concrete soon enough. The proposals on Greendale Playing fields behind the Salisbury's store on Dog Kennel Hill is scary enough, this is another subject of course, and I'm not quite up to date on this situation as of now, but another one we need to win. This is another example to show us what inconsiderate this council has to offer. I fear for any open space's for local wild life, or for children to enjoy. A quiet place to reflect and enjoy. We spend so much effort looking after our own places and houses to keep the area looking so nice as it is, why let poorly led agenda's of Southwark spoil our good efforts, why let them spoil the streets and neighborhoods we live in, only for it not to work in the long run anyway!

London is one packed deck of card, there really is't much else to build on, and then what after that? I fear in the near future the we will be living the 'Blade Runner' movie style, high rise buildings, multiple blocks just stashed anywhere with cramped area's to live in, no space to breath or see anything, but buildings. Look at historical pictures of our area, and look at the affected area's now, and what may come, we are heading in the wrong direction. The points of the compass must be changed.

Keep up the good work those who are similar minded, and those actively trying their best to help the dire situation we have been forced to deal with. Please can all here Object-Refuse-Resist to this! Any way or form. Sorry for long message!

Can't wait till this thing never happens!!!:)

[sdrs]

Here?s a link to the planning portal where comments on the application can be submitted:

http://planbuild.southwark.gov.uk:8190/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=neighbourComments&keyVal=_STHWR_DCAPR_9577037

NB The consultation has been extended to Thursday 29th March