Goodbye ED Police Station

[Reg Smeeton]

So farewell then,

East Dulwich Police station.

The protective screens are going up,

Demolition is imminent.

You were one of the ugliest buildings in East Dulwich

But I'm going to miss you

Particularly the peace and quiet.

[Earl Aelfheah]

One of the ugliest buildings in East Dulwich, to be replaced with what will be one of the most unimaginative and blandest. Come back police station all is architecturally forgiven.

[DulwichFox]

East Dulwich Police Station was designed to be Bomb Proof.

Hence the buttress narrow windows.

Foxy

[LondonMix]

Has the demolition begun then? They?ve had signs up for ages saying ?Demolition in Progress? but with very little activity.

I hope the opening of the school brings the shop on the corner of Whately Road and Landcroft back into use. With a school directly opposite, some business should be able to have a go.

Right now, the combination of the derelict store and the derelict and hideous police station make that intersection the ugliest in all of East Dulwich!

I walk by almost everyday and both are such an eyesore.

[Grok]

I've heard the old chinese takeaway is set to become a fried chicken takeaway precisely because the school is opening up. Supply and demand. Your eyesore will be replaced with the odour of dirty old frying oil and kids!

LondonMix Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Has the demolition begun then? They?ve had signs

> up for ages saying ?Demolition in Progress? but

> with very little activity.

>

> I hope the opening of the school brings the shop

> on the corner of Whately Road and Landcroft back

> into use. With a school directly opposite, some

> business should be able to have a go.

>

> Right now, the combination of the derelict store

> and the derelict and hideous police station make

> that intersection the ugliest in all of East

> Dulwich!

>

> I walk by almost everyday and both are such an

> eyesore.

[redjam]

Grok Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've heard the old chinese takeaway is set to

> become a fried chicken takeaway precisely because

> the school is opening up. Supply and demand. Your

> eyesore will be replaced with the odour of dirty

> old frying oil and kids!

>

>

Well, I'd be delighted if anything went there to replace that awful graffitied old Chinese takeaway. But where have you heard that it's going to change hands? I've not seen anything that suggests it's going to be done up. I'd also be very surprised if it changed to a fried chicken shop - the old police station is going to be a primary school, not a secondary school, so their target market would be all wrong.

[LondonMix]

I wasn't talking about the Vhinese place but rather the junction with Landctoft. There is a derelict shop there that's been empty for as long as I can remember. A sweets shop or stationary / school supply / uniform shop would probably do well.

[solar]

The shop on the corner of Landcroft and Whatley roads was a fish and chip shop run by Chinese people. It has been closed for years.

[stevie23b]

I remember fitting the aluminium shopfront around mid sevnties on that 'Blue Dolphin' chippie. The then owners were Greek Cypriots.

[EDmummy]

It has to go but is a loss of recent social history.

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> East Dulwich Police Station was designed to be

> Bomb Proof.

> Hence the buttress narrow windows.

>

> Foxy

[aerie]

I heard the take away shop and building had been bought to be used as the school office/admin to maximise school space on a limited site. This seemed totally feasible.

[Otta]

As far as I know, the Chinese people that used to run that chip shop (which by the way was an awesome afyer swimming treat when I was a kid)never sold up. No.idea why they've never changed the shop front though.

@ rahrahrah, it's going to be a typical modern school building, cheap to put up and fit for purpose. Flashy looking buildings cost more.

On a personal note, whilst it had to go, I will always have fond memories of going to see the horses in the stables as a kid, and seeing mounted police trotting along the roads. Was a big part of the ED that I grew up in.

Hope the school does very well.

[Earl Aelfheah]

I'll miss the horses too.

I wouldn't say it's a typical modern school building - a lot of schools are really thoughtfully designed, this is not. Even on a budget, it is possible to take account of aesthetic considerations, and the look (and therefore feel) of a school does matter IMO. I know it's all a matter of taste, but even using plain white render would be better (and cheaper).

[James Barber]

The final design took on board lots of feedback and will have lots of brick.

But it is limited in the budget the Govt's Educational Finance Agency can award on top of the ?6M price tag to acquire the land from the Met Police.

And we still need to organise a police base in the area.

[aerie]

The Grove Tavern imho would be an ideal placement for a new improved Police Station. an unmissable presence in our midst.

[Abe_froeman]

?6 million! How much did Southwark sell their plots (for residential develpoment) a bit further up Lordship Lane for?

[rch]

I totally agree that we need to organise a police base in the area, this is increasingly becoming a priority, especially with more budget cuts looming.

Unfortunately, the council have cancelled the CGS funding that was allocated to convert the annexe of the Dulwich Library into a "community safety" touchdown base, so we are now at the point where the residents feel that we need to take the bull by the horns and do this ourselves.

At the moment I'm speaking to shopkeepers along both the Lordship Lane and East Dulwich Grove axis to see if there are any possibilities and then we'll need to investigate how to raise funding.

aerie, the Grove Tavern would be brilliant, but it's too expensive and not in the best location to serve East Dulwich and Village wards, which are the ones that are most affected. It needs to have good transport links, as well.

But keep brainstorming... any suggestions are welcome.

[James Barber]

Hi Abe,

The Educational Finance Agency had to match the bid for 50 flats with massive supermarket to be built on the site.

I don't know that land sale value. But you can imagine.

Hi rch,

What CGS busdget cancellation. As the applicant and a local councillor I've not been told this.

Hopefully a misunderstanding about merging two indentical CGS applications. Feeling optimistic after a useful prod from MarkT.

[rch]

I heard about the CGS cancellation from the chair of the Dulwich Society, who met with two councillors... it could be confusion about the double bid, but the basic reason given for the cancellation was that it was thought that the police wouldn't use the annexe and that it was a poor use of funds considering budget cuts. So even if the funding is still intact, it doesn't sound like the premises will be available for a community safety contact point, which means that we'll have to find somewhere else anyway.

In any case, the communication from the council has been so bad that it's questionable whether this will work out or not, even if the funding was still available. Everyone is so fed up that we're beginning to feel that we simply need to do everything ourselves now...

Can you try to find out what's going on and let us know?

[James Barber]

Hi RCH,

Such a decision would be taken by ward councillors for East Dulwich and Village wards and I've not been involved in agreeing cancellation.

So I've asked the CGS team the latest status.

[daveybigpotatoes]

Is this not a government agency paying a government agency? these are just different state pots so the 6m number is ultimately pretty meaningless.

Good design shouldn't be more expensive than bad design either.

[Pugwash]

if the new super day centre ever gets built by Southwark (Cator Street) part of the Fred Francis Day Centre could be a good police base.

[James Barber]

Hi daveybigpotatoes,

Yes and no. ultimately you'd think this was wooden dollars. But the EFA's budget doesn't get increased if another regional government body charges a lot of money. So less money is available via the EFA to build new schools.

On the design. That is extremely easy to say. All the design changes have cost more money. Money well spent in our local area but ultimately means another school will have less money spent on it.

[Aristide]

Sorry James but you are coming at it from the wrong angle. the changes that you were forced to make were down to an extremely poor design in the first place. It being somewhat 'unpolishable' you have been forced to 'roll it in glitter' which costs money, and what we are left with is an extremely unsatisfactory urban addition that has cost you more than you would have liked.

There are no shortcuts, a decent design should have been sought in the first place.

[rch]

Yay Pugwash, I totally agree with the Fred Francis Centre suggestion!

It would actually make a great location for a small police touchdown base and a mini-housing office with shared community meeting facilities... which is exactly what we need.

But, because this is a council owned property, it will most likely be sold off to a developer and the profit diverted to a political-pointscoring project in the middle or the north of the borough.