Barbara Ann Overwater, Senior Planning Policy Officer
Minutes:
Alison Squires, Planning Policy Team Leader, introduced the Elephant and Castle Opportunity Area supplementary planning document (SPD) which was currently being consulted upon. The draft document was about how change was going to be managed, in terms of housing, transport, urban design, environment infrastructure, retail and business. The adopted document would be consulted by officers and councillors to judge new development in Elephant and Castle, in the future.
She invited people to feed back online, or to attend the Walworth Community Council on 21 January 2012 at 1pm, at the Walworth Academy where there would be workshops around the different topics. After this, there would be an exhibition at the 182 Walworth Road space managed by LendLease.
Members fed back that the SPD should include a commitment to three- and four-bedroom affordable properties, of which there was a lack in the area and in the borough as a whole. These kind of properties were being lost, and not replaced. Concerns were also expressed about what constituted “affordable” housing, which was more costly than council flats.
There were also questions about the plans to change the direction of traffic in London Road and St George’s Road. Fears were expressed that this would have a detrimental impact on the area and on the residents who lived there. Responding to a question, Alison said that the SPD document was a joint document with the Mayor of London who had agreed the contents with Southwark. While the council could not enforce this, the Mayor’s office had signed up to it. Alison encouraged attendees to invite the planning policy team to any of their TRA or neighbourhood meetings, as they would like to hear from as many people as possible.
The meeting heard that there would be a meeting of the Elephant and Castle Amenity Network on 28 January 2012 from 10am to 4pm at the Crossway Church, on the New Kent Road.
Councillor Noakes informed the meeting that Regeneration and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny sub-committee would have a meeting about the Elephant and Castle on 8 February 2012, and invited residents to email him with their comments and concerns.
ACTION: Alison Squires to check whether policy 10 included a plan to make London Road bus traffic only.