Costcutter planning application (Aldebert Terrace)

Just in from Neil at the Albert Square & St Stephens Association (ASSA):

There is another application for the former Di Lieto Bakery site (173-175 South Lambeth Road). Reference number is 10/04285/FUL.

There was hiccup in the consultation process, and ASSA did not get a consultation letter. Fortunately, neighbours, to whom I am most grateful, drew my attention to the site notice, which I had failed to spot! I have negotiated an extension to the deadline for comments, which is now 15th February. Time is short and I am therefore copying this information around widely although we have not yet had a discussion in ASSA, so that as many people as possible have a chance to comment. The comments in this email are my personal views - but please do send your own individual comments to the case officer Andrew Dillon, ADillon@lambeth.gov.uk .

You can look at the plans on line or they should be in the Library. I am just attaching the present and proposed "side elevations" - i.e. the Aldebert Terrace frontage. They are an improvement on the previous ones in that this view does now relate to the existing character of the street. The present dummy windows would be opened up and there would be an extension with similar windows at first and second floor levels, but the existing mixed brick buildings would be replaced by a high continuous rendered wall all the way to the entrance to Albion Villa. Behind this blank wall would be a very large shop. The whole ground floor of the two original shops would be opened out and extended back nearly three times as far. The development would cover the whole site, including the rear garden, and since the whole of the internal structure is altered (and the ground floor would be essentially one uninterrupted open space), I assume that effectively everything except the outside boundary walls would be demolished and reconstructed from scratch. The present shop has a small basement store, but it is proposed that a new, much larger and deeper basement store and service area would be excavated over almost the entire site.

As I see it, the main issues are:

(1) the revised proposal does nothing to meet our objection to the loss of a thriving manufacturing bakery, which the applicant chose to close.

(2) a very large supermarket like this would generate a very much greater quantity of servicing than the present shop - in a part of our area where disturbance from servicing has historically been an issue - and would presumably generate a lot more customer car journeys. It would also have a big effect on the character of our parade of local shops. I imagine that most of the other food shops would be driven out of business. There are plenty of examples of what happens when local parades go downhill and I wouldn't want that to happen to the South Lambeth Road which has a good vibrant mixture of uses at present.

(3) The construction of this project would generate an enormous level of disturbance over a considerable period. Some of you will remember that the parapet of these shops collapsed dramatically a few years ago. There must be some question about whether the front and side walls would stand the demolition of everything else and the excavation of the new basement.

(4) We would lose another garden, further increase retail and residential density, and lose a lot of rather interesting historical building.

(5) Some details of the proposal are unacceptable - for example, although the windows look plausible at first glance, they are described as "uPVC sash-window lookalikes". We would want timber sash windows, subdivided into 4 panes, to maintain the character of the building and the Conservation Area. If we were to have an enormous blank wall along Aldebert Terrace, it should at least be of stock bricks. The upper levels of the new proposal do roughly mimic the Canton, but the street level view could hardly be more different.