New tower blocks for Stockwell Park

[lang rabbie]

There's a feature by Alan Piper in the new Brixton Society newsletter about plans to redevelop the outer bits of the Stockwell Part estate - both around Robsart Street to the north (now "Robsart Village" ) and along Stockwell Park Walk. Under the plans being promoted by Stockwell Park Community Trust following the stock transfer of the estate, there will be 368 "additional dwellings". 328 of the flats in the overall refurbished/rebuilt estate will be for sale.

[This whole planning application completely passed me by as I've been so busy in the day job I haven't looked at the Lambeth website for a month]

I'm amazed there has been so little comment on the prospect of a massive new 15 storey tower block at the junction of Brixton Road and Stockwell Park Walk - where the sheltered housing now is.

Someone from the neighbouringStockwell Park residents association (covering the posh houses in the neighbouring Conservation Area) must have been to one event to take these digital pictures of the plans:

Masterplan

ETA - it is still open for consultation on the Lambeth Planning Public Access webpages

 

[EastEnder]

That's just across the road from me!

 

[Brixton Hatter]

this image might help you picture what the new buildings will look like. The new tower appears to be attached to the existing one on robsart st.

 

[Bob]

That's a bloody enormous space they're planning to redevelop. Still I reckon tower blocks (normally not bad places in my experience) will be better than Stockwell Park at the moment.

Redmayne house has been half empty for sometime in preparation for this...

 

[Crispy]

Is that new buildings around the skate park I see on the masterplan? where will Brixton Cycles go? :concerned:

 

[lang rabbie]

this image might help you picture what the new buildings will look like. The new tower appears to be attached to the existing one on robsart st.

There was apparently a similar display panel of proposals for the southern end of the estate including the completely new tower, but as that isn't next to the Stockwell Park (streets) Residents' Association they don't seem to have included it on their website.

 

[lang rabbie]

Is that new buildings around the skate park I see on the masterplan? where will Brixton Cycles go? :concerned:

That whole block gets demolished - however there is supposedly some new commercial space elsewhere in the redevelopment - possibly a new "active frontage" (as current planning jargon has it) along Stockwell Park Walk ???.

 

[boohoo]

Just bumping this. I living at my parents in 'robsart village' ( luv the new area name!!) This will really make the area overcrowded, plus all the nice trees that were planted when I was a kid will have to be chopped down. Redmayne house needs developing but we don't need more housing on Robsart st. Will spoil our view of the beautiful Wayland House.

 

[boohoo]

There was a planning commitee meeting about this tonight. Stockwell Park Residents are worried about the new builds being too tall and casting shadows over the gardens... As Robsart ghetto I mean village, is just outside of the conservtion area, they can build what they like. My main complaint to all this is we have a development of the quadrant on Stockwell green, and then the old catalogue company building on clapham road also being developed as housing means a big increase of people using facilities in the stockwell neighbourhood.

This bit has already been built:

And here is the lovely description of the flats from the estate agents - doesn't mention, the beggars, prostitues and drug dealers - I suppose they have been moved on...or even all the new builds which are going up on that street!

Estate agent stuff

 

[EastEnder]

This bit has already been built:

Where is that?

 

[ericjarvis]

.

 

[thriller]

This looks good. but it will take years to build. After that, it will just go to single mothers or pregnant teens or immigrants. For someone like me, a single guy, well I'll just hold my breath and count to infinity. I've applied for those choice houses where you bid in property. My bid is comes in around 187th position.

 

[boohoo]

Where is that?

End of Robsart street before you hit Brixton road and jamm - still being worked on..

 

[boohoo]

This looks good. but it will take years to build. After that, it will just go to single mothers or pregnant teens or immigrants. For someone like me, a single guy, well I'll just hold my breath and count to infinity. I've applied for those choice houses where you bid in property. My bid is comes in around 187th position.

It's not council housing - it's not even affordable housing. So you need a mortgage of £210,000 to buy one of these properties so you can spend the next few years living by a building site....

 

[EastEnder]

End of Robsart street before you hit Brixton road and jamm - still being worked on..

Next to the council tower block? Funny they didn't show that in the mock-up!

 

[boohoo]

It's not next to it, that's the next one they will be building, and also a big block opposite where my parents live.... all those trees we didn't tramp on as kids are to be cut down by the people who planted them....

 

[thriller]

It's not council housing - it's not even affordable housing. So you need a mortgage of £210,000 to buy one of these properties so you can spend the next few years living by a building site....

ah ok. funny though how you see fancy housing always popping up amongst council estates. I still look in amazement at the flats/houses just near slade garden-practically a stone throws away from council estates like Norton House/Fitzgerald House etc. The contrast between the haves and the have nots. Complete different lives.

 

[boohoo]

ah ok. funny though how you see fancy housing always popping up amongst council estates. I still look in amazement at the flats/houses just near slade garden-practically a stone throws away from council estates like Norton House/Fitzgerald House etc. The contrast between the haves and the have nots. Complete different lives.

There are quite a lot of housing association houses in all the nice house (they use to be council but were transfered to a Hyde Housing association) However, many are privately own and that area has always been affluent since I was a kid.

The new builds are part of the Stockwell Park Estate housing transfer deal so some tenants will get rehoused from one or two blocks which are coming down. They are doing some good work on updating the existing estate - i am quite impress with how they've modernised some of the blocks into something relatively attractive. It will make the area slightly more diverse but there will be the posh in the old house, the new posh in the bought appartments and the ex-council tenants ( now new housing association tenants)... interesting!!!

 

[Brixton Hatter]

End of Robsart street before you hit Brixton road and jamm - still being worked on..

It's really changed the view already. When you walk down Loughborough Road towards Brixton Road the two towers dominate the skyline in front of you. One looks 95% finished and the other looks about half done.

On the other side of Brixton Road from this development, just next to Jamm, two huge old buildings have been renovated and a new block of flats has been built on an old yard. That area is certainly looking a bit smarter now, but there's still a horrible 30ft advertising hoarding slap bang in the middle and a closed down garage. I expect the garage will get built on fairly soon too.

 

[Gramsci]

Apart from the high towers effect I havent had a look at the plans. Often in a stock transfer an estate is refurbished by building private houses/flats for sale. This then helps pay for the sociall y rented flats.

This often means that there is less rented social housing. Though not less "affordable" as "Shared Ownership" counts as Affordable housing now.

So called "Affordable" Shared ownership is often in practise not the case. A freind of mine who looked at one was told minimum salary for one bed shared ownership flat was £30 grand.

 

[thriller]

my brother went to see a mortage advisor about shared ownership and was told by the guy that councils/boroughs like to promote/push this concept as it is a way of getting people off the housing list. Generally shared ownership is not worth it, he was told.

 

[Gramsci]

Your brother was given correct advice.

If you go onto Shared Ownership it appears in the figures that you have been housed in "Affordable" housing.

 

[boohoo]

Apart from the high towers effect I havent had a look at the plans. Often in a stock transfer an estate is refurbished by building private houses/flats for sale. This then helps pay for the sociall y rented flats.

.

This isn't always the case - or it didn't use to be - the problem is for city stock transfers is when the value of the housing (tenanted market value - rent x 30 years) is less than the cost of doing them up to a decent standard (it's called overhanging debt)

I think the new builds is a way to resolve that problem and to get the money invested into the original council housing.

ANd you are right - affordable housing is not an option for a lot of people.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

Bump

I was trying to find some information on The Quadrant and Urban came up in top matches (score!), is it finished yet and is it hideous? What kind of shops are in the retail units?

 

[boohoo]

It's hideous but good location. I'm not sure they have shops in the retail unit yet.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

Wish I could find recent pictures but the internet doesn't seem to care. I did think it looked rather incongruous but *shrug* what would I know?