British Land has confirmed reports in the property trade press that it has acquired Surrey Quays Leisure Park for £135 million from clients of Aviva Investors.

This purchase means that British Land now owns three key redevelopment sites at Canada Water, including Surrey Quays Shopping Centre and Harmsworth Quays.

Chris Grigg, chief executive of British Land, said: “This acquisition completes our assembly of a significant £2 billion world-class development opportunity in the heart of one of London’s major regeneration zones.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with Southwark Council to create a vibrant new mixed use office, retail and residential campus for Canada Water including a new town centre.”

Jonathan East of Aviva Investors said: ‘We are pleased to have completed the sale of Surrey Quays Leisure Park to British Land which has enabled us to secure a strong return for our policyholders.

“Having laid the groundwork for a comprehensive redevelopment of the site we were able to benefit from the buoyant market for residential sites around London, particularly for such a large site in a recognised area of opportunity.

“Having been involved since funding the original development of the leisure park in 1996, we have witnessed significant changes to Canada Water over the years.

 

“British Land have ambitious plans for the area and we are happy to hand the baton over to them to progress the comprehensive regeneration.”

Lib Dem London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon recently tabled this question to the Mayor of London:

I have been contacted by many constituents concerned that bus services using Jamaica Road – such as the 188 and 47 – are being severely disrupted due to congestion during peak periods. What does TfL plan to do to mitigate this situation for passengers?

This week Boris Johnson replied:

Route 47’s reliability has been affected by roadworks in Lewisham and at Ludgate, Aldgate and Cannon Street in the City. To mitigate, the service is temporarily curtailed to Liverpool Street from Shoreditch. Additionally, a new schedule with additional buses and drivers will be in operation from 14 March 2015. TfL will continue to closely monitor performance following these changes.

A new schedule was also implemented on route 188 on 10 January 2015. As part of the Roads Modernisation Plan it is planned to invest £200 million between now and 2023/24 to maintain and improve the reliability of journey times on key bus routes. TfL officers plan to commence a study of route 188 by the end of March to inform the development of additional bus priority from 2015/16 onwards.

Photo by Eleanor Salter Thorn
Photo by Eleanor Salter Thorn

Guest post by Eleanor Thorn

For the past couple of weeks now Sam Aremu has been out in the local riverside parks (Durand’s Wharf and King’s Stairs Gardens), 6pm-8pm Monday to Friday, giving fitness sessions to anyone willing to give it a go.

He moved to Rotherhithe from Camberwell two years ago when his daughter was born.  He was drawn here as he had fond memories of the nearby Fisher Club where he started boxing in his teens. A schoolfriend got him to go along with him and that was it, he was hooked.

His passion for fitness training really began about five years ago. Two years ago he took it a step further and paid greater attention to diet as well, and last year he qualified as a personal trainer.

What sparked off his current initiative was the desire for his daughter to be able to play outdoors, freely and safely in a community in which neighbours know each other, as he used to do when he was little. Too often we don’t know the people we are living right next to.

So he thought about what he could do to make a change and came up with this idea that he could share his knowledge of fitness and help people get into shape.

As he says, “We live in such a beautiful area with wonderful views from the riverside.  I want people not to be cooped up but getting out there and enjoying the fresh air.  You don’t get that in a gym.”

He is keen to encourage everyone to join him.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve never done anything like it before. “It’s all about being positive” he says. The idea is to ease people into it and build up their self-belief, and then set challenges.

Practicalities

Sam Aremu of Postcode Fitness meets at 7pm by the riverside at King’s Stairs Gardens everyday Monday to Friday. His sessions are run on a donation basis: pay what you can and what you think is reasonable.

Times can occasionally vary. Do call first to check: 020 3332 0301 (originally the meeting place was Durand’s Wharf however the street lighting is not currently working there)

Police are appealing for information following a collision between a van and a mobility scooter.

Officers were called to a collision on St James’s Road at the junction with Jamaica Road  just after 12.30pm on Friday.

A 69-year-old woman, who was on the mobility scooter,  was taken to a south London hospital where she remains in a critical condition.

Anyone with information should call the serious collision investigation unit on 020 8285 1574.

The driver of the van stopped at the scene. No-one has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Police in Southwark are appealing for witnesses and information following a violent aggravated burglary in Bermondsey on St Valentine’s Day.

The incident happened at about 2.30pm on Saturday 14 February at an address in Cranswick Road, South Bermondsey.

The victim, a 63-year-old woman was home alone, speaking on the telephone to her sister, when there was a knock on the door.

She asked who it was and a man outside said he had crashed into her car. On hearing this news she opened her front door to inspect her car.

When she had opened the door,  the victim was confronted by two men.

The victim attempted to close her door but two men barged their way in to her house and closed the front door. Once inside they were shouting at the victim “Where is your safe?”

The victim – who lives on her own – informed the men that she did not own a safe. One of the suspects then picked up a bronze statue and hit the victim twice on the head.

They then attempted to drag her upstairs. She managed to escape their grip but was hit again with the statue.

The men then searched the house and stole two purses from her handbag before making off.

Police were called to the scene by the victim’s sister who heard the entire incident while on the telephone line. Neighbours who heard a disturbance also called 999.

On arrival,  police officers found the victim with a cut to her head, a cut to her left eye, and bruising to her left shin.

The London Ambulance Service was called and the victim was taken to a south London hospital, were she was treated and later discharged.

Suspect 1 is described as a black male, of slim build, aged 18 to 22 years, and was wearing a dark hooded top.

Suspect 2 is described as a black male, aged 18 to 22 years, and was wearing a dark hooded top.

Detectives from Southwark CID are investigating the incident and are appealing for anyone who may have seen anything or anyone acting suspiciously in the area to contact them.

Detective Constable Carri Blackman, from Southwark CID, said: “The victim in this case is an extremely vulnerable lady. This has understandably left her extremely shaken up and we’re determined to try and identify who is responsible.

“I’d urge anyone who might have seen or heard anything unusual or suspicious in the area to get in touch with us, however insignificant you think the information may be – it could help us to solve this case.”

Anyone with information should contact Southwark CID on 020 7232 6142, the police non-emergency 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 3004593/15.

Detectives investigating a website from which thousands of people were able to download blockbuster films and top-rated TV shows for free arrested three men at a flat in Bermondsey on Tuesday morning.

At approximately 6.45am, detectives arrested three men aged 26, 25 and 24 – on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud; copyright theft and encouraging or assisting offences believing one or more will be committed – during a pre-planned operation.

The arrests were made by the London Regional Asset Recovery Team (LRART), who have been assisted in their investigation by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).

They executed a search warrant at a residential address on Enid Street, Bermondsey, from which they recovered digital equipment and financial documents..

The three men have been taken into custody at a south London police station where they remain.

The website was originally registered to one of the suspects in the UK but was then re-registered to the second suspect at an address in Romania. It is believed that money made from advertising on the website continued to be paid into a London-based bank account.

Detective Sergeant Neil Reynolds, of LRART, said: “The site was extremely popular. It was viewed about 70,000 times a day and, internationally, it ranked thousands of places higher than a well-known and legitimate film download site.

“It can be difficult for people to care about copyright laws being broken but the money made from such sites is often spent on funding other crime. We are looking at how much money was made from advertising on this website and where that money went to.”

Kieron Sharp, Director General, FACT, said: “Websites which set out to direct users to illegal copies of films and TV shows are engaged in criminal activity which not only reaps huge financial benefits for the individuals involved but also undermines the fundamental business model which allows for future investment in the creative industries.

 

“As these latest arrests show, this type of criminal enterprise will not go without action, and those involved face severe penalties.”

Cllr Dr Ben Johnson (Lib Dem, Grange ward) has blogged about The Exchange development on Spa Road, where residents who are buying their homes on a shared ownership (part rent, part buy) deal do not have access to the same facilities as those who buy their homes outright.

He writes:

We now discover that those who buy shared ownership properties in Southwark are treated as second class citizens, with segregated facilities only for those who buy outright. Similar to “poor doors”, this policy sows division and tension amongst our residents and should not be allowed in the mixed and diverse community of Southwark.

Read his full blog post.

bermondsey

15 years after the Jubilee line extension opened, Transport for London has launched a search for a development partner to build above Bermondsey Tube Station on Jamaica Road.

Bermondsey Station is one of six sites in Southwark identified by TfL for property development (the other five are in SE1)

The award-winning station was designed by Ian Ritchie Architects. An over-station development was always part of the plan.