A Tesco Metro supermarket is open at the Parker Building in Jamaica Road, near the Abbey Street junction.
Tesco Metro is the chain’s medium-size format, larger than the Tesco Express convenience shop. A similar store can be found in Tooley Street.
Tesco has submitted planning applications to Southwark Council for a new shopfront and bank machine. The chain has also applied for advertisement consent for new signage.
Southwark Council is to spend £15,000 to investigate the possibility of extending the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme beyond its current coverage area in the north-west of the borough.
The council has allocated £10,000 to identify cycle hire docking station sites beyond the current scheme area in Southwark.
At present, there is only one docking station east of Tower Bridge Road.
The council says that this work will investigate possible extension options towards Burgess Park and along the river. The findings of the study will be used to cost and plan future scheme expansion.
The recently approved redevelopment of the Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey includes provision for a docking station as part of the planning permission.
The council will also spend £5,000 on a collaborative study with a leading academic to investigate cycle hire usage patterns and identify barriers to usage. This information will also be used to put together a case for extending the cycle hire scheme.
Plans for a 19-storey tower in Rotherhithe New Road have been turned down by Southwark Council’s planning committee.
The scheme included 158 homes, new accommodation for the Southwark Free School and a sixth form centre for the City of London Academy.
Officers had recommended that the scheme be refused on the basis that it would leal to the loss of industrial and warehousing land in a designated area.
Planners also warned that the scheme “represents an overdevelopment of the site” and criticised the 19-storey tower for its “inappropriately large scale, architectural expression and the form, massing and design of the building”.
The level of affordable housing in the scheme had also been a point of contention, with just 10 of the 158 homes designated as affordable.
That the developers SCCD pressed ahead with the application despite the clear steer from planning officers suggests that they are hoping that Mayor of London Boris Johnson will ‘take over’ the case from the council – or that the application will go to appeal and a planning inspector will decide.
Southwark Council has voiced its strong opposition to proposals to use Chambers Wharf for the Thames Tideway Tunnel superseder. The council has set out its objections in its first formal response to the Planning Inspectorate on the impacts of the proposal.
“We strongly believe that Chambers Wharf is the wrong site for such a disruptive, major piece of construction like the Thames Tideway Tunnel,” said Cllr Peter John, Labour leader of the council.
“The proposed location is in the heart of a heavily residential area and very close to three of the borough’s schools. The round-the-clock noise, vibrations and traffic pollution caused by the construction work will blight the lives of these residents and children for years not to mention create significant safety concerns, making living and learning around Chambers Wharf an absolute nightmare.
“Any consultation by Thames Water has been ineffective and flawed at best, and at worst dismissive of the council’s genuine concerns. There has been a lack of information available on how the route of the tunnel and the affected sites have been chosen along with a lack of real opportunity for those affected by the proposals to influence site selection. Furthermore, Thames Water has failed to respond to our concerns about the potential impact of this project on our residents.
“In our opinion, there are better alternative solutions for the construction of the tunnel that would have significantly less impact than the proposals at Chambers Wharf. We will continue to oppose plans until we have achieved the best possible outcome for our residents.”
In a response on behalf of the Southwark Liberal Democrat council group, Riverside councillor Anood Al-Samerai said: “The impact of the proposals on our residents would be enormous – with six years of work, including 90 lorry movements a day and round the clock noise for the first three years, it would be impossible for them to carry on with their lives as normal.”
Councillor Eliza Mann added in her own response: “There are 150 residential properties in very close proximity to the proposed site, mainly on the nearby Dickens Estate which is home to 800 residents, all of which would be very badly affected by the plans.”
The Save Your Riverside campaign is holding a public meeting at City Hall this Thursday
An open-air swimming pool will be installed in the Decathlon car park this summer for the second year running.
On weekdays a programme of low-cost swimming lessons will be offered as part of the Mayor of London’s Make a Splash programme and at weekends Decathlon cardholders can use the pool for free.
The Big Summer Splash begins on 10 June and will run for 12 weeks.
It’s free to sign up for a Decathlon card.
King’s College London has submitted a planning application to Southwark Council to develop student accommodation, office space, affordable housing, retail units, a health care centre and public space on the former Mulberry Business Park site.
The college intends to increase student and academic staff numbers by 2,250 and 150 respectively by 2016. It is also committed to providing more student residential accommodation to meet both current and future demand.
King’s says that it plans to work with the council “to develop a town centre heart with a university environment” in the wider area, including the Harmsworth Quays site soon to be vacated by the Daily Mail.
This would include a mixed-use facility that will provide new teaching and learning facilities, student residential accommodation – of which a significant proportion would be for post-graduate student accommodation that may include a family provision – and indoor sports facilities.
The first step is to develop the former Mulberry Business Park. King’s has a contract to purchase the site when planning permission is granted for the proposed development.
“I believe that Canada Water offers an unparalleled opportunity for the college and the London Borough of Southwark to create a vibrant, unique centre that will benefit our students and staff and make a positive economic, educational and cultural contribution to the local community,” said Ralph Luck, real estate development director of King’s College London.
“The Mulberry site development is the first stage in achieving this. We would aim to commence the Mulberry site works in 2014, and completing for the academic year 2016/17.”
Time and Talents has been asked by the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Community Council to investigate the interest in setting up a civic society or urban parish council for Rotherhithe.
For the purpose of this activity Rotherhithe is defined according to the historic boundaries of St Mary’s parish, bounded by Southwark Park Road in the west, the river to the north and east and South Dock in the south.
A civic society is a community-based organisation made up of a diverse group of active local citizens and organisations who share a sense of pride and local community spirit and who wish to contribute to improving their locality. There are already several such civic societies in Southwark such as the Walworth Society, The Camberwell Society, The Peckham Society and The Dulwich Society.
An urban parish council is a more formal arrangement with elected representatives and decision-making powers.
Fill in the online survey to give your views.
Time & Talents is hosting an open meeting on Thursday 30 May to discuss the results of the survey and to work out the next steps. Please let Alyson know if you would like to attend.
The Rotherhithe and Bermondsey Choral Society was awarded the Liberty of the Old Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey at the Southwark Civic Awards held at St George’s Cathedral on Saturday.
The award was collected by Sue Heath-Downey and Prem Goyal.
Pearly King of Camberwell and Bermondsey Jimmy Jukes received the same honour.
Bede House Association was presented with a lifetime achievement award.
Barry Noon, a local architect who has been involved in both the Brunel Museum and the Canada Water Campaign, also received a lifetime achievement award.