Friday 28 March 2014

GLA recommends approval of Convoys Wharf application

The GLA's officers have recommended that the Mayor of London approve Hutchison Whampoa's plans to redevelop Convoys Wharf in Deptford - the ultimate decision will be made by our city's esteemed (ahem) mayor either at the end of, or within five days of, next Monday's hearing.

The recommendation for approval is not really unexpected given that the GLA seems to be all about housing these days, and very little else, and of course it is only a recommendation; since the decision is to be made by a single individual he is free to ignore the recommendation if he wishes, although he would have to have very good reasons as the developer would be sure to challenge a refusal.

But there are plenty of reasons to refuse this application, many of them were previously pointed out by the GLA itself, and it's disappointing that GLA officers don't seem to have made much progress in resolving all the issues they highlighted when they reviewed the previous scheme in 2011. As far as I can see, little has changed since then and the latest report seems to confirm this no matter how much of a positive spin the planners seek to put on it.

The report into the application, which justifies the decision, is 120 pages long, so you'd better get started reading it if you want to have it all fully read and digested by next week's bunfight at City Hall.

Should you have a few minutes to spare after reading that tome, you may wish to read the report put together by Lewisham Council for the strategic planning committee earlier this week, which suggests that all is not as rosy as the GLA suggests in its recommendation for approval.

Anyone can go to the hearing - anyone who doesn't have to go to work, that is, since it's being held at 4pm on a weekday - and if you want to attend, you can find the full details on the website.

A number of objectors have asked for a slot in the schedule, including representatives of the two community projects - the Lenox Project and Sayes Court Garden - along with Malcolm Cadman from Pepys Community Forum and Ray Woolford from local political party People Before Profit (and local estate agent Housemartins). People Before Profit are asking for volunteers to dress up as pirates for a demo at the hearing, so it looks like being a colourful event.

2 comments:

vesper said...

I'll be going to City Hall on Monday because Mayor Boris Johnson, and the GLA's officers have some serious questions to answer from me, a sole principle in private practice, who was born in Deptford in 1956.

I've been involved from inception with the changing of Deptford's Thames Gateway, City Challenge planning briefs, so I don't need to read the reports for Convoys Wharf to know what questions need to be answered, because as a true Deptford INSIDER I am familiar with the CONSPIRACY TO PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE that has brought us to this juncture, and which Stephen Greenhalgh the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime has unsuccessfully tried to bury.

Here is the email that I sent to City Hall last week, that sets out the contemporary position with regard to my individual SE8 MATE Deptford developer's case :

Jinder Ubhi
Business Support Officer
Development & Projects
Development, Enterprise & Environment
GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY
City Hall
The Queens Walk
London SE1 2AA


Dear Jinder Ubhi

Thank you for your email dated 25th March 2014, which assures me that Mayor Boris Johnson's decision regarding the Convoys Wharf development will take Deptford's historic significance into consideration when deciding the shape, and nature of its future.

I personally have been professionally involved with the Thames Gateway, City Challenge regeneration of Deptford where I was born, since I qualified RICS in 1984, and Mayor Johnson's decision regarding Convoys Wharf must also take into consideration the hermeneutic of continuity that links Deptford's past to its Lewisham present.

For instance the late Father Diamond of St Paul's 'C of E' Deptford involved HRH The Prince of Wales at the request of myself and Addey & Stanhope School, when we were in the process of changing the planning brief for Deptford Power Station and associated sites in the London Borough of Greenwich, with the help of the late John Silkin MP for Deptford. The Prince of Wales later visited Deptford to open St Paul's Court aka our First Premise.

Have the Mayor and his GLA officers involved Prince Charles and Ben Bolgar of the Prince's Foundation before reaching any decisions regarding Convoys Wharf?

Also my own "Jam lucis orto sidere" VISION OF BRITAIN paper titled Deptford Temenos for HRH The Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture, took me to St James's Palace to discuss architecture with Stephen Couling and Dr Brian Hanson. This work has evolved over the last 30 years to become to become a contemporary art structure titled FARE Temenos which has been presented to the Stephen Lawrence Gallery at the University of Greenwich.

The associated legal case IPCC Reference No : 2013/004376, Police Reference No : MOPAC/12/RH21 has reached a critical juncture that has recently seen the IPCC overrule decisions made by Stephen Greenhalgh the Deputy Mayor for Policing & Crime, and for the IPCC to order an investigation into the actions of Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe the Met Commissioner of Police.

I look forward to hearing what Mayor Johnson has to say when I attend the Representation Hearing at City Hall on Monday 31st March 2014 at 16.00.

Yours sincerely


Roy Hobson http://www.mixcloud.com/roy-hobson/ aka "Vesper"


ROY HOBSON CInstCES1990, Grad Dipl QS 1981

Ed said...

Looks like it has been given the green light by Boris

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-03-31/hutchison-whampoa-wins-mayor-s-approval-for-3-500-london-homes