The devil's in the detail with planning applications

An application (12/00054/FUL) has been made by Dolphin Square Foundation for 130 - 138 Newington Butts (just before Cycling Superhighway 7 northbound branches onto Courtyard Row to avoid the E&C roundabout).

The proposal, which I broadly support, is for

“the demolition and redevelopment of the site comprising a part five storey, part six storey building and basement for the purpose of 76 residential units comprising 41 x 1-bed, 29 x 2-bed, 4 x 3-bed and 2 x 4-bed units, together with 500 sq m GEA of retail (Class A1) use."

Given the excellent public transport they intend to provide no car parking spaces, beyond disabled parking, and one cycle parking space per residential unit in line with the minimum standards required by Lambeth. One may quibble about whether this is enough. Encouragingly the cycle parking is on the ground floor, rather than down a flight of stairs in the basement as I've seen in other planning applications.

However the photo above shows one of the planned rooms. There may be enough room for the bikes but it's going to be a battle to get them in or out. There's a narrow central aisle with a single door exit (note the bin store has a double door) which opens onto a tree.

Below shows a bit of the wider plan. It appears that you leave your flat, go out of the front door onto the street then enter the building by another door to go through the narrow door to the narrow aisle to wrestle your bike out of its stand while hoping no-one else is trying to do likewise. It's not really making cycling the quick and easy transport option.

 The plans also show no intent to provide Sheffield Stands outside the flats for short-stay use by visitors dropping in to pick something up. A similar situation has resulted at the nearby Dugard Way development I commented on recently.

The second bicycle store, while still let down by the single door to enter/exit that discourages child trailer use, for example, thankfully has more ample proportions.

The final concerns I raised, using the measly 500 characters that Lambeth Planning allocate for on-line comments on planning applications, relate to the food store planned on Newington Butts. I asked for more pavement cycle stands than planned, given it's on a cycling superhighway, and sought reassurance that the store would not be restocked by lorries parking in the bus lane-come-cyclesuperhighway.

Let's see how this plans develops (and I hope the food store isn't another Tesco,)

Three reasons not to shop at Tesco in Kennington

(beyond objecting to their monopolistic ambitions in the Kennington area)

1. You can't park because of their rubbish - a regular occurrence at the first local store (photo today)

2. Drivers using their store, or making deliveries to it, park on the cycle path rather than on the highway - a regular occurrence at a second local store (Tesco's cash van pictured yesterday).

3. Drivers waiting to unload block the cycle path - a regular occurrence at a third local store (photos from the past week)

The unspeakable arrogance of Tesco

SE11 Action Team reports that a Tesco Express is coming to the former bingo hall near the Texaco garage on Kennington Road in 2012, and publish Tesco's press release which says,
'Not only will it keep people shopping in the area but is extremely convenient for residents and workers and those people who have no transport or those preferring to shop on foot. We believe it will benefit the area by encouraging people to shop locally and also cut down on car journeys to other shopping areas.'

This is only true if you want to shop at Tesco, which I don't.

It's becoming a struggle to do otherwise locally though as the new Tesco will be a stone's throw from their large Kennington Lane store, and near their Kennington Park Road, Elephant and Castle shopping centre, and Vauxhall Cross St George's stores.

The density of Tesco shops are likely to put other local shops out of business and dissuade another supermarket chain from moving in. The consequence, contrary to the spokesdroid's statement, is that I'm likely to be forced to shop further afield to find stores I'd choose to use.

Tesco tedium

Following on from my last post, there isn't an email address for Tesco Kennington on Tesco's website so I filled in Tesco Customer Services' online form. Below is the email I received in response requiring me to make contact again, whereas they could have simply forwarded my complaint internally. Now, I wonder where I put those old-fangled envelopes?

I am very sorry to hear that a Tesco lorry was obstructing a cycle lane.


For us to look into this issue and address the matter with the driver concerned, please could I ask you to give our Well Drive line a call on 0800 22 55 33.

With regards to a response from the Store Manager, I am afraid you will have to write to the Store Manager directly. If you could use the address below:

Kennington
Kennington Lane
London
SE11 5QU

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding this issue.

Why I bypass shopping at Tesco Kennington

 Today, on my way back from shopping at a rival to Tesco that I prefer to frequent I was forced to a halt because of a Tesco lorry parked on a double yellow line totally obstructing the cycle track in Vauxhall Street. This is one reason I shop elsewhere.

The driver could have found a sensible place to park and Tesco could have called his mobile when the store was ready to receive his load.

Instead Tesco are happy to place cyclists' lives at risk - this is after all part of London Cycle Network Route 3 - a backstreet route intended to be appealing and safe for inexperienced cyclists such as children. Needless to say this is not a one-off incidence but a frequent occurrence at this store.

I'm emailing the store manager to ask why the suggestion I make above is not already in place, and to ensure that it or a similar equivalent will be put in place and the situation never arise again. I'll publish his/her reply.