"Unsightly" New Cross hoarding on the way out
Lewisham officers refused another extension, judging the hoarding to be "poor quality, unsightly, and contributing towards anti-social behaviours".
For over three years, visitors to Waldron Health Centre, or commuters exiting New Cross Station have come face to face with a wooden hoarding, 2.4 metres high, and colourfully decorated by local graffiti artists. But the hoarding might finally be coming down, as on 8 October Lewisham council ruled against an application for a three year extension with a scathing report.
It judged: “The existing hoarding clearly has the visual properties of a temporary feature. It is well weathered and finished in graffiti.
The appearance of the hoarding detracts from the appearance of the local area. It contributes to a distinct sense of enclosure around the public realm and appears visually untidy that makes the area feel unfinished and forgotten".
The site is on the corner of Douglas Way and Amersham Vale. On 15 April, Lewisham council issued a Breach of Condition Notice, instructing the landowner to remove the temporary hoarding from the site.
The owner then applied for an extension of an additional three years.
In 2004, the overall site received planning permission for the construction of a single to four-storey building to provide a health centre, together with retail/food & drink units, and a part four-/part five-storey block of flats with 41 car parking spaces, with access onto Stanley Street.
Though the health centre with retail spaces was built, with construction ending in 2010, the accommodation above a further retail unit has not materialised.
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The officer’s report states that the development had received consent from Thames Water to carry out an intrusive ground investigation for the residential block, but that four years have passed which the officers considered ample time.
It further states: “The National Planning Policy Guidance sets out that it will rarely be justifiable to grant a second temporary permission. In this instance, officers consider that there is no justification for the granting of another temporary permission.
"The existing hoarding is poor quality, unsightly, and contributing towards anti-social behaviours. A permanent solution is required at the site. As such, officers consider the principle of a further temporary permission at the site to be unacceptable in principle.”
