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This is the first
glimpse of the new Greyhound plans being submitted today (19/11/2008) to
Lewisham. It shows a retained Greyhound. This is surrounded by a courtyard with
retail outlets topped by flats. While the intensity of building may not be to
everybody's taste - this probably is inevitable given the need to finance the
development and meet Lewisham's housing targets.
Importantly - if the
retail units are of superior quality and can be let - this will lead to a major
and very welcome expansion for shopping in Sydenham.
The old Greyhound was closed amongst great acrimony in
August 2007. The developers intimated they intended to demolish and replace
with flats. The Sydenham Society, the Mayor and others embarked on a ferocious
campaign to stop it. The council stepped in and imposed a conservation order
which froze any planned demolition. The developers threatened legal action and
the ugly grey boarding looked to become a semi-permanent part of Sydenham's
gateway.
But cooler heads prevailed. The owners of the site took
back management of the project and consulted pro-actively with the Council,
Sydenham Society and others. As you can see the result is a very big change in
the nature of the proposed development. Done well (and soon) this could be the
real start of the regeneration of Sydenham Road & Kirkdale.
Please remember - this is not the final plan. Lewisham
will consult. You do have a say ... as will SydSoc who very graciously shared
these images with us. They will have their full Newsletter story on their
website «www.sydenhamsociety.com»
or your letterbox shortly. Here is a snippet:
"Our initial response
was to welcome the imaginative ideas being put forward for such an important
town centre site. We did make some critical comments and were advised by the
architects that these would be taken into
consideration"
Disaster averted? Well the devil is in the detail and
we have yet to see the final plans. We hope to publish them here. We also hope
a model of the development will shortly go on display at the Kirkdale Bookshop
for you all to see. So what do you think? Please let us have your first
impressions here:
for comment
As it was ...
As it is now...
As it may be ...
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