RUMOURS: CINEMA AND NANDOS COMING TO SYDENHAM

[Ghlpc]

Fitzrovia, Wandsworth, Fulham, Putney...

Beckenham, Wimbledon, Tooting...

All have a Nandos.

Sorry I must have missed something....people think our high street is buzzing and can obviously pick and choose what businesses open up here?

Seriously, we bemoan the empty units and when something half decent comes along there is opposition to it?

I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert in planning laws and legislation, and I'm sure there are some valid reasons why this application is being looked at....as discussed here but tbh its very difficult to separate the fact from fiction (opinions and hearsay).

But to someone who just cares about their area amd what to see it thrive and grow, I will be disappointed if this doesn't happen..

And you know what....I don't even like Nandos!!

[syd]

We seem to be building a head of steam on this one. Some people have questions to answer. Can someone contact the Cllr for a response?

[syd]

Up and down the country high streets are becoming more or less identical. It may be a minority view, but I'd prefer a high street that looked less like Basingstoke or Lincoln High Street, Slough or Hartlepool. I find it more depressing than having the odd empty shop.

This is an entirely legitimate view, made no less legitimate because it is not popular. Sometimes things need to be said. We're sleep-walking into a corporate vacuum! But press on, nevertheless, if it is to be the collective wish.

Seriously we live in a world city but this pocket called Sydenham is peculiar as it has so much untapped potential as a zone 3 area on the tube. Sydenham reminds me of Brixton 20 years ago a bit rough round the edges but a great mix of people who belong. I just feel the council are taking the piss maybe someone is trying to keep land values down. Are there any large vacant plots in Sydenham?

[prince]

Maybe some of us should start saying Pizza Express is as unhealthy as Dominos Pizza and see if we can still harp-on with this rhetoric.

I hate all the chains to be honest, Parker - but if there's evidence of that in bald statistics go for your life. I wouldn't eat in PE any more than Nando's.

The food arguments were brought up by the local councillor - she indicated they had relevance to the application process.

Hi Rod,

Questions about obesity have no relevance to this application. The council's local plan policy justifies limiting the number of takeaways to tackle obesity. The application for Nandos is for a restaurant not a takeaway and therefore the question about obesity should be given very little, if any weight, to The application.

I agree that it is depressing to see so many national chains on some of the Country's high streets and it would be nice to have more independents, but this is down to market forces. We can't change this.

I also don't think that we really have the luxury of being so choosy about who can invest here. National retailers will look at Experian data within a local area in choosing where to invest. This data breaks down households into certain demographic groups. Based on our current demographics, it is ideal for a company like Nandos, Poundland etc to invest but frankly we have little chance of attracting companies like M & S food, Waitrose, carluccios etc.

[parker]

We seem to be building a head of steam on this one. Some people have questions to answer. Can someone contact the Cllr for a response?

For those that do not know, if you want your voice heard you should be contacting all three of our councillors.

Chris Best
cllr_chris.best@lewisham.gov.uk
020 8676 9516

Liam Curran
cllr_liam.curran@lewisham.gov.uk
020 8314 6937

Rachel Onikosi
cllr_rachel.onikosi@lewisham.gov.uk
020 8314 9957

[syd]

I've email the Cilrs and asked them to respond here. It will be interesting to see why a global brand isn't good enough for a high street where the largest store is closed

[Pally]

I agree we don't want bad or uninformed decisions ....Chris's reply was helpful in updating ....Im still not sure why it all takes so lon and the conversation about "stopping" and "Pizza Express" reported in another post on this thread is a bit concerning!

[syd]

Moderator can you make this a sticky?

[admin]

Syd opined: "Moderator can you make this a sticky?"

Not sure why? This board isn't overwhelmed with rival threads at the minute, is it?

[syd]

Oh I thought you'd know being the mod and all that

[prince]

Earlier this month I made a freedom of information request with regard to this application. The Council has a statutory duty to respond within 20 working days and I finally got a response today - on the 33rd working day. Better late than never I thought.

However on reading the response I found that the information I received was incomplete with missing documentation which should have been provided.

I have therefore appealed and have been informed that the Council will endeavour to respond to me within a further 20 working days. I patiently wait...

[Pally]

Earlier this month I made a freedom of information request with regard to this application. The Council has a statutory duty to respond within 20 working days and I finally got a response today - on the 33rd working day. Better late than never I thought.

However on reading the response I found that the information I received was incomplete with missing documentation which should have been provided.

I have therefore appealed and have been informed that the Council will endeavour to respond to me within a further 20 working days. I patiently wait...

Hmmmm!!

[parker]

Moderator can you make this a sticky?

I second making this a sticky now too. This is important for the future of Sydenham, on a par with the Greyhound.

[prince]

I also very much support this being made a sticky.

[leenewham]

Yep, make it a sticky.

[syd]

The rebellion has begun

[mosy]

Arghh, please don't jinx it by the curse of an eternal sticky, if experience from the Greyhound sticky dated Nov 2014 is anything to go by. I don't think people have given up on it - have they?

[stuart]

If the Admin decides to do it - could they amend the title to add the year the date it was supposed to have opened?
What are the odds The Greyhound will open first?

Stuart

[Pally]

Ummmm...what is a sticky??!!

[stuart]

Ummmm...what is a sticky??!!

The Greyhound thread is a sticky. It stays at the top even if no-one posts for a while so it doesn't drift down and get lost - and we get multiple threads on the same subject. You can recognise a sticky by the triangle box next to it.

Only the Admin can make a thread sticky - and remember to unstick it when it has run its course. You know when The Greyhound is open and Trump is history. Ancient history.

Stuart