RebuildTheGreyhound - pub to be rebuilt by April 2015?

[Sydenham Society]

Greyhound latest – it looks as though we’ve made a breakthrough! John Miller, Lewisham's Head of Planning, sent the email below to Pat Trembath on Friday afternoon, in response to a question from her regarding the timetable for rebuilding. As you can see, the content of the message is pretty conclusive. We’ve double-checked with John regarding its confidentiality – he’s confirmed that it’s not confidential hence we’re sharing it here.

John Miller wrote: “... we have written again to the owners' solicitors to ask them to submit their detailed proposals urgently and we received a response from them on Wednesday. This confirmed that they are in the process of submitting detailed plans and a detailed Schedule of Works together with an s96A application with the intention of completing the development by April of next year.”

An s96A application allows the local authority to agree changes to an already consented planning application without going through the process of putting the application before a planning committee. In this case it would allow the basement, conservatory, beer hatch etc to be approved without further delay.

The view of the core campaign group is that we should cautiously welcome this latest turn of events while at the same time keeping a close eye on the site and keeping up the pressure on the Council and the owners.

Annabel McLaren, Chair, Sydenham Society

[Pally]

Good news; lets hope ....

[mosy]

Many thanks to Sydenham Society for the update.

Certainly good news that the council is keeping the pressure on. It would seem that its power is limited though since merely requesting urgency of an owner and developer who seems to be in a permanent state of "in the process of..." and "with the intention of...".

Incidentally, would that be the same communication that was referred to at the last Mayor and Cabinet meeting, or one received subsequently? Ta.

[nasaroc]

This is a second communication from the developer.

The first letter from the developer in response to the council's threat of legal action arrived on the day before the last M&C meeting on 22 October. We couldn't see it for commercial reasons but John Miller, Head of Planning summarised its contents at the meeting as follows - "We intend to get back on site promptly and rebuild but we are worried that if you make us rebuild according to the 2010 permission, we can't have a basement or a conservatory."

The planning department then wrote back to the developer and assured them that they would agree these additions via an s96A application (where you can agree changes to a permission without the time consuming need to go back to committee) but that they needed to see the developer's timetable to rebuild.

The developer then wrote back in a letter received last Wednesday saying that the timetable would be with the council promptly and that they intended to complete the work by April 2015.

I agree that we've seen too many "we intend tos"... and "we are just in the process ofs".. in this saga. But we need to balance this against the judgement of the head of planning who, with the entire hierarchy of the council and of the local community sitting on his shoulder, is very clear and confident that the developer is shortly heading back on site.

We clearly need to keep up the pressure but on the face of things this looks very hopeful. The next 10 days or so should produce a timetable and then we will be one step nearer.


Barry Milton

[mosy]

Ah, thank you nasaroc. Very encouraging

[Nigel]

Brilliant news , well done everyone involved - cautious optimism at least called for - personally happy to put a monkey , duty paid, on the Greyhound opening for business soon.
A very good evening
Nigel

[JRobinson]

April 2015 - I hope to be enjoying a beer there on opening night.

[KEVD]

Let's hope this finally gets done.

[robbieduncan]

Fantastic news and congratulations to the campaign. April 2015 seems very optimistic. I can imagine the building being complete but the pub then taking 2+ months of fit out from then. Still could be open in summer...

[Pat Trembath]

And I have an email from the planning consultants saying that the arrival of scaffolding is imminent....

[G-Man]

That's really exciting Pat.

Great stuff.

G-Man

[Maria]

I will join you Jon on opening night - but mine is a glass of red wine.

Trying to get my head round this... it's just such fantastic news, at long last. Many, many thanks to Sydenham Society

[Parker1970]

Well, as I live opposite the site of the Greyhound, I can confirm that a parking suspension is now in force for 1 space in the bay directly opposite from now until 8th December for "Building Works" so it would seem that a space is now reserved for the truck they are going to need at least, can't see anything else going on, unless its for the new build homes further down.

[mosy]

Are you sure the space isn't for the wine bar(*) next to the bridge on which building work has been in full swing again lately? Just a thought as they have reserved spaces before for large equipment.
(*) We learn it's now being offered as a retail unit of some sort instead.

I'll ask if I can when passing, but conversely I'd have expected to see "relevant inspection people"(?) milling on the Greyhound site - or at least some activity - if they'd reserved the space...

[biscuitman1978]

Are you sure the space isn't for the wine bar(*) next to the bridge on which building work has been in full swing again lately? Just a thought as they have reserved spaces before for large equipment.

Yes, I think you're right.

Hopefully the scaffolding will arrive soon and work will begin before too long, though I suspect Purelake are making sure that all i's are dotted and t's are crossed before they get back on site.

Latest news article (published online yesterday) is at http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/11591212._/

[revilocountry]

this has made my Friday
!

[biscuitman1978]

Before work can begin some minor changes are required to the original planning permission under which Purelake will be rebuilding the Greyhound.

A planning application which seeks permission for those minor changes has now been submitted and can be viewed at
http://planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online- ... CAPR_76611

The changes to the original planning permission would, if approved, allow:
1. The retention of the enlarged basement
2. The omission of a window on the rear elevation (as the tiled mural has already been installed on the wall where the window would have been inserted)
3. A change to the approved flank elevation so that the proposed sliding door matches the size of the opening
4. Construction of a new chimney to allow ventilation of the basement kitchen

The Council is aiming to make a decision on the application by 28 November 2014.

[admin]

And a special bonus - maybe. Check out the bottom image on our story here: http://sydenham.org.uk/rebuildthegreyhound-success/

Admin

[Parker1970]

I live over the road on the 1st floor so I can see over the green hoarding and I can now confirm.....

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<Tense Pause>

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The scaffolders are in.

[Rachael]

A HUGE round of applause to everyone involved with the campaign. It just goes to show what a bit of publicity and publicly exerted pressure can do. I hope the people who thought it better knocked down (quite understandably, when it was such an eyesore) are proved wrong when we get a vibrant new pub / eatery on the site. At one stage I was one of those doubters, but seeing how the pocket parks are used (or not, as the case may be), I think an open space instead of The Greyhound would not be a good option.

It does make me wonder what the hold up actually was, if it could be resolved so quickly.