Cohousing in Sydenham - Featherstone Lodge

[annabel mclaren]

Featherstone Cohousing is situated at 1-1a Eliot Bank, near the junction of Sydenham Hill and Kirkdale. It is a large Victorian lodge with spacious grounds which could provide 33 spacious self-contained apartments and houses. Members of Featherstone Cohousing are holding an Open Day on Saturday 27th July, from 2pm-5pm. This will be a chance for you to look round the lodge and the site and view the proposed plans for the first cohousing community in South London. You will be welcome to talk to members of the community about their vision for establishing an ecological community that encourages independent living whilst sharing common spaces, social activities and extending them into the community.
For more on Featherstone Lodge, the history of the house and the cohousing scheme, go to:
http://www.featherstonecohousing.co.uk

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[marymck]

Bump. Great chance to learn more about a potentially fantastic new way of thinking about housing.

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[Eagle]

Anabel
Is this the lovely mansion on top of the lane from Dartmouth Rd to Sydenham Hill.
Used to pass many times on my journeys to Wood House before it became to ponsey.

[Tim Lund]

Bump. Great chance to learn more about a potentially fantastic new way of thinking about housing.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

I'm hoping to go along to this, but the Dacres Wood Open Day is already taking up a fair bit of my weekend.

I'm interested to know what is new about this, "the first cohousing community in South London" according to Annabel. From the link she gives we learn that

Members of cohousing communities have their own self-contained dwellings, and live their own private lives as they would anywhere.

However for cohousing communities to work, there must also be a clear and conscious intention of members to be active participants in the community, e.g. by helping with the gardening, or contributing to a shared meal, or helping a physically frail member carry their recyclables to the collection point. The result is that everyone benefits from a stronger sense of neighbourliness.

but I'm sure this is not the first time anyone has ever tried to do this in South London - there must be any number of housing arrangements over the centuries where mutual obligations over and above private occupation have been defined as part of the lease or tenancy agreement.

For me there are two important questions.

First, are such mutual obligations best defined formally, or can as good a sense of community arise among people who just happen to find themselves as neighbours, and do people want to have to go through the process of being sized up as suitable described here?

Second, does it create more accommodation overall, so help to relieve London's housing shortage? As readers of the Forum will know, I think humans are naturally sociable, or naturally as sociable as they want to be, so I feel uneasy about formal rules specifying how people should form into "communities". "New ways of thinking about housing" should be more concrete, and explicitly address the question of how housing densities can be increased while ensuring that any changes to the physical structure also promotes sociability. Formal legal arrangements are still important, but if that extends to saying who can and cannot be part of the community, it becomes exclusive in the way of a gated community.

[marymck]

Anabel
Is this the lovely mansion on top of the lane from Dartmouth Rd to Sydenham Hill.
Used to pass many times on my journeys to Wood House before it became to ponsey.

Eagle, I'm not sure about the lane but this is the location, lifted from the link in the original post ...

Featherstone Lodge, 1-1a Eliot Bank, SE23

Featherstone Lodge is situated at the top of Eliot Bank, near the junction of Sydenham Hill and Kirkdale. It is a large Victorian house which could provide about 8 spacious self-contained apartments.

The house also has a vast and beautiful garden. There is the potential to add a further 25 dwellings around this garden without detracting from its appearance.

It's open from 2 to 5 this afternoon.

[JaneD]

Does anyone know how this project is going? I've looked at the Featherstone Lodge website but it is very out of date, advertising meetings from last July. Also the 'Contact Us' page is not working. My friend is very interested in joining. Thanks for any info.

[Manwithaview1]

Anabel
Is this the lovely mansion on top of the lane from Dartmouth Rd to Sydenham Hill.
Used to pass many times on my journeys to Wood House before it became to ponsey.

Eagle, I'm not sure about the lane but this is the location, lifted from the link in the original post ...

Featherstone Lodge, 1-1a Eliot Bank, SE23

Featherstone Lodge is situated at the top of Eliot Bank, near the junction of Sydenham Hill and Kirkdale. It is a large Victorian house which could provide about 8 spacious self-contained apartments.

The house also has a vast and beautiful garden. There is the potential to add a further 25 dwellings around this garden without detracting from its appearance.

It's open from 2 to 5 this afternoon.

There was a council meeting about this last October

http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/ ... ingId=2912

Extra Care Housing Plans pdf icon PDF 53 KB
Decision:
RESOLVED: That the report and presentation be noted; and the following be provided to the Committee: (a) information on the parking allowance at the Heathside and Lethbridge development; and (b) the plans for the Sydenham development (Featherstone Lodge).

Minutes:
3.1 Genevieve Macklin gave a powerpoint presentation on the Council’s Older People’s Housing Strategy and plans for extra care housing. In response to questions from the Committee, the following points were noted:

· Older people were able to access shared ownership housing designated for older people without the need for a mortgage if, for example, they owned their current property and could release equity.
· Housing and adult Social Care worked in a very joined up fashion and shared the costs of certain services such as the handypersons service.
· The housing preferences of older people varied: some older people wished to be integrated into the wider community and have designated housing alongside housing for other sections of the community, whilst others preferred to be in blocks exclusively designated for older people.
· Housing worked very closely with Planning on the details of each scheme to make sure, for example, that the schemes were near to transport hubs and had adequate parking for visitors.
· Some schemes would mean an increase in rent, but officers were working to keep rents at the Council’s target social rent level and whilst rents might be higher than current levels they would still be affordable.
· People over the age of 62 were exempt from many of the new welfare reforms such as under-occupancy (the ‘bedroom tax’).
· Planning permission for the Hazlehurst Court scheme being developed by Phoenix was expected in Spring and the scheme needed to be completed by March 2017. Officers were currently working to ensure suitable facilities would be available on-site.
· The Featherstone Lodge development in Sydenham would consist of 1 and 2 bed units.
· The name of the Lewisham Park scheme – Chiddingstone – would be reconsidered in light of the concerns raised by the Vice Chair of the Committee.
· The Older People’s Housing Strategy was nearing completion and a draft would be ready for consultation within the next few months.
· Consideration would be given in all schemes to community spaces and the possibility of communal broadband access.
· The demand for almshouses had reduced, as that type of accommodation was often expensive and many were considered out of date.

3.2 RESOLVED: That the report and presentation be noted; and the following be provided to the Committee: (a) information on the parking allowance at the Heathside and Lethbridge development; and (b) the plans for the Sydenham development (Featherstone Lodge).

[Manwithaview1]

Prince Harry visited in 2002

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1757604.stm

The head of the drug rehab clinic visited by Prince Harry said the young royal would have "learnt a lot" from his visit.
Featherstone Lodge is run by Phoenix House Treatment Service For Drug Dependency, a national charity for drug and alcohol users.

Bill Puddicombe, chief executive of the charity, said: "As we understood, it was an opportunity for the Prince of Wales to teach Prince Harry about our work and the consequences of taking drugs.


He came for a couple of hours on a day in late summer and talked to several people in recovery - heroin and cocaine addicts mostly

Bill Puddicombe

"He came for a couple of hours on a day in late summer and talked to several people in recovery - heroin and cocaine addicts mostly.

"They told him what had happened in their lives, which must have been quite harrowing for him."

Mr Puddicombe said the young prince had been friendly and relaxed, and the residents had responded well to him.

He added: "I spoke to the prince in November and was pleased to hear that Harry had enjoyed his visit and learnt a lot.

"We are very proud of the work we do at our rehabilitation centres and Featherstone Lodge was one of the first of its kind in the country.

"It has helped an enormous amount of people, and we are pleased if the visit helped Prince Harry too."

The rehab process

The clinic - a converted house set in its own extensive grounds in south-east London - takes up to 31 clients at any one time.

Residential rehabilitation can be a lengthy process, with lodge stays usually lasting about six months.

Prince Harry
Prince Harry: Chatted to recovering addicts
Clients must first go through detoxification and deal with withdrawal symptoms.

They then embark on a staged programme to learn how to be self-reliant and responsible for themselves without drugs, using both group and one-to-one therapy, and practical training.

Early work focuses upon building practical life-skills, such as cooking, cleaning and budgeting, and getting used to a routine.

Clients are encouraged to pursue hobbies and interests, with a wide range of activities on offer.

Later stages push clients towards independent living, by for instance giving them responsibilities within the centre, and sending them out on work placements and college courses.

In the final months service users begin the move back into the community, via halfway houses, housing schemes and aftercare service.

Phoenix House says its services are open to any drug and alcohol user. People can either refer themselves, or be referred by a professional.

[Blushingsnail]

Does anyone know how this project is going?

Funnily enough I've been wondering about this myself recently.

According to Lewisham's planning webpages the application has been withdrawn. There isn't a record of a new application having been submitted.

[Blushingsnail]

There's a new planning application for Featherstone Lodge: http://planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online- ... CAPR_73409

I don't yet know how different it is to the first one.