Welcome to your December newsletter from LJAG
The festive season got well underway in Loughborough Junction last weekend with the first ever (to our knowledge) Christmas market taking place. If you're feeling in the mood for more festivities then check out the concerts taking place in Ruskin Park and Myatt's Fields Park over the next couple of weeks - details below.
It's not all festivities though. As you've hopefully heard by now, we were delighted that Lambeth Council's planning committee threw out the planning application by Parritt Leng to redevelop the Higgs Industrial Estate. While this is excellent news, the developers will of course be putting in a new application for this site, so our trustees are working hard to make sure that this is the best possible application for Loughborough Junction. If you'd like to get involved please let us know.
Read more below, and as ever, please get in touch if you'd like to get involved, or have an idea you'd like to share with us: ljactiongroup@gmail.com.
With best wishes
The LJAG Team |
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The Higgs planning battle
A huge thanks to the hundreds of local residents who supported our campaign to get the applications for five tower blocks on the Higgs Industrial Estate (corner of Herne Hill Road and Coldharbour Lane) thrown out. There was an overwhelming view that the right development would be welcomed but that this was not it. There was concern about the height and density of the buildings, safety of roofspaces, the displacement of established and valued businesses, the impact of nearly 500 new residents on an already creaking infrastructure and the fact that the scheme wouldn’t link through to surrounding streets.
LJAG’s campaign won the support of the Dulwich and West Norwood MP Tessa Jowell and local councillors. Herne Hill Ward Councillor Jim Dickson spoke on LJAG’s behalf at Lambeth’s Planning Committee meeting on 25 November and both applications were refused by a majority of 6 to 1. The chair said the development was asking “far too much of the site”.
Loughborough Junction is coming under unprecedented development pressure and we want to help give the community a voice in shaping our area. Lambeth Council is spending £50,000 on a Masterplan for all development sites in LJ and the invitations to tender are about to be sent out to architects. So the process has begun!
But in the meantime, developers Parritt Leng say they will submit another application for the Higgs Site. We hope they will engage in proper consultation with the community this time so please check our website and emails for details of meetings in the New Year.
Help LJAG raise funds by filling in quick survey
Building Communities in Coldharbour is a JP Morgan-funded project in the Coldharbour ward. LJAG will earn £10 for each survey completed up to a maximum of £750, so please spare a moment to fill in the Now We Are Talking questionnaire. The information collected via the survey will help the London Community Foundation (LCF) attract further investment to the programme and will also help inform the project's future strategy and activities so that they fit closely with the priorities identified by local residents. Call Tom Flynn at LCF if you would like a hard copy on 020 7582 5117. Find out more about the project. |
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1,386,290
That is the number of entries and exits at Loughborough Junction Station in the year to March 2014. As the first year when the overground to Denmark Hill was up and running a reduction in useage might have been expected as the Overground opened up new, faster and cheaper routes, yet this was an impressive increase of over 16% from the previous years figure of 1,182,914.
The rail regulator noted "Reason for large increase is unclear". Much of the Sutton/Wimbledon Loop line reported increases as well which helps to explain why one of the local community's major concerns regarding the planning application for the development of the Higgs Triangle site was that the extra people would not be able to get on the trains in the rush hour. Meanwhile TFL replied to the consultation that there were no transport capacity issues at Loughborough Junction!
Some of our trustees will be meeting Govia's Integration and Partnership Manager, Larry Heyman, in the New Year to discuss long overdue and much needed improvements to our station. What do you think? Why do you think numbers increased so much last year, and is the trend continuing?
Tell us about your experience of being one of #LJsardines at @ljaggers1, email ljactiongroup@gmail.com or share a photo of your commute from Loughborough Junction station with us on our Facebook page.
Loughborough House redevelopment
For the past six months construction work on Loughborough House, at 202 Coldharbour Lane, has amazed and horrified neighbours and passengers waiting on the platform for a train.
The Italianate style of the building has now been all but lost in an insensitive redevelopment and extension of the building and its adjacent neighbour. Not only have the workers displayed alarmingly lax attitudes to health and safety, and parts of the facade been seen hanging precariously off of the building causing danger to pedestrians, but the scheme being built looks nothing like the original planning application. Read more.
Loughborough House before work started. |
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Last month's events in Loughborough Junction
Christmas market
The first ever Loughborough Junction Christmas market was held last weekend, on Saturday 6 December at Sunshine International Arts C.A.F.E. A big thank you to all the volunteers, stallholders, Lambeth Council and people who came along, and in particular to Ray from Sunshine International Arts, without whom the market would never have happened. See more photos from the day.
Thank Goodness for Pizza
The sun shone and the master chefs were out in force churning out a fantastic array of the tastiest toppings when Loughborough Farm celebrated Thanksgiving with a Thank Goodness for Pizza day on Saturday 29 November. Read more.
Living a fit and healthy life 
We teamed up with local GP surgeries to run a Live a fit and healthy life big health day recently. The event at the Harry Caddick Centre, on Tuesday 25 November, gave residents a chance to get a health MOT, have their blood pressure checked or talk to health professionals from other agencies. Fraser Searle (pictured) was illuminating with his tips for keeping warm through the chilly months. Read more about what was on offer.
Dame Tessa Jowell visits local business incubator
Our local MP visited Hatch, an enterprise incubator (based in the Shakespeare Biz Centre, Loughborough Junction) dedicated to helping new businesses to realise their full potential. Hatch entrepreneurs recently presented at The Big Ideas event held in association with Capita and some even got the chance to pitch in front of real life investors – some for the first time! Dame Tessa Jowell was shown around the Impact Hub where weekly sessions are held where she chatted to staff and entrepreneurs, and heard about the new technology and training that is being offered as part of the partnership with Microsoft. Read more.
Solar panels created by Loughborough Estate residents
On Saturday, 22 November, 15 Loughborough Estate residents and neighbours gathered at the Loughborough Centre to make three solar panels each powerful enough to charge a mobile phone. Organised by Brixton Energy, they learnt about how solar panels work and plans to try and get the energy being generated from those already up on the roofs of Elmore House and Style Gardens directly supplied to the residents of those blocks. There followed three industrious hours (broken by a very tasty organic lunch provided by Angela) of soldering and glueing which produced three working solar panels!
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