In Dartmouth Road there were applications to change the use of three separate retail units into a financial service, an office, and a bar. Although they have been empty for years and it is great news that new businesses want to open here, we were concerned about the loss of units for retail. Lewisham has guidelines about maintaining a mix of uses in town centres to encourage shopping. We expect that the new swimming pools will increase passing trade and help to revitalise Dartmouth Road, so we don't want too many retail units to disappear.
In Honor Oak Park we objected to two applications on the shopping parade. The first was Domino's Pizza wanting to open a pizza delivery outlet in the former Old Bank restaurant. There was a lot of local opposition and we took the view that it was poor use of a prime location, and there were concerns about parking and noise from the delivery bikes. Lewisham refused the application on those grounds. The applicant appealed against the decision. This was dismissed on the basis of unsatisfactory parking for the delivery bikes.
The second application on the HOP parade was for three units to be combined into one unit for a supermarket (thought to be a chain) with flats above. Local opinion was divided: some feared a supermarket would be detrimental to existing shops, while others thought it would benefit the parade by encouraging more people to shop there. We came to the conclusion that the new unit would probably be good for the area, but some of the flats above had poor layouts and we therefore submitted an objection setting out our concerns about that. Lewisham are yet to decide whether to grant the application.
Contact planning@foresthillsociety.com.
See www.foresthillsociety.com/search/label/Planning for all applications in which we have been involved.
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