Nearly 140 flats were given the go-ahead in Bermondsey and Peckham by Southwark Council this week, despite fears of loss of sunlight from local residents.
Pocket Living got permission to build up to 117 homes in a tower block that will reach a maximum of eleven floors on Ossory Road in north Peckham and 22 flats in a nine-storey building called Credon House in Bermondsey’s Verney Road, at a planning meeting on Wednesday night (February 2).
As we reported in September, the Bermondsey development will be all homes for social rent, while the Ossory Road block will be sold privately by the developer, with 20 per cent sold at a discount. Put together, the application for both blocks has 50 per cent of flats for social rent or discounted sale, Pocket Living said.
Some people living near the Verney Road block are worried about the effect on their sunlight and have collected 50 signatures on a petition against the development.
Old Kent Road: plans in for new tower blocks in Bermondsey and Peckham despite Bakerloo Line delays
Dan, who lives in nearby Batwa House, told the planning committee: “This week we were blessed with sunshine and light streaming through our windows on Varcoe Road.
“That light will be gone once Pocket Living has completed their project, the Credon House nine-storey tower. The Credon House tower block will simply be shrouding us who already live here at Batwa House in darkness.
“We, the neighbours who live opposite the site, have collected 50 signatures representing 50 local households objecting to the development of Credon House.”
Dan added that he thought the new development would make the area overcrowded.
One woman who lives in Pocket Living’s existing development on Varcoe Road spoke out in favour of the application at the planning meeting.
Anne said her flat, which she bought at Pocket’s discounted rate, had given her an opportunity to get on the housing ladder, without which she might have had to leave London.
Pocket development director told the News last year that the company was not worried about the stalled Bakerloo Line extension, which would have run along the Old Kent Road near both developments, as the company’s unusual business model made public transport less of a concern. Pocket’s buyers have to either live or work in the borough that they buy in.
Recent laws have been rather clear on the division of money between your sons and daughters in the case where you’re selling your house, and Islamic laws are especially important in this regard. But there can still be some complications attached with the whole prospect of division, it just isn’t as easy as you’d imagine.