Moving from where?
When Travis Perkins open at Bell Green are they closing Forest Hill branch ?
Maybe just moving ‘in’? I don’t know if Travis Perkins are moving ‘from’ anywhere, but they already own Toolstation, also on the Bell Green Retail Park, and are looking to imminently ‘demerge’ from Wickes which is just up the road towards Catford, as well as the Malham/Stanstead Road Travis Perkins @se23blue mentions.
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The SGasworks account suggested TP were moving to Bell Green to avoid the ULEZ. I asked them which one and they said Catford. TP have confirmed that neither Catford SE6, or event Forest Hill SE23 (both inside the ULEZ) are closing.
So I guess just another Travis Perkins location at Bell Green.
Doesn’t it seem unlikely that Travis Perkins would confirm a store closure when the replacement hasn’t even broken ground yet? Not that I don’t trust corporate PR departments (ahem - Aldi with 100% green power, to circle back to the topic at hand!)
Time will tell what the eventual outcome is, but I would speculate the area might be a bit dense with Travis Perkins retail if/when a new one opens on Bell Green Retail park.
James Evans tweets about a planning application from Aldi for the ‘temporary 12 month’ installation of generators in an enclosure at the store front:
The application is DC/20/115852 and looks very much like a retrospective application for the present installation, though doesn’t exactly acknowledge this - it’s also unclear, if granted, when the 12 months of permission would be counted to start.
Currently there are 2 objections registered on the website.
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The status of the planning application for the generators was updated yesterday:
| Status | Decided |
| Decision | Withdrawn by Applicant |
| Decision Issued Date | Tue 25 Aug 2020 |
The application was received on 24 Feb 2020 and was for a 12 month temporary installation of the generators. 6 months later the application has been withdrawn with 5 objections listed on the Council’s website.
I can’t help but feel disappointed that the planning application wasn’t reviewed at least within the normal 3 month timeframe and the diesel generators stopped.
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I still can’t believe anyone would use diesel as a primary power generation source!
I did note your post from Feb - I had no idea Sainsbury’s had so many panels on the roof - they must have a few hundred! That’s at least half a MegaWatt I would think. I can’t find anything online about it so I presume it’s private and they use it to power the store. Excellent. Plenty of space to add some more too. Aldi should get with the program.
Also google need to update their imagery - the gas holders are still there, gone in real life… 
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If we assume 200W/m2 at peak times they would require a 50*50m2 panel. Would be nice to have 1/2 MW
I was assuming 150w per panel. Lost count around 100 panels. Estimated 3-400. Guessing 1/2 MW
Apart from the other key issues of air pollution, high carbon and noise I can’t believe this is an economically sound way to power the store? I wonder why they aren’t making alternative arrangements - surely more cost effective in the long run!
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The weird thing is that the gasometers had their own unused substation, surely there is enough power feed for aldi
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They also had planning permission granted some time ago (DC/19/113670, granted October 2019) to build a mini-substation to the side of the premise.
Perhaps the combination of diesel power + Covid took any urgency away from sorting things out properly.
I asked Lewisham planning and my local Councillors for an update about these diesel generators, given that there is now no planning application or permission for their site, and here’s a summary of the informative responses.
The planning application for the temporary generators (DC/20/115852) was apparently withdrawn as Aldi have agreed a legal position with UK Power Networks to reconnect the store to the grid. The current unauthorised installation should therefore be removed by the end of October, though the reconnection is expected sooner than that. An investigation by Lewisham Planning Enforcement will therefore remain open until that time.
Cllr @John_Paschoud said he was personally confident the planning application would likely have been rejected, while the Planning Officer said the operation of ‘a large and low cost supermarket that many local residents used during a pandemic situation’ had been a consideration in the planning departments balance on the case - which indeed makes a difficult position for everyone involved. I can only imagine how controversial it would have been if Aldi were forced to close during the last few months, noting this case started in January before Covid was even on our radar.
Of course this doesn’t excuse the pollution made by Aldi’s massive generators and Cllr Paschoud also noted that environmental damage cannot easily be undone, but that Lewisham Council lack any powers to oblige irresponsible businesses to compensate those affected.
Indeed we can hope that Aldi will carbon offset for the diesel used, though that doesn’t help with NOx emissions and particulate, all of which could have been avoided with better planning on their part, or opening the store only when everything it needed was in place.
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Do you know what generators they are? Not all generators are equal and the latest Stage 5 are pretty good with emission control. Not ideal but not exactly belching out soot.
Not entirely sure, no. I think @swagger once had an idea based on the pictures up thread but can’t find the post now.
It’s going to be in this range though: https://www.mems.com/generators/ If you can figure out the model, you can find the engine - the one I guessed was a Perkins 404-D22 engine, “EU Stage IIIA/U.S. EPA Tier 4 Interim equivalent”.
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Okay - turns out I guessed wrong. I’m told it’s the 300 KVA offloadable which is actually a Bruno generator rebadged:
That one has a Cummins QSL9-G7 engine which meets the emissions ratings of EU Stage IIIA, EPA Tier 3 & 2g TA Luft.
So not the best, but not a belcher. Let’s face it, not an ideal scenario but it kept the store open, people employed and the public supplied.
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Yes - I think given the background of Covid-19 that is what planning had to weigh up and probably did the most reasonable thing. Of course, this still doesn’t excuse the poor planning and contingency shown by Aldi which created this situation in the first place and I see on Twitter some calls for them to do something ‘green’ locally to make up for it.
Perhaps Aldi could get involved with Haseltine Primary School somehow, for example.
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A pretty good idea that although I wonder if the fault is all down to Aldi. Given the large volume of stores they have I would imagine their people are pretty slick. But, mistakes do matter. Just glad they are heading in the right direction.
I look forward to popping in there in a few weeks
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