I’m not on Facebook either.
I have left a comment on the Change.org petition, asking them about the closed Facebook group, and where to get hold of a copy of the Enforcement Notice. I did a search on the Lewisham Council website and nothing showed up there. The petition has not yet been ‘handed in’ so I doubt its organiser (Nicola Johnson) has been sent a copy. It may just have been attached to the fence itself…
I believe it is photos of the notice attached to the fence. I’ve seen pictures on twitter with retweets by a number of regular local tweeters. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.
It’s also worth noting that the petition is just tens away from the 5000 target, so worth signing if not already, here.
Right you are:
So the notice takes effect on April fools Day, then there is 1 month to remove the fence and restore the area using ‘hand held non-mechanical tools’. I guess that means hand saws, hammers, crowbars and spades.
If the new land owner is respectful I guess they should remove the fence now as it sounds futile to try and appeal. If they are belligerent we could see the fence remain until May, perhaps longer if they did want to appeal. Let’s just hope they aren’t criminal and damage the trees anyway.
Update
NewsShopper is reporting that People Before Profit are planning to take the fence down themselves unless the landowner replies to them before next Saturday:
Taking the fence down is good, but there’s a lot of wood to tidy away so I hope they have a plan for that which won’t save the landowner the hassle, but will restore the greenspace.
Great that Daniel Egan has responded. Wonderful community response from all involved and special thanks to SE23nic for powering the effort and handing in the over 5000 strong petition this evening to Lewisham Council.
Really fantastic. Hope we keep our green space green.
Those photos of the seven flats, surrounded by landscaped greenery, demonstrate how we could actually have nicer surrounding under the proposal than we do currently.
The current patch of green is like a scrap of waste land by the road - no-one in their right mind would sit there reading a book, have a picnic or bring their children there to play (especially with Blythe Hill Fields a 5 mins walk). I don’t see what the big deal is with losing this scrap of land (which, by the way, has always been private land with no public’s rights over it).
Not all green space needs to exist solely for our use. And I’d hardly call it a ‘scrap of waste land’, it’s full of mature trees.
I think the proposed flats look quite nice.
It’s not really a “used” space as mentioned a few posts above. We do have plenty of actual parks around.
Couldn’t the council insist that the 6 (approx) trees there must be replaced elsewhere (such as Blythe Hill Fields) by a multiple of 2, 3 or 4x mature trees thereby increasing not decreasing trees in the vicinity? I’d have thought the cost of this (say £20k) would be worth paying for the developers and would achieve some equilibrium environmentally.
Have you seen the size of Duncombr Green? There is no way they could actually fit 2 blocks of flats and all those trees on that space.
My thoughts too.
The green space, while much better then flats, could do with some development itself - but keeping it as a green space. So some flowerbeds and low hedges with perhaps more trees or minor monument as a focus of interest.
Clearly the new owner doesn’t have that in mind, and their underhand tactic of putting up the large hording quickly and without permission on a Sunday was a poor start. And they’ve not acted on the very clear enforcement notice yet either.
In a ideal world the council would have purchased the land and then taken on upkeep and planting as that area really benefits a bit of green space much more than any flat would. But I guess the council just doesn’t have the budget.
The Council is making £9 million cuts with more on the way. Sadly it is unlikely to want to purchase the land and take on the annual cost of the upkeep.
Who maintained the land before? Someone must have mowed the grass regularly, doubt it was the advertising company, would imagine it was the council running a mower over it when the did the other grass verges so wouldn’t think it wouldnt cost much to do. Personally I don’t think it needs landscaping it serves a purpose of breaking up the street with a burst of trees, similar to street trees but bigger
Campaigners are asking for pictures to be drawn and messages posted on the fence in advance of the public meeting next week. Budding urban artists welcome.
