SPD – Guidence Note 11: Tall buildings

In the 2020 consultation on the SPD (supplementary planning document) 86% of responses about building heights rejected more high-rises (defined as over 6 storeys) (see here). New policies in the London Plan enable our council to set limits on the heights of new buildings. This means that Guidence Note 11 is not worded strong enough – for instance, perhaps it could be updated to say that new developments should be no more than 2 or 3 storeys more than the surrounding roads.

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Churchill Quarter – feedback that it’s too high in the SPD (Supplementary Planning Document) consultation

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Future Buildings in Bromley Town – How High? – The Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

The Council is currently consulting on the Bromley Town Centre Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which will govern how large and where future buildings will be, in the town centre. It will provide better control of the development (that affects the character and appearance of the town) by providing detailed guidance – in fifteen Guidance Notes and 8 Character Areas/Sub-Areas. The SPD is a dense document and long read (as it needs to be) but there’s 4 areas we would like you to comment on:

  • * Churchill Quarter (link)
  • * Tall Buildings (Guidance Note 11) (here)
  • * Conservation Area and Protection of Heritage Assets (Guidance Note 9)
  • * The Need For A Masterplan (link)
  • * That the proposals for the Palace Park and Civic Centre will not be watered down, now that the site will be given up
  • * That the Urban Open Space designation for the Church House Garden Depot (formerly the walled garden) will not be silently removed without consultation – and exactly what can be built there.
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Have your say

Make your comments – not forgetting to cc us at : chair@bromleycivicsociety.org.uk  
 * by email to: ldf@bromley.gov.uk;
* in writing to: Head of Planning Policy and Strategy, London Borough of Bromley, Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley BR1 3UH; or
* via bromley council’s survey monkey link (see our post here on how you might want to fill this in)

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Borough Wide Urban Design – What should new buildings look like? Not like this

The council is consulting on how new buildings should appear, by creating an Urban Planning Guide for architects. Most of this document is good, there are only… the illustrations. These are nearly all cheap, ugly, and very undesirable. Including these will make it very hard to object to schemes like the brutalist-car-park design for Churchill Quarter, because they look just like what the council has used as best-example illustrations!

Some buildings resembling brutalist car parks
Figures 14, 16, 17 and 18. Overscaled, out-of-character extra high buildings are ok if you call  them playful’ to ‘break up the massing’! These developments would be too high for any site in Bromley, and their inclusion suggests that similar proposals would gain ready approval.

We would like to see these examples removed and replaced:

  • Figures 14, 16, 17, and 18. Examples of buildings that are too tall for anywhere in the borough (and the ‘decorative’ ones fail to use any good local examples or heritage features – brutalist balconies and random brick ends are not what we want to see in Bromley)
  • Figures 15, 32, 34. Poor choice of decorative features – especially balconies (no heritage features) – and failing to use good local examples. Sticking brick ends out of a wall is not depth and quality – try ‘vernacular’ features such as Kentish hung tiles and black weatherboarding
  • Figures 6, 23 and 25. These do demonstrate new buildings at a ‘human scale’ and ‘conformable’ to existing low level development, but… they are cheapskate, plain, short on windows and heritage features are completely absent. Use Trinity Village or the Bromley Hospital site developments, they are both better than these.
  • Figures 30, 31, 32. These ignore local heritage and take the cheapest interpretation of the 1960s. Appropriate for the Hayesford Park estate, but not suitable for a borough-wide guide.

It is late to object (as the author is not a planner and has a job to earn a living) but you can still write to ldf@bromley.gov.uk. Please cc your email to us at chair@bromleycivicsociety.org.uk, and to the town centre councillors at btcouncillors@bromleylibdems.org.uk. You can write to Head of Planning Policy and Strategy, London Borough of Bromley, Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley BR1 3UH.

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London Land’s application for 1 Westmoreland Road (Site K in 2010 Local Plan)

No sign of the Protected View being preserved in this scheme.
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Protected Views

In Bromley, the council has policies designed to stop ‘Protected Views’ from being destroyed by developers. In practise, this is not always the case. Two protected views that are on the line with current planning proposals:

(1) The East side of the Ravensbourne Valley, notably from Queens Mead

coloured blocks of high-rises marching over the hill crest
This protected view is subject to planning proposals from Churchill Quarter, 2-4 Ringers Road, and the former maplins site.

(2) View of Keston Ridge from the Broadway (lower High Street)

view of green ridge behind low buildings and lots of cars
The protected view of Keston Ridge from the Broadway, the Lower High Street (Google July 2021)

This protected view has already been partially blocked by the new Police station, but the proposals for 1 Westmoreland Road will completely close it.

Other Protected Views in the town centre:

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Add your voice! keep the Civic Centre blocks of flats at 4 floors

And, there are FIVE applications, which we’d like you to object to (you could copy-and-paste the same wording):

  • 22/02984/CDETND – Joseph Lancaster one floor extension with existing window style
  • 22/02986/CDETND – Joseph Lancaster with new window style to that floor only
  • 22/03004/CDETND – Ann Springman one floor extension with existing window style
  • 22/02988/CDETND – Ann Springman with new window style to that floor only
  • 22/02990/FULL1 – both buildings with new style windows to all floors

The new owners of the “Y-buildings” in the grounds of the Civic Centre, want to increase their height by an extra storey – this means it will be above the height of the trees, and visible all around. The extra height will overlook the local (2-storey) houses down Rafford Way, and put even more pressure on local amenities like parking, in a quiet area. They will be right next to the lovely, Grade II listed, Old Bishops Palace.

The consultation ends on Friday (though you will be able to object for a time after this date).

A rough sketch of how the buildings would appear with the extra storeys added. It is worth noting that most blocks of flats in Bromley end up a storey higher than their permission.
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Residents spoke – 86% said NO to more Tower Blocks! Analysis of the responses to the 2020 Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) consultation

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East Street No. 41, former Southern Suburban Co-operative Society

fine 3-storey shop terrace with triangular pediments over dormer windows
The former Southern Suburban Co-operative Society department Store on East Street

Though this striking Arts & Crafts building is now several shops, originally it was a large Co-Op store, with a meeting hall above, built in 1888.

Delicate tile-work between dormer windows and pediment

Bromley Little Theatre is housed in two linked buildings at the back – they were originally a Victorian bakery, store rooms and hay loft for the Coop. The theatre movement was founded in 1934 by Harold Wilson Pook, and took a lease on the vacant bakery the following year. The first production was in December 1937.  The raked auditorium was built and seating was installed having been obtained from the Alhambra Theatre in London. The theatre opened with its first production in December 1937 and, apart from a break during WW2, has been showing performances ever since.

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Memories of Importers Coffee shop from Francis Frith site

Importers Coffee shop on Bromley High Street

Francis Frith site contains some lovely memories of Bromley in Yesteryear, especially about the beloved Importers Coffee shop. Please see the rest at : https://www.francisfrith.com/uk/bromley/coffee-shop-in-bromley-high-street_memory-485781

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