The developers of the Sherman Road site are proposing a 20-storey block of two hundred 1-2 bed apartments. Our own artist’s impressions of the scale of this development look like this:
Aerial View of the Proposed Development
Aerial View from the West
There are many concerns regarding this proposal:
- The scale of the proposed building is completely out of character for the area which is predominantly low-rise residential and low-rise office/retail.
- The Grade-II listed station building is absolutely dwarfed.
- Bromley’s historic conservation area reaches right to the edge of the development and is not being “enhanced” and “preserved” by the development as is required.
- Early plans suggest that the current residents at North Point (formerly Sherman House) will have extremely obstructed views.
- In their response to LBB’s Local Plan, Thames Water noted that “The waste water network capacity is unlikely to support the demand anticipated from [the Site A] development”. These concerns were “noted” by the Council but did not lead to any modification or reduction of scale for the proposals at Bromley North. Local residents already suffer regular sewage problems and these issues need to be addressed before even greater demands are placed on local water services.
- The Sherman Road proposal represents piecemeal development of the whole Bromley North site and the Council has already refused planning permission to the developers of the nearby NHS Clinic building on Station Road for this very reason. The various landowners across Site A should be working together to ensure a master plan is developed for the area which should then be consulted on before any development begins. This has not happened. This master plan would then inform proper phased development of smaller part sites to ensure that parcels of land such as Sherman Road are not built in an ad-hoc fashion and un-integrated fashion.
- The developers proposal is for all units to be let by central management company and there will be no units available for private sale. The backers of the project are foreign investment and pension funds. We ask what Bromley Council is doing to ensure local young people and young families can access good quality freehold properties? Or are local people resigned to renting to foreign landlords?
- The proposed 100% lettings policy leads to concerns that incoming tenants will be necessarily transient and less rooted to the community around them than would freehold property owners. Is this what Bromley North needs?
- Parking requirements for the new tenants has not been properly addressed. The developers argument will be that these apartments are more aimed at people who do not need or use cars and will travel to work by public transport. The reality is that many of the future tenants WILL require cars and this will add to the already extremely overloaded parking provision around Bromley North. The exact number of parking spaces to be provided on the new site has not been quantified and the Council should set realistic requirements.
- There is no clarity yet on how the local infrastructure requirements such as transport, schools and doctors will be expanded to service the influx of new residents. This should be fully addressed as an integral part of the development process.
- Dare we say that this proposal represents yet further “Croydonisation” of Bromley? This proposal is taller than the building height suggested in LBB’s original Local Plan massing study. The developer’s proposal would also be one storey TALLER than the new build at Bromley South.
So, there are two “exhibition” dates for public viewing of the first draft plans for the development of Sherman Road and we encourage you to attend. These are:
Thursday 14 September 2017
17.00-21.00
St John the Evangelist Church Hall,
Park Road, BR1 3HJ
Saturday 16 September 2017
12:30-16:30
Large Hall, Bromley Central Library,
High Street, BR1 1EX
Also, the next Babbacombe Road residents’ Association meeting will be held at 19:30 on Tuesday 19th September at Bromley Baptist Church in Park Road. The Sherman Road developers will be presenting their proposals and you will have the opportunity to ask them questions. We look forward to seeing you there.