In photos: the first flowers of spring in Brixton and Lambeth parks – Brixton Buzz

In photos: the first flowers of spring in Brixton and Lambeth parks – Brixton Buzz

... We took a look around Max Roach Park – which has an incredible display of daffodils – Kennington Park and Loughborough Park: ...

... 

Kennington Park.

Kennington residents oppose developers plan to add 52 flats to existing block – South London News

Kennington residents oppose developers plan to add 52 flats to existing block – South London News

... The developer Hawkwise received planning permission to add another floor to Vanbrugh Court in Kennington. ...

 

Rapper Crosslon Davis aka 'Bis' Stabbed And Killed Brutally

Rapper Crosslon Davis aka 'Bis' Stabbed And Killed Brutally

...

Mr. Davis, better known as Bis, is said to have been a well-respected drill artist who was a member of the Harlem Spartans – a hip-hop group based in Kennington, south London.

On December 5, he had recorded a music video in Kennington and Cambridge, accompanied by his friends including Elhaj Dihamedouba, the court heard. ...

TfL to introduce bike lane trial along A23 from Oval, Brixton and Streatham (including Brixton Road) – Brixton Buzz

TfL to introduce bike lane trial along A23 from Oval, Brixton and Streatham (including Brixton Road) – Brixton Buzz

... TfL will also be moving forward with further upgrades to the key CS7 cycle route, which is one of the most heavily used routes in London and has been improved during the coronavirus pandemic to support thousands of essential journeys in southwest London and beyond. The latest changes, between Oval and Elephant & Castle, will include:

• New cycle wands to segregate the existing cycle lanes on the westbound and southbound approaches to the Camberwell New Road/ Kennington Park Road junction
• New two-stage turn road markings for cyclists turning right at Camberwell New Road/Kennington Park Road/Harleyford Street junction, and early release signals for cyclists on the Camberwell New Road and Harleyford Street arms of the junction
• Wider bus lanes to make it easier for people to cycle in them
• Some changes to parking and loading bays on Kennington Park Road and Newington Butts
• A restricted left turn from Kennington Park Road into Kennington Lane (westbound) for all traffic except cyclists and Emergency Services, to reduce the likelihood of conflict between motor vehicles and people cycling
• New and longer bus lanes will match the existing 24-hour trial operation to enable essential cycle journeys at all times ...
  

The secret London Underground line that won’t be used as much when two new Tube stations open later this year - MyLondon

The secret London Underground line that won’t be used as much when two new Tube stations open later this year - MyLondon

... A whole new stretch of track will continue on from an existing part of the Northern Line at Kennington – and this will impact a strange quirk of the Tube network.

At the moment, when southbound services terminate at Kennington the train does a huge underground circle beneath the Oval cricket ground and loops back in a northbound direction at Kennington again. ...

... One described the Kennington Loop phenomenon as a “wild journey”. ...

... Fewer trains will be terminating at Kennington once the extension opens in the autumn because trains will continue to the two new stations. ...

... However, it is thought that when the new stations open, 16 trains per hour will carry on to Nine Elms and Battersea, leaving just eight trains per hour terminating at Kennington and travelling around the loop. ...

 

Covid-19 testing sites for people with no symptoms open in Lambeth – South London News

Covid-19 testing sites for people with no symptoms open in Lambeth – South London News

... A new site at Lilian Baylis Technology School in Kennington is opening on Monday, February 1, and another is opening at Streatham Library on Wednesday, February 3. ...

Teenage killers of Clinton Evobta are jailed for total of 43 years - Southwark News

Teenage killers of Clinton Evobta are jailed for total of 43 years - Southwark News

... From the eight original arrests 18-year-old Giovanni Bennett from Kennington was found not guilty of both murder and possession of an offensive weapon. ...

Three of the best Instagram interiors brands launched by Londoners in lockdown | Evening Standard

Three of the best Instagram interiors brands launched by Londoners in lockdown | Evening Standard

... Artemis Deco

Who: Toby Findlay, 28 and Maja Gliszczynska, 26, living in Kennington ...

London Underground: The £1.1bn Northern Line extension that some residents don't want - MyLondon

London Underground: The £1.1bn Northern Line extension that some residents don't want - MyLondon: 

... The £1.1 billion Northern Line extension at Kennington has been branded 'unnecessary' by some residents living nearby. 

 The Tube line is getting a branch added to it at Kennington Station, where trains will run to the two new stations, Nine Elms, in Stockwell, and Battersea Power Station, in Battersea. ...

Grand Designs tonight: Leigh and Richard convert 17th-century flour mill in Cornwall - here's what to expect

Grand Designs tonight: Leigh and Richard convert 17th-century flour mill in Cornwall - here's what to expect

... Highlights have included the transformation of a shipping container in Londonderry, a fossil shell-build in Devon, a water tower in Kennington and an actual cave in a Worcestershire forest. ...

'It's a regional disgrace that Hither Green doesn't have a London Underground station' - MyLondon

'It's a regional disgrace that Hither Green doesn't have a London Underground station' - MyLondon

... You get rows on rows of houses, but it just isn’t as ‘full-on’ as other more central districts such as Kennington, or Victoria, hence why it needs the tube. It’d give the district a more ‘Londony’ feeling. ...

‘We mustn’t forget our black labour movement heroes’ - Voice Online

‘We mustn’t forget our black labour movement heroes’ - Voice Online

... He was one of the organisers of the historic mass Chartist rally on Kennington Common, south London, on April 10, 1848. ...

Not so great for his constituents in Oval Ward - Lambeth council leader Jack Hopkins buddies up with estate agents Foxtons – Brixton Buzz

Lambeth council leader Jack Hopkins buddies up with estate agents Foxtons – Brixton Buzz: You wait ages for a bus… then two come along at the same time. No sooner had Brixton Buzz announced that Lambeth council leader Jack Hopkins was presenting a Webinar to the development commun…

Ltr sent to Florence Eshalomi MP - Assembly Member - Subject: URGENT Land East of Montford Place, Lambeth SE11 5DE. Ref 20/01086/FUL

Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2021 at 12:55
Subject: Subject: URGENT Land East of Montford Place, Lambeth SE11 5DE. Ref 20/01086/FUL
To: <Florence.Eshalomi@london.gov.uk>

Florence Eshalomi MP - Assembly Member

Dear Florence

Re: URGENT Land East of Montford Place, Lambeth SE11 5DE. Ref 20/01086/FUL

We met when you joined us for the Tree of Hope Lighting ceremony in November 2019 at Kennington Cross, bringing your children with you

I’ve also tried to reach out to you as our MP since; however, you have been too busy to respond

I write to you now, in some desperation, as our GLA Representative asking for your support as we oppose another very large and damaging development here in Kennington.  I was encouraged by your words in the House last October.  We need you now to follow through and take action to do something about this problem

I have sent the below letter to Mayor Khan, and ask that you do stand up to represent your constituents.  Please ensure that he is made fully aware of all the public objections made, the expert reports commissioned and that he questions how the Officers reached their decisions in the face of all these.  The reasoning that 'on balance it's fine' is extremely difficult to understand when you actually look at the evidence. For 90% of local residents - both current and future - it is not fine.  Is this the legacy that you and Mr Khan want to your names?

We are threatened with high rise developments surrounding us that fill me with foreboding. Kennington Lane and Montford Place will be turned into darkened 'canyons'.

Will you please use all avenues available to encourage the Mayor to reject this application in favour of a more suitable proposal that is in keeping with the area, that is less damaging to light and heritage, and provides good quality housing?

Yours sincerely

Cathy Preece

Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2021 at 13:00
Subject: URGENT Land East of Montford Place, Lambeth SE11 5DE. Ref 20/01086/FUL
To: <mayor@london.gov.uk>

 

Dear Mayor Khan

The above application is being referred to your office. I write to ask you to understand how damaging it would be to the local area, and also the poor standard of housing it would provide. I urge you to exercise your powers to direct a rejection of this application and the bringing forward of a more suitable proposal.

I have lived in Kennington since 1986 and the main living room of my basement flat faces this site, as does the kitchen. If this development goes ahead, I stand to lose over 50% of the daylight to my living room and over 60% of the light to my kitchen. I would lose over 50% of my annual sunlight with the loss being 100% during the winter, when it is most important to receive light.

Please consider how you would like an enormous 11-storey building in front of your living room, blocking the only source of daylight. The impact is classified as ‘major adverse’ on my dwelling, and on many others in Kennington Lane, Imperial Court, and in the flats being built across Montford Place at Tesco Kennington.

The building on this site before it was cleared was nowhere near as tall as the one now proposed. I am no fan of living next to a derelict site and wish to see the site suitably and responsibly developed. But the applicant, TfL and Grainger, has totally lost sight of the bigger picture and is only concerned with cramming the maximum number of units on to the site, no matter the cost to surrounding buildings and how bad the standard of the dwellings in the development itself. A reasonable and sustainable development, lower in height and scale, could provide business space with flats above, a proportion of which could be affordable, and the flats could either be rented or sold off in a normal manner. This would avoid the damage that this scheme does to neighbouring properties and provide a much better standard of housing on the site itself.

I am already made unwell by the narrow vote of the Lambeth Planning Committee to Approve this proposed development; this after months of exhaustion trying to get the local community’s concerns taken into account to avoid things reaching this dreadful and frightening stage. The prospect already has me struggling to eat and sleep, so that my wellbeing is at risk, even before any works start.

I suffer from an enduring lifelong mental health condition named Recurrent Depressive Disorder, diagnosed after I was sectioned and hospitalised for four months in 2000, and receive Benefits, including Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit) and Personal Independence Payment. Please have no doubt that this application has an actual effect on my health, and will do also on the health of other local people who stand to lose their daylight. In 2018 TfL served Light Obstruction Notices on some people living around the site, many of whom are those who would be most badly affected. I find this action by a public body highly unsavoury. And this from a Labour Mayor, I thought Labour was supposed to represent the interests of normal people, not big developers!

The development makes a mockery of the conservation area within which it is sited. It is set to be more than double the height of any other building that was ever on the site or any of the listed buildings around it. Who in their right mind could say that it would enhance their setting, as it looms over them? Londoners have been able to admire and enjoy the architecture of the Georgian terrace (of which my flat is a small part) in the same context for over 220 years since they were built in 1796. Are you happy that on your watch this will now be ended?

In 2002 I was a founder member of the Kennington Association and the Friends of Kennington Park. I devoted ten years to the KA, retiring in 2012 but have remained active in the community, for example raising over £1,000 selling books to raise funds for the Friends of the Durning Library, and most recently getting the lights back up in Kennington’s Tree of Hope after the wires were cut to shreds when TfL pruned it. I have devoted considerable time and effort to improving the local area, defending London’s attributes as the greatest city in the world in which to live. It is extremely distressing to see development proposals that are so damaging to the heritage and housing standards in this place that I love.

Please STOP this enormous, bulky building killing our neighbourhood's charming heritage and conservation area and blocking nearly all of my daylight, plunging us into darkness forever.

I’d love the site to be developed and to welcome many more into our neighbourhood, especially with affordable housing; however, it must be of good quality for them as well as those of us already living here. Surely you must instruct the developers to come back with a more humane proposal, in keeping with the local heritage, conservation area, and offering a healthy quality of life for us all.

It has been such a terrible year. Apart from Cllr Philip Normal, no other Oval Ward Cllrs (one of whom is even Leader of the Council), nor our MP, nor our GLA rep - NONE have responded to my pleas, so my only hope is you!

Please will you stand up for Londoners and direct a rejection of this extremely harmful and substandard development?

Yours sincerely

Cathy Preece

235B Kennington Lane SE11 5QU

Ltr sent to Mayor Khan last week - URGENT Land East of Montford Place, Lambeth SE11 5DE. Ref 20/01086/FUL

Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2021 at 13:00

Subject: URGENT Land East of Montford Place, Lambeth SE11 5DE. Ref 20/01086/FUL
To: <mayor@london.gov.uk>

 

Dear Mayor Khan

The above application is being referred to your office. I write to ask you to understand how damaging it would be to the local area, and also the poor standard of housing it would provide. I urge you to exercise your powers to direct a rejection of this application and the bringing forward of a more suitable proposal.

I have lived in Kennington since 1986 and the main living room of my basement flat faces this site, as does the kitchen. If this development goes ahead, I stand to lose over 50% of the daylight to my living room and over 60% of the light to my kitchen. I would lose over 50% of my annual sunlight with the loss being 100% during the winter, when it is most important to receive light.

Please consider how you would like an enormous 11-storey building in front of your living room, blocking the only source of daylight. The impact is classified as ‘major adverse’ on my dwelling, and on many others in Kennington Lane, Imperial Court, and in the flats being built across Montford Place at Tesco Kennington.

The building on this site before it was cleared was nowhere near as tall as the one now proposed. I am no fan of living next to a derelict site and wish to see the site suitably and responsibly developed. But the applicant, TfL and Grainger, has totally lost sight of the bigger picture and is only concerned with cramming the maximum number of units on to the site, no matter the cost to surrounding buildings and how bad the standard of the dwellings in the development itself. A reasonable and sustainable development, lower in height and scale, could provide business space with flats above, a proportion of which could be affordable, and the flats could either be rented or sold off in a normal manner. This would avoid the damage that this scheme does to neighbouring properties and provide a much better standard of housing on the site itself.

I am already made unwell by the narrow vote of the Lambeth Planning Committee to Approve this proposed development; this after months of exhaustion trying to get the local community’s concerns taken into account to avoid things reaching this dreadful and frightening stage. The prospect already has me struggling to eat and sleep, so that my wellbeing is at risk, even before any works start.

I suffer from an enduring lifelong mental health condition named Recurrent Depressive Disorder, diagnosed after I was sectioned and hospitalised for four months in 2000, and receive Benefits, including Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit) and Personal Independence Payment. Please have no doubt that this application has an actual effect on my health, and will do also on the health of other local people who stand to lose their daylight. In 2018 TfL served Light Obstruction Notices on some people living around the site, many of whom are those who would be most badly affected. I find this action by a public body highly unsavoury. And this from a Labour Mayor, I thought Labour was supposed to represent the interests of normal people, not big developers!

The development makes a mockery of the conservation area within which it is sited. It is set to be more than double the height of any other building that was ever on the site or any of the listed buildings around it. Who in their right mind could say that it would enhance their setting, as it looms over them? Londoners have been able to admire and enjoy the architecture of the Georgian terrace (of which my flat is a small part) in the same context for over 220 years since they were built in 1796. Are you happy that on your watch this will now be ended?

In 2002 I was a founder member of the Kennington Association and the Friends of Kennington Park. I devoted ten years to the KA, retiring in 2012 but have remained active in the community, for example raising over £1,000 selling books to raise funds for the Friends of the Durning Library, and most recently getting the lights back up in Kennington’s Tree of Hope after the wires were cut to shreds when TfL pruned it. I have devoted considerable time and effort to improving the local area, defending London’s attributes as the greatest city in the world in which to live. It is extremely distressing to see development proposals that are so damaging to the heritage and housing standards in this place that I love.

Please STOP this enormous, bulky building killing our neighbourhood's charming heritage and conservation area and blocking nearly all of my daylight, plunging us into darkness forever.

I’d love the site to be developed and to welcome many more into our neighbourhood, especially with affordable housing; however, it must be of good quality for them as well as those of us already living here. Surely you must instruct the developers to come back with a more humane proposal, in keeping with the local heritage, conservation area, and offering a healthy quality of life for us all.

It has been such a terrible year. Apart from Cllr Philip Normal, no other Oval Ward Cllrs (one of whom is even Leader of the Council), nor our MP, nor our GLA rep - NONE have responded to my pleas, so my only hope is you!

Please will you stand up for Londoners and direct a rejection of this extremely harmful and substandard development?

Yours sincerely

Cathy Preece

235B Kennington Lane SE11 5QU

Weekend travel information

Weekend travel information 

,,, 

Northern line

Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February No service between Moorgate and Kennington Use alternative Tube or local bus routes. ...

Oxford don awarded nearly £1m in damages after law firm negligently drafted property trust agreement - Scottish Legal News

Oxford don awarded nearly £1m in damages after law firm negligently drafted property trust agreement - Scottish Legal News: 

... The first claimant, a Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, was the only child of Dr Jean Weddell, with whom he had reconnected in 1990 after he had been given up for adoption. In 2003 she decided that she wished for her Edwardian home in Kennington to pass to him after his death, estimated to be worth over £1 million. ...

... In around 2006, Dr Weddell entered a relationship with Wendy Cook, a 37-year-old barrister. Her relationship with her son degraded, particularly after she became Ms Cook’s civil partner and moved to a house on the Isle of Wight with her in 2010. There, she made a new will that passed the majority of her estate to Ms Cook and stated to a solicitor that she wished the Kennington property to be sold.  ...