The architect behind plans to build housing on the car park at Blackheath station has hit back after celebrities including Jude Law backed a campaign against the scheme.
Acorn Property Group, a property developer based in north London, wants to build 20 houses and 25 flats and a new home for the Blackheath Farmers’ Market, which has marked its 25th anniversary this month.
There would be a row of terraced houses and two blocks of flats, and space for 40 market pitches. Eight of the new homes would be for people on Lewisham Council’s waiting list.
The five-storey development is thought to be the biggest ever in Blackheath Village. Some 638 people have objected to the plans, with the Blackheath Society branding plans for the market’s future “a fiction”. Only 15 people have written to Lewisham to support the plans.
But the operator of the market backs the redevelopment. London Farmers’ Markets told The Greenwich Wire earlier this year that the proposals would make the market easier to operate and allow it to expand.
“The very last thing we want is a proposal that would see the market close,” its director, Mark Handley, said.
London Farmers’ Markets supports the plan, but the Blackheath Society is less keen. Credit: Acorn Property Group/ John Pardey Architects/ Matthew Wigan Associates
The Reject Blackheath Station campaign, which has branded the scheme “overbearing and unsympathetic”, has recruited celebrities and other public figures with connections to the areas including Law, Mark Knopfler, Nick Ferrari, Sandie Shaw, Sir Terry Waite and Barney Ronay, The Guardian’s chief sports writer .
Law, who attended the nearby John Ball primary school in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said the plan would “enforce a strain on a wonderful old village that deserves our protection”. Ferrari, the LBC breakfast presenter, who lives nearby, said the scheme would “irrevocably destroy a village loved by people all over London, and beyond”.
Ronay said the new homes would “destroy the beautiful, fragile historic heart of Blackheath”.
A row of terraced houses would be built on the car park. Credit: The Greenwich Wire
John Pardey, the founder of the architecture firm that has designed the scheme, told Architects’ Journal this week that the scheme would be “a change for the good”.
“The scheme offers the replacement of a car-centric environment characterised by poor-quality surface car parking with a highly considered design that we are convinced will enhance Blackheath Village,” he said, adding that the scheme had been four years in the planning.
“‘Each building has been lovingly designed and informed by working closely with Lewisham’s heritage and sustainability officers and heritage experts Montague Evans to ensure that the scale and massing, as well as detailing, meet the very high demands of working in such a special conservation area.
“‘Each building has been lovingly designed and informed by working closely with Lewisham’s heritage and sustainability officers and heritage experts Montague Evans to ensure that the scale and massing, as well as detailing, meet the very high demands of working in such a special conservation area.”
Some market stalls would be placed alongside the station. Credit: Acorn Property Group/ John Pardey Architects/ Matthew Wigan Associates
The Blackheath Society told The Greenwich Wire: “As anyone who attended the public consultation meeting held on July 3 will recognise, the meeting highlighted very clearly that the feedback from the consultation process had not been acted upon, there were serious concerns about the design, and there had been a significant lack of consultation, particularly with the local business community about the impact on the economy of the village.
“The concerns in this area are particularly the inadequate study of the parking implications and plans for the market . We are working with residents to provide Lewisham officers further analysis of these.”
Comments about the scheme can be left on Lewisham Council’s planning website.
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