This weekend the board learned of a ‘consultation’ on the proposed South Dock tower.

This is what the resident received from Southwark Council:

Thank you for your email earlier today.

The public consultation will take place at Canada Water Culture Space (SE16 7AR) on Monday 19^th September from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

Leaflets are being delivered this weekend. I’ve just checked the web site and the information is now there but I’ll get a few layout changes organised for Monday, so it is clearer.

The timetable for the evening is:

5.30pm to 7pm: Drop in exhibition with new proposals

7pm to 8.30pm Presentation and Q&A session with Councillor Mark Williams. I will also be there supported by our architects etc so we can answer all questions.

If you would like to attend to the presentation, you can also register your interest now by contacting John Kelly john.kelly@southwark.gov.uk

Thank you for interest in this proposal and we will look forward to seeing you on the 19^th September.

Regards

Bruce Glockling

Head of Regeneration – Capital Works & Development

Chief Executive’s Department

London Borough of Southwark

PO Box 64529, London, SE1P 5LX

Tel: 0207 525 0138 Internal extension: 50138

Mobile: 07747790638    

 

The manner and timing of this round of consultation indicate Southwark Council’s attitude. Everything we have seen so far suggests that they will still be proposing to build a tower of 20+ storeys at the river end of South Dock. It is in your interest to find out at first hand what is now proposed, and to comment to the Council. If you are not able to attend but want to be kept in touch, or if you are concerned, please take a look at the Save Our Boatyard Facebook page: https://en-gb.facebook.com/StGeorgesWharfSE16/ This is a well-organised community group spanning boat-owners and local residents of all kinds, including a number of Baltic Quay owners, which has raised an initial fighting fund of several thousand pounds.

12-9-16 We have now received a copy of the official invitation, click here: SouthDock exhibition to download it. 

Baltic Quay.   Porter’s Desk.    Newsletter

News from the Porter’s Desk is to inform you about maintenance and security at Baltic Quay, and to give you information about matters regularly asked about at the desk. This simply supplements other bulletins from Parkgate Aspen and the Board on the managing of the building more generally.

Broadband installation

Work by Hyperoptic is proceeding well on the installation of broadband throughout the building and we are told that the system should be up and running by the end of August. For those of you who have not yet arranged for a connection, we are happy to provide details of the people to contact. They would then explain to you the arrangements. Hyperoptic will run an Open Forum on Sept 1 at 4pm to 8pm to answer questions and provide information. All are welcome. 

Lifts

Lift No. 5 in the Podium is now restored to normal service, while Lift No. 4 to the garage, opposite Reception, is awaiting spare parts for it to be safe.  Clearly safety takes priority over quick fixes, even if inconvenient.

Garden

The new garden contractor is in the process of extending the nice effect achieved in the main courtyard to as many other areas as feasible. This requires attention to the problem of regular watering, and to plant containers, and new taps are being installed around the building to allow that problem to be solved.

Cleaning

We welcome our new cleaner Nicola and her cheerful contribution to the New Look Baltic Quay as it emerges.

Shops opposite

The rumour mill has been running overtime about the shops that will grace the ground floor of Tavern Quay across the street. But facts are very hard to establish. We hear stories of a restaurant but will keep you informed when we know. We will keep a log of your pet hates and preferences if you subscribe to our secret notebook, and will feed them anonymously into the ears of any prospectors we meet.

The Book Exchange

The book and video exchange is a hive of activity, and you are reminded that you are welcome to put in and take out as you wish (but please bring back). To celebrate its service being appreciated plans are in hand to enhance its housing and appearance, so as to show other buildings what a civilized building this is.

Security incident

On Sunday night Aug 14, at 3.20 am, George on patrol noticed a character behaving suspiciously in Rope St near the building, and called the police. They arrived quickly and found the man forcing entry into a flat, having just done the same in a second flat. He was arrested immediately and detained for DNA testing. The officer has since commended George for his actions, as they found from the DNA that the thief had at least six other offences in the area and they had been trying to catch him for some time. He is now out of sight, but people like him are not out of mind as far as your devoted guardians are concerned.

Nature Stories

In the Springtime ducks sometimes nest in among the foliage in one of our upstairs plant holders. It remains a puzzle as to how they get the ducklings down to the water when the time comes, and nature has many wonders. But two weeks ago a whole family were given a ride. A plumber was working on a 4^th floor apartment and left the front door open, to be interrupted a bit later by an unusual noise. Turning round he found that an entire family of duck, drake, and four ducklings, presumably from a nearby nest, had waddled into the flat and clearly found it very satisfactory indeed, even though a little dry. The Porter’s desk sprang into action and joined the plumber in packaging the family into a cardboard box – not without protest and great deal of spirited quacking – until they were able to emerge on the water where nature had intended. Their chorus of appreciation was warming to the heart.

The Pirate Ship

Those of you who stroll down Greenland Dock will be aware of the sit-in on the Wibbly Wobbly boat by a group of squatters seemingly acting under the laws of the sea and flying the skull and cross-bones. There is even a resident skeleton on this pirate ship. This seems related to the Council’s notice posted there some months ago proposing that the old Wibbly be towed away to the breakers yard, as no longer seaworthy.  We are intrigued by this fascinating local event, and if anyone has any information about the dispute, of relevance to our residents, please let us know and we will be able to inform people. In the meantime we advise you not to walk the plank.

George Wells,        Matthew Murch,            Alan  Stay,              Sam Ogun .

Helen Jones kindly forwarded these notes taken by a resident in another building from a February “Consultation”.

 – The towers are increasing in height. The 20 storey tower is now proposed as 22, and the 15 storey tower now proposed as 16. This is intended to reduce the height by 1 storey of the development elevation facing Calypso Way (now 7 storeys, rather than 8).

– The tenure split is now 50% private, and 50% mix of intermediate and social housing, rather than the 1/3:1/3:1/3 split proposed before. This seems to be due to changes in the cost plan of the project, and additional costs associated with increasing the number of provided parking spaces, and thus the size of the basement. 60% parking provision is now proposed for the car park, so approx 130 car park spaces. I don’t think this is particularly relevant for the planning submission, but it shows that the project is under pressure from a cost perspective.

– The transportation assessments have not adequately considered traffic on Plough Way, particularly the bottleneck at the end, where it joins Lower Road.

– The wind assessments show unsafe levels of wind gusting around the base of the development near the corners, and mitigation measures are ‘currently being explored’. The Thames Path section which runs between the river and the development, could therefore become an exceptionally unpleasant place to walk – due to being overtowered by the development, in permanent shade from about midday, and high winds.

– Daylight studies show that at least in winter, Dockmasters Quay will be overshadowed by the development for the whole morning..

The bottom line is that Southwark are going to planning with this scheme.  We need to make our voices heard at the review stage.

The project timeline shows a ‘public exhibition’ prior to application submission. This is not a consultation event and will only be an exhibition of the final scheme to be submitted to planning. Southwark did mention that they think another consultation is required between now and then,but have not decided on the format.

The planning application is set to be submitted (current plan is May).

This workshop is for local residents concerned about how the proposal might impact the area. The workshop will be arranged into various topic groups with report back at the end.

A link to the reservation system will be available on the project’s webpage by 15 January 2016:

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200079/regeneration/3850/southwark_regeneration_in_partnership_programme/8

Alternatively you can email housingregen@southwark.gov.uk or call 020 7525 1173 to express an interest in attending and you will be emailed a link to the reservation system once it is active.

Copies of the boards from the Consultation No.1 and No.2 can be downloaded from the project page.

Further information about the Southwark Regeneration in Partnership Programme can be found at www.southwark.gov.uk/regenerationpartnership

Planning Application 15/AP/1752 – Installation and use of a 40m by 20m floating, self supporting swimming pool in Greenland Dock Water Sports Centre:

http://planbuild.southwark.gov.uk:8190/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=_STHWR_DCAPR_9560300

On Tues evening Oct 27 at 8pm in the foyer we begin our series of musical evenings.

On each of these monthly evenings (the last Tuesday of each month) one person will introduce his or her eight favourite pieces of music and then play them (via a CD player) for all to listen to and appreciate and perhaps chat about briefly after each one.

There are no rules about what kind of music but we hope to cover all tastes over time and perhaps within one evening’s selection also.

Our first host is Gordon Redding who will introduce his favourite pieces from Bach, Lennon and McCartney, MJQ, Gainsbourg, Shostakovich, Barber, certain renowned sopranos, and even Michelle Pfeiffer.

Come and relax, and listen, and enjoy, and have a glass of wine with your attuned neighbours. All are welcome.

Please find below updates on the Canada Water Masterplan, alongside a reminder about the upcoming introductory sessions to help demystify the planning and design process.

Canada Water Dock Focus Session – factsheet now available

On Thursday 30 July and Saturday 15 August, we held two public Canada Water Dock Focus Sessions, looking specifically at the dock to help inform development of this part of the masterplan.  We have produced a summary factsheet of the session – please click here to download. This gives an overview of key facts about the dock, the initial thinking from the design team and the key messages arising through the focus sessions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Surrey Quays Leisure Park Site – Reserved Matters Application

As you may have heard, British Land have submitted a reserved matter’s application to keep the planning permission, gained before British Land purchased Surrey Quays Leisure Park site, live. British Land presented this application and the background to it at the Canada Water Consultative Forum meeting on 5 October 2015. For more information on the reasons for the application and to view the presentation from this meeting please visit the Surrey Quays Leisure Park website. All the planning documents are also available on Southwark Council’s Planning Portal.  

Upcoming Topic Discussion Sessions – The Design and Planning process

We also wanted to remind you that we will be holding two introductory sessions to help make sense of the planning and design process in the context of the masterplan. We’ll explore who is involved, the policy, what happens when and how decisions are made. Everyone is welcome, and we will be running this session twice, details below:

Tuesday 27th October

6.45pm–8.30pm

at Time & Talents, The Old Mortuary, St Marychurch St, SE16 4JE

Wednesday 11th November

6.45pm–8.30pm

at Silverlock Hall, Warndon Street, SE16 2SB

RSVP is not essential but it would be useful to have an idea of numbers.

Future topic discussions will inform development of the masterplan, which will be shared for community feedback in the new year. These sessions will look at streets and spaces, and the character of the new places created – specifically the high street and town centre. Please check the website for details or let us know if you would like to be directly updated.

Please do get in touch if you have any further questions.

t    020 7729 1705
e   team@canadawatermasterplan.com
w  www.canadawatermasterplan.com

The Canada Water Masterplan October 2015 update leaflet includes a brief project update and details of activities planned over the next few months.

Please click here to download the update leaflet, and details of the upcoming events are recapped below:

Topic discussions
Over the coming months we will be holding a number of topic discussions, which we hope you’ll be able to join us for. These will look at specific areas to help inform development of the Draft Masterplan which will be shared for community feedback in the new year. Areas of discussion will include the streets and spaces and the character of the new places created – in light of the project review that has been taking place following British Land’s purchase of the Surrey Qualys Leisure Park site earlier this year.

Session 1: The Design & Planning Process 
To kick-off this series of discussions we will be holding two introductory sessions to help make sense of the planning and design process, in the context of the masterplan. We’ll explore who is involved, the policy, what happens when and how decisions are made. These are open to everyone and will aim to be a straight-forward discussion to help demystify a rather complex process! We will be running this session twice: 

Tuesday 27th October 
6.45pm – 8.30pm 
at Time and Talents, The Old Mortuary, St Marychurch St, SE16 4JE 

Wednesday 11th November
6.45pm- 8.30pm 
at Silverlock Hall, Warndon Street, SE16 2SB

Although not essential to RSVP, if you are planning to attend please email team@canadawatermasterplan.com

If you have any questions please contact: 

Lizzie Bird
Consultation Co-ordinator Soundings
020 7729 1705
www.canadawatermasterplan.com 

Please click the link below to view the documentation on the Southwark Council website:

https://consultations.southwark.gov.uk/planning-and-regeneration/south-dock-marina/supporting_documents/150729_061%20South%20Dock%20Marina%20
Consultation%20%20Final%20Draft%20Low%20Res.pdf

Tuesday 6th October 2015 saw the first in the series of Baltic Quay Big Questions.

First up was Professor Gordon Redding of Flat 13 with the catchily named:

Why some countries are richer than others: an introduction to economic history.

The evening was housed in the small lounge area underneath the stairs (it was a lot more comfortable than this sounds!) in the base of the Tower, so by the external staircase to the car park in front of the marina.

Guests were treated to wine and snacks, and a select few made it back to a raucous afterparty at Chez Redding – where Mrs R put on a fantastic oriental buffet.

Please click on the icon in the top left of the box above to choose your video, or press the play icon in the middle of the image to begin watching Video 1.

Flipchart slides are as follows:

Slide 1
Slide 2
Slide 3
Slide 4
Slide 5
Slide 6
Slide 7

If your browser will not let you view the videos in full screen this can be done by visiting the Baltic Quay YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/channel/baltic-quay