08 Apr Has demolition of shops in the village come closer?
Proposals for the redevelopment of the centre of the Village are of great interest and significance to all of us, and demolition of the area behind the hoardings could be drawing closer, with the latest ruling by the independent planning inspector in favour of the developers’ request to demolish.
The area has so far been the subject of three development proposals, all of which have been refused by Bromley and, linked, three separate requests for approval just to demolish the buildings.
In fact the demolition alone is treated as being subject to ‘deemed permission’ the only control which apparently can be exercised being the method of demolition. It is important to remember that this is not part of a conservation area although the buildings are locally listed.
Unfortunately being locally listed is not the same as being listed in the statutory sense and provides very limited protection.
After the last occasion on which planners rejected the proposal to demolish, arguing that not enough information had been provided about the interruption to and safety of traffic, the developer appealed that decision. The appeal decision is dated 30 March 2020 and the appeal was successful. As far as we can tell that means that the developer can now proceed to demolish those buildings without having any approved replacement.
However, the inspector made the point that the appeal was only in respect of the method of demolition, not the principle, but we remain concerned what more can be argued on this point.
We are in the process of contacting our local Councillors and the Bromley Civic Society to request their urgent engagement with this problem although we recognise that with the present limitations on meetings this could be difficult.
Danny Miller
Development Officer
7 April 2020
Click to read the appeal decision