Bromley Council have approved plans to build new housing on the site of the former Bromley Civic Centre at Stockwell Close. The plans are for 222 new homes on the site on Stockwell Close, and for the refurbishment of the old Palace Building. 

Councillor Julie Ireland, ward councillor for Bromley Town, spoke at the meeting:

"As ward councillors, our role is to speak up for our residents. And it is clear from the planning portal - and our own conversations with residents - that residents are overwhelmingly opposed to this proposal.

This is a unique and much‑loved site with a rich history dating back to the 9th century. It could have been an ideal location for family homes similar to those on the neighbouring Palace Estate. Residents did not want blocks of flats, and they wanted the heritage and the park protected.

But that ambition effectively ended when the Council sold the site to a private developer and lost control of its future. Once sold, it was inevitable the site would be developed into flats. However tempting it is to indulge in wishful thinking and to reflect on what could have been, we have to face the fact that whoever develops the site it will end up being blocks of flats. And on that basis the proposals in front of us are not unreasonable.

Galliard’s plans have been through several iterations, and to their credit they have listened to residents, stakeholders and officers - and ourselves. Many of the objections were submitted before the most recent changes, and a number of points have been listened to and changes made. Specifically this includes:-
 

The height of the buildings - the tallest blocks are now four to five storeys, not the six to seven originally proposed.
Family units - there were concerns that the flats were mainly bedsits or one bedroom flats, but the scheme now includes 95 two‑bed units and a small number of larger 3‑bed homes. Most units are dual‑aspect, and most of the single‑aspect homes face the park.
Concerns about overlooking and loss of light particularly for properties in Rafford Way have been addressed - with reduction in height the overlooking is no longer a concern - officers advise that no habitable room windows or balconies directly face the homes in question. 
On the impact on the park - Galliard have been supportive to the work of the Friends and many of their concerns have been addressed. There are still concerns about the security of the park but these are issues to be resolved with Council officers.

Our major concerns centre on the quantity of affordable housing, the damage to the old palace, parking, drainage, disruption during construction, and the impact on Bromley South. 

We are disappointed with the very low level of affordable housing - instead of the local plan’s requirement for 50%, only 10% are affordable. We hope this will increase once the GLA’s position is known. We expect robust scrutiny of the viability assessments throughout the process. And we will look to Galliard to propose a higher proportion of affordable units in the forthcoming plans to redevelop the Stockwell building and North Block.

On heritage, we are disappointed that the entire ground floor of the Old Palace will not be publicly accessible, with part being converted into private apartments. This is a major disappointment, it’s a real loss to Bromley’s heritage and to residents. Bromley Civic Society address this issue in their submission.

On parking, the scheme provides only 23 parking spaces for 222 homes. This is simply unrealistic. It will push parking into Rochester Avenue, Murray Avenue and the wider Town Centre CPZ. There is scope to use the neighbouring multi‑storey car park, and we would urge officers to look at the options here. 

On drainage, our concerns here are that surface water drainage relies on discharging into the lakes. We need clarity on who is legally responsible for maintaining the lakes, pipework and desilting, and what happens if the lakes cannot safely receive the proposed flows.

We are worried about the level of disruption to local residents during construction. We understand that the majority of vehicles will enter the site from Stockwell Close, and the workers on site will use the next door multi storey car park. We must be consulted on the  Construction Environment and Logistics Plan when this is put together so we can represent and speak on behalf of residents.

Bromley South is already one of the busiest stations in the South East and it is acknowledged that the majority of public transport use by the new residents will be to and from Bromley South.  Improvements to station access must begin early - we remember the failure of the John Lewis scheme to get agreement on this partly because negotiations weren’t started early enough in the S106 process. (Of course the entire scheme was eventually abandoned but there are still lessons to be learned). 

In conclusion, residents did not want blocks of flats on this valuable site—but that decision was effectively made when the Council sold the land. Whatever is built here will be flats, and in truth, this is probably the best scheme we are likely to get. We are also conscious that if Galliard walked away, a new developer might seek to build higher, as we saw at 1 Westmoreland Road which was very much to the detriment of our residents. So subject to the concerns I have mentioned we support approval