2 Bromley Avenue

26 April 2023

We have issued our objection to the application submitted on the back of the appeal, which doesn't appear to meet conditions and has a number of information gaps.  Details here.

10 December 2022

Sadly the appeal has been allowed - final decision here.  A cost award was refused, meaning that LBB's original refusal was reasonable.  Full case details here.

11 August 2022

And indeed, following the comment below the Appeal is up and running.  Any further objections by 6/9/22. See link. Neighbours may request visit from Inspector.

31 March 2022

This application has been refused and an Appeal is now possible.

14 October 2021

A planning application has been made for the demolition of 2 Bromley Avenue, Bromley and construction of a 3-storey building including accommodation in the roof space comprising of 5 apartments. The standard consultation expiry date is Mon 1 November 2021.

We publish our draft objection below:-

 

 

Dear Sir,

21/04122/FULL1 | Demolition of existing 2-storey dwelling house and construction of 3-storey building including accommodation in the roofspace comprising of 5 apartment units with associated parking, amenity space & cycle storage for 14 bikes. | 2 Bromley Avenue Bromley BR1 4BQ

 

We object to this application.

We are a residents’ association of approximately 500 subscribing households serving an area in which Bromley Avenue is situated.  We concern ourselves with the built environment and with generally improving the area for the benefit of residents.

 

Character

This would be by far the largest building in the ‘top’ half of Bromley Avenue and the only block of flats. It would also be almost the only building with three obvious storeys of accommodation.

The road is characterised by detached and semi-detached houses in large plots yet this proposal sees a very large building on a relatively small plot.

As such it is out of character.

 

Overdevelopment

The proposal would represent a very substantial intensification of the use of this small irregularly shaped site. Its bulk and mass would dominate the street scene.

At first floor level, the footprint of the main elevation would overhanging the existing building line by approximately one metre rising to a maximum of 1.5 metres which serves to further impose the bulk and mass on the street scene. To the west, the edge of the building at the north-west corner, as far as can be measured, appears to be much less than 1m from the boundary. For such a massive building a larger side space is appropriate.

The sheer size of the building would give rise to an unacceptable sense of domination, overbearing and overlooking in the gardens of Kynance and 4a Bromley Avenue.

 

Car parking and street scene

The open ground in front of the main elevation would be given  over almost entirely to car parking, cycle storage and waste storage.  There is minimal room for any meaningful soft landscaping, meaning that the view from the road would be essentially of an open car park and other hard structures.

This would be unacceptable and we quote, as a precedent, the Inspector’s comments for a dismissed appeal a short distance away in Oaklands Road:-

“The proposal also includes for dedicated parking bays to the front of the property. This element of the proposal would introduce an extensive area of hard standing to accommodate the parking. The prominent location and the number of formal parking bays proposed would also be at odds with the general character and appearance of the frontage to the residential properties along Oaklands Drive. I share the concerns raised by the Ravensbourne Valley Preservation Society that this arrangement would have a materially harmful effect on the overall street scene.”

Appeal Ref: APP/G5180/W/14/3000441, Oakdene, Oaklands Road, Bromley BR1 3SL. Application Ref DC/14/01844/FULL1, dated 29 April 2014

 

Fenestration

On the ground floor, the rooms facing north are likely to be very dark and present poor living conditions. They will look out on to a large retaining wall necessary to deal with the steeply sloping rear garden. The situation is made worse by the first floor being cantilevered (and with an additional oriel window) which will overhang the ground floor windows and make the rooms even darker.

 

Amenity Space

Because of the steeply sloping garden, there is little opportunity to enjoy external amenity space. The DAS refers to a strange concept of ‘internal amenity space’ which appears to mean that in practice, ‘amenity space’ means being able to look out of a window.

 

Amenity sunlight to gardens

We have concerns about the assessment of the impact on garden G2 ie that of 4a Bromley Avenue, regarding amenity sunlight.

We are not clear whether the assessment covered the whole of G2 or just that part which is not under tree canopy. Clearly the proposal will impact much more on the open (ie not under canopy) part of the garden as this is much closer to the proposal and much lower than it on account of the topography. As such there may be potential for significant reduction in amenity sunlight on that part of G2 which is not already in shade under the trees.

Soft Landscaping

There is little specific detail of soft landscaping which would be essential to screen the parking lot from the road.