Today, Councillor James Barber and I gave evidence at the Caffe Nero Planning Appeal.   

Caffe Nero opened its premises without planning permission two years ago. Faced with the enforcement action by Southwark Council against this breach, Caffe Nero then applied for planning permission.  But they were refused because allowing another cafe would have broken rules designed to protect the delicate balance of shops and food and drink outlets in the area.  Southwark has a policy of making sure that at least fifty per cent of all shops units are retail outlets in order to ensure a vibrant high street. 

Caffe Nero continued trading without permission and in April  the Council took enforcement action in relation to both this issue and the installation (again without planning permission!) of noisy air conditioning units,  which sometimes operate around the clock. Caffe Nero installed these immediately outside some local residents’ bedroom window. Two local residents explained vividly the impact of this noise.

Since the council decision last year, a number of new shops have opened - this means that there is a healthier balance of shops (54%) to cafes then previously. The Planning Inspector will  take this evidence in to account (rather than just the facts the council considered at the time).  So even if she agrees with the decision the council made then, it is unliklely the Inspector will uphold the appeal based on the 50% retail rule.

Much of the evidence today focused on the air conditioning units and arguments about whether air-con is a necessary part of running a cafe and how the noise could be lessened. Caffe Nero admitted that it would cost just £5000 to address the problem.  But they could not explain adequately why they have chosen not to do so.

In our evidence James and I focused on the behaviour of Caffe Nero in willfully ignoring the need for planning permissions both to open the cafe and to install the air conditioning units. Certainly, their attitude to their neighbours is not a model of corporate social responsibility.    

The Inspector said she would make a decision by mid-to-late February.

My colleague James Barber has been working with extraordinary dedication on a project that is set to deliver a brand new Grove Vale library - at no cost to the tax payer.

Like many East Dulwich residents I like the current garden centre - my family use it regularly (although not for compost because they don”t sell peat-free!) .  But the site has been sold by the owners for development. Left to their own devices most developers would have proposed a development of flats with a food outlet on the ground floor ( an M&S Simply Food seems to be the most popular East Dulwich rumour…). It is difficult to see how such a development could have been successfully opposed - even if local councillors turned it down, the likelihood is that Government inspectors would have over-turned  such a decision.

So James has been working to improve the development and in particular to persuade the developers to pay for the provision of a library on the ground floor. (The  exisiting Grove Vale Library is cramped, unfit for purpose and the council’s lease is coming to an end.)

Last night the development was approved by the Planning Committee.  The development is not without its objectors.   But I was pleased that the bulk and massing of the building has been reduced since initial plans were publisherd in the local paper.  The provision of a fantastic new library certainly makes the development much more acceptable.  I hope that the new library will act as a catalyst to improve Grove Vale. By increasing pedestrian activity there should be a positive knock-on effect for local traders as well as making the area feel safer.   Well done James!

Southwark has recently consulted and then voted upon a series of bye-laws. This includes stopping cycling on a particularly narrow part of the Thames Path (not the Sustrans cycle route but the Thames walkway).  

I now read in the South London Press that Councillor Jenny Jones is threatening to defy this cycle ban.

There is a very honourable tradition of peaceful protest and civil disobedience in the UK which I wouldn’t wish to denegrate. From the Chartists to the 1990s road protests - it plays an important part in a free society.

But Jenny Jones has already had an opportunity to make her case on this issue. As I recall it she was at the Council meeting that discussed the bye-laws but didn’t make a stand against this measure. She neither spoke against it nor recorded a vote against it.  This seems strange for someone who is so incensed about the issue now.  I wonder what the explanation is.

Today, I have written to the Leader of the Council informing him of my intention to  resign my post of Executive Member for Regeneration on 22nd February in order to take up full time employment with a public affairs and communications firm.  I have greatly enjoyed my six years on the Council’s executive. It has been incredibly rewarding but also demanding on my growing family.  It is in the interests of my three young children that I have decided to resume my career in public affairs and so will be leaving the Executive.  Improving our area through local politics remains my passion and I will continue to work as hard as I can in East Dulwich.  The Liberal Democrats have an exciting agenda to deliver the much-needed new school, a refurbished Leisure centre, better street lighting and improvements to Lordship Lane. With James Barber and Jonathan Mitchell, I am determined to deliver on this agenda.

Apart from the more traditional seasonal activities, I spent some time delivering the East Dulwich councillors report back on what we’ve been up to over  the past year or so. We thnk its important to keep in touch all year round - not just at election time.  

It was nice to open my mail box after the break to to the following message from a lady in Upland Road: