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Chris and fellow community leaders outside The Greyhound on 8th
September to discuss the future of The Greyhound and welcome the new Cobbs
Corner Conservation Area
From Councillor Chris Best, Sydenham and Cabinet Member
for Community Services
I am delighted that the Mayor accepted the views of
the Sydenham Society as well as my views representing the local community in
creating the Cobbs Corner Conservation Area. The decision to create a new
conservation area and extend an existing one recognises the rich heritage in
Sydenham with our historical as well as much loved landmark
buildings.
I support the retention of the frontage of The
Greyhound as well as the core of the building that includes the ceramic tiled
wall panels and the original carved wooded screen. There is now scope to
work with the developer to ensure that the new buildings on the site will be of
a quality that will add to the conservation area and enhance this focal point
of Sydenham.
The designation will also provide clarity in the
transport improvements as Atkins will be presenting their proposals at the next
Sydenham Community Regeneration Partnership meeting on Thursday 20 September
– 7pm Naborhood Centre – everyone welcome so please come along to
discuss to the transport improvements as well as the impact of the conservation
areas.
I attended the meeting with the Sydenham Society to
present the proposal for a new conservation area for Cobbs Corner and Central
Sydenham to our conservation officers, Phil Ashford and Justine Page in July.
The officers agreed to consider this and we had the report back to the Mayor
and Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 5 September, as this was the first available
meeting following the summer recess.
The report to Mayor and Cabinet and the appendix
recommended extending The Thorpes to include parts of Sydenham Road including
the old rent office at the top of Queensthorpe Road and other buildings along
Sydenham Road that were not part of the Sydenham Society's proposals.
However, the report did not recommend a new
conservation area for the Cobbs corner area stating that is was a finely
balanced case. Officers did not consider the buildings to the west of the
railway to have the appropriate coherence and integrity as a group to justify
conservation area status.
Pat Trembath (Chair of the Sydenham Society) and
Annabel McClaren (Chair of the Conservation and Planning Committee) were given
speaking rights and made the case for The Greyhound as well why the surrounding
buildings merit conservation area status. The Sydenham Society’s proposal
was handed round to all the members of Mayor and Cabinet.
In my capacity as a Sydenham Councillor and Chair of
the Sydenham Community Regeneration Partnership I spoke in favour of creating a
new conservation area and proposed to the Mayor that this was an additional
recommendation. From my point of view this area is of sufficient status as it
includes all of Cobbs Corner including The Old Cedars which is Grade II
listed. The area adjoins the Jews Walk Conservation Area in Kirkdale and
comes along Peak Hill to the railway track. The extension of the Thorpes
Conservation Area will now include the commercial terraces along Sydenham Road,
the Post Office Sorting Office in Silverdale and the ticket office in Station
Approach. I made a declaration of interest at the start of the meeting that I
am a member of the Sydenham Society and that I live in the Thorpes Conservation
Area and so, after speaking in favour, I had to leave the meeting and not take
any further part in the decision making.
The Mayor then agreed the recommendations in the report
and, as proposed, a further recommendation to create a new conservation for
Cobbs Corner and Central Sydenham. This is a formal decision and the
Cobbs Corner Conservation Area is now in existence. This means that the
developers will have to submit a planning application if they wish to demolish
any part of The Greyhound. I hope we can work with the developer to produce a
suitably prestigious development on this site and minimise the time that we
have to look at the grey hoardings.
Chris' photo of Mayor Steve, SydSoc Chair Pat Trembath and
supporters
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