please empty your brain below
Any idea how many parking spaces there are planned to be, in relation to the number of residences? The London Plan sets an upper limit (depending on the area), but these plans must have been approved some time ago.

Frankie Roberto | 05.05.21 - 7:31 a.m. | #

Here are the maps that indicate where the residents of the Heygate went. Except for three who did move in to Elephant Park. That was the figure given by a Lendlease person to a group of us visiting from Haringey.

Bob L-S | 05.05.21 - 7:33 a.m. | #

Welcome to the slum of the future!

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 05.05.21 - 8:10 a.m. | #

And in building this they have prevented the proposed Bakerloo Line extension to Lewisham taking the direct route due to deep foundations thus necessitating expensive reconstruction of E & C station with new Bakerloo platform alignments. This of course means the extension is even less likely to happen now due to this extra cost.

Pedantic of Purley | 05.05.21 - 8:15 a.m. | #

"Some might call it much-needed redevelopment, others characterless gentrification"

I’d call it both. Is that it for Zone 2 then? Is there anywhere reasonably priced left? Deptford is trendy, the Archway Tower got turned into luxury flats, now Elephant is shiny and new.

Chz | 05.05.21 - 8:22 a.m. | #

For the last year or so, is this a record distance south of the river for you DG?

Martin | 05.05.21 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Welcome to Elephant & Castle. Or Wembley. Or Nine Elms. Or Park Royal. Or Imperial Wharf. Or Woolwich. Or wherever.
Metroland's half-timbering was never as monocultural as this.

Philip | 05.05.21 - 9:03 a.m. | #

Also for the record, I have noticed for a while that there are now two of us commenters signing as "Martin" (in addition to the highly-esteemed "martin"), so I shall change my name in future to protect the innocent.

Martin | 05.05.21 - 9:03 a.m. | #

If someone has the money to choose to live there, I have to wonder why they would choose to live there.

Arlu | 05.05.21 - 9:24 a.m. | #

This is my local lockdown walking area. It is very Nice. The council incompetence in giving up this land for cheap, and the cynicism with which the residents were displaced, lives in the fabric of the place. You can feel it in the brick cladding and taste it in the artisanal flat whites.

Becky | 05.05.21 - 9:39 a.m. | #

It was nice to see that Kaiteur Kitchen (Guyanese cuisine) has been given a place in the new food bit, after having been turfed out of their old pitch at the E&C Shopping Centre. I don't know if that's the same for any of the other food outlets, or if they're all new.

James Matcham | 05.05.21 - 9:51 a.m. | #

I've often wondered where all the displaced tenants go so that map was interesting. I was surprised to see that the majority remained in the borough.

I wonder if that was intentional ie to avoid placing the burden on other councils - as the Victorians knew all to well with their settlement and removal orders - or if it was the tenants themselves refusing to be relocated further afield?

At least today, unlike their Victorian counterparts, councils are expected to rehouse the displaced tenants.

Cornish Cockney | 05.05.21 - 10:25 a.m. | #

As long as they never rename Newington Butts. I oft fantasised it was named after a florid Edwardian actor but i'm sure the reality is a lot more boring.

Milo | 05.05.21 - 11:45 a.m. | #

In Bob L-S's link, a photo of a sign:
"LOCAL PEOPLE
Can you help to 'unlock the massive economic potential of the Elephant and Castle area' by pissing off please."

I must be naive. I don't understand how publically-owned assets and land can be transfered into private hands like this. We are all being robbed, and no-one seems to notice.

mark addy | 05.05.21 - 12:21 p.m. | #

I lived on Old Kent Road (Avondale Estate) in the early 1970s and remember the building of the Heygate Estate which I used to pass every weekday on the bus to work in the City. The next door shopping centre, which is being demolished, had opened in the mid 1960s and was the first covered shopping mall in Europe. Castle Square houses some of the smaller shops that were previously located in the shopping centre. I can just remember the bomb-damaged buildings which still existed around the Elephant in the late 1950s when we passed on the 109 bus en route to visit relatives in Mitcham. My son moved into a new shared ownership block next to Elephant Park about 5 years ago so will be interested in today's blog.

JohnC | 05.05.21 - 12:46 p.m. | #

Council displacement continues unabated. When being rehoused from the B&B RBK&C placed me in, I was unsubtly leant on to accept a two bedroom detached house with garden in Kingston under Lyme rather than the bedsit I fought for in the borough.
The out of town option wouldn't have been particularly practical and could have been classed as social engineering even, nevertheless I had a choice and am still grateful for the roof over my head.

JP | 05.05.21 - 8:56 p.m. | #

I only started seeing ‘makers’ as a thing that people are about 5 years ago.

What were they called before that?

Stephen | 06.05.21 - 5:46 a.m. | #

Thank you for the update - I commute through Elephant regularly but haven't been that way since the first lockdown.

H SE18 | 06.05.21 - 5:08 p.m. | #

Southwark need to take some of the blame regarding the redevelopment. It was a political football with several schemes and developers being planned and cancelled, often with change at each local election. That ate up a lot of money and each time the developer deal got less generous.

Rational Plan. | 06.05.21 - 8:47 p.m. | #

Makes me sad and angry. Now, local elections show huge Labour losses in favour of a corrupt, mendacious ruling party. I'm really wondering how to avoid becoming embittered. Perhaps by valuing the voices of your commenters, particularly in this post Bob L-S and Becky.

Colin | Homepage | 08.05.21 - 9:44 a.m. | #











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