At Leathermarket Community Benefit Society’s AGM on 21st October 2015 members re-elected the following residents to serve on the CBS Board.
John Paul Maytum MBE (Chair)
Christine Parsons (Vice-Chair)
Sarah Hatchard (Treasurer)
Peter Coulthard
Deborah Harrington
Members accepted CBS audited accounts and appointed MHA MacIntyre Hudson as CBS Auditor for the current year.
It is with great regret that Leathermarket Community Benefit Society has announced that it has suspended its operations with effect from 1 October 2015 due to the failure of Southwark Council to provide the funding it has promised in time.
Leathermarket CBS exists to drive the resident-led design and construction of new council-rent homes in the Leathermarket area and is currently developing its first scheme for 27 new ‘council-rent’ homes on the Kipling Estate, Weston Street and has started planning for the Joseph Lancaster Nursery on the Lawson Estate, Deverell Street.
Southwark Council’s Cabinet agreed to work in partnership with Leathermarket CBS in September 2014 as part of the Council’s plans to build 11,000 new council homes. Since that decision, in a series of meetings over 2014 and 2015, senior councillors have repeatedly agreed to provide the funding for the CBS to take forward its work from April 2015, building on initial funding from the Greater London Authority, Leathermarket JMB, Community Land Trust and United St Saviour’s Charity.
Despite these repeated assurances, senior council officers have proved unable to bring forward the funding required in time to continue the CBS’s operation while the negotiations around formal land transfer and funding agreements are concluded. As such the Leathermarket CBS Board has voted, with great regret, to suspend its operations until further funding is available.
Leathermarket CBS Chair John Paul Maytum MBE said:
“I can’t begin to say how disappointing this is, not just for those of us at the centre of the CBS but for those families who have worked with us to build up the plans for these much-needed new council-rent homes and are hoping to move in when they are built.
“We know that every month of delay at this stage puts these families a month further away from getting the home to suit their needs.
“This has been a deeply frustrating process for us and, despite a series of meetings with the most senior councillors and their teams, the senior officers at Southwark Council seem to have been unable to turn the politician’s assurances into the action that we need.
“I hope we will be able to resolve this situation by the end of the year and get everybody back on the move again. We owe that to everybody who has put so much in so far to deliver the quality new council-rent homes that our community needs.”
The Annual General Meeting of Leathermarket Community Benefit Society will be held at Bermondsey Village Hall on Wednesday, 21 October from 6:30pm onwards. The planning application for the new homes on the Kipling Estate, Weston Street has been fully funded to date and so should be able to continue whilst the CBS operations are suspended.
At the new homes consultation on 16th June, Kipling Estate residents gave their overwhelming approval of the final design for the new homes on Kipling Garages site. The next step is submitting a planning application to Southwark Council by the end of June 2015.
View the new homes design here.
A huge thank you to all the residents who have shared their enthusiasm and vision, and shown what can be achieved when residents take the lead in shaping new homes in their community.
Read residents’ praise for the design.
“I love everything about this beautiful building. Proud to be involved. I can’t wait for the building to be completed.”
“I think the final design will enhance the estate and also feel sure that people living in the new homes will have a very good quality environment. I hope this scheme is approved and inspires other developments in my community.”
“It looks beautiful. Lovely brickwork. Great use of limited space.”
“Very exciting to see what’s possible when estate residents feel empowered to make these new homes happen, to be part of the process of building new homes”
“This is an excellent scheme and I am very pleased it is going ahead.”
Read all of the comments here.
Log of Residents’ Comments – Kipling Garages Design Consultation 16th June 2015
At a full meeting, 22 people came along the Roundhouse on 26th November to view the initial plans for the new homes on the Lawson Estate.
Hari Phillips, from architects Bell Phillips, gave a presentation setting out the possibilities of what could be built on the site, given technical and planning restrictions and what residents had told previous meetings. The plan presented would provide 37 new homes.
Residents had a detailed discussion and were then asked to give their comments and feedback, to be considered as part of the design process.
Read the consultation meeting notes
Residents who were not able to get along to the consultation and want to tell us your views, please send your comments by email to jane.mepham@leathermarketjmb.org.uk or call Jane on 0207 450 8023.