Southwark Council’s Planning Committee unanimously approved the plans last week
Plans to knock down a former youth club building in Camberwell and replace it with 39 new flats have been approved.
Applicant, Comber Grove Estates, had submitted a planning application to demolish the former Hollington Youth Club on Comber Grove to make way for a new six-storey residential building.
Southwark Council’s Planning Committee unanimously approved the plans during a meeting last Wednesday (July 22).
According to planning documents, the youth club closed in 2017 and the existing building has not been in active use since. The former youth club at 56-58 Comber Grove was operated by charity, DMC Hollington Trust, and included a boxing gym and a sports hall, alongside various offices, smaller rooms and changing facilities.
The youth club was first established in the 1890s and was initially located on nearby Hollington Road (now demolished), which provided a youth programme for some 200 boys in the deprived area of Camberwell. It moved to Comber Grove in the 1950s as part of the estate’s development.
The new plans will see 39 flats built, of which 40 per cent aim to be ‘affordable’ and will consist of nine social rent homes, five shared ownership properties and 25 private homes.
The social rent homes will consist of five one-beds, one two-bed and three three-beds. The shared ownership properties will be split into two two-beds and three three-beds.
Meanwhile, the homes for the private market will consist of 10 one-beds, 11 two-beds and four three-beds.
Planning officers working for the council said the loss of the community space to provide housing, including 40 per cent affordable, was considered acceptable. The development will also provide cycle and refuse storage as well as a communal roof terrace to provide under-5 play space, and communal and private amenity space.
During last week’s meeting, DCM Hollington Trust said the proposals were an “excellent way” to achieve its aims of supporting local communities in Southwark.
John Murray, who was reading out a statement on behalf of the Trust’s Chairman, said the club had to close due to encountering financial difficulties during 2015 and 2016.
Mr Murray explained what happened during that time: “Eventually the upkeep of the club and keeping it fit-for-purpose became uneconomical and meant that if it continued, it would have to be liquidated within a year or two.
“It was therefore decided to look at recapitalising by putting a fit-for-purpose youth club accompanied with flats above to recapitalise the charity.”
He added: “Sadly with the COVID pandemic and increased costs, the developer for this scheme had to withdraw since it became uneconomical.
“DCM Hollington Trust then looked at the next best thing to help the local situation and after discussing with the council and various local bodies decided that we would look at the social housing scheme which has for some while been badly needed in the borough.”
Mr Murray said the Trust has been unable to support Southwark’s youth for the past decade “without a viable option in place”, but said the scheme will allow it to continue operating in the long-term for another 100-plus years because of the interest earned.
There were nine objections in total from neighbouring properties, which included concerns that the plans were “out of character” with surrounding buildings and that the development was too “bulky”.
However, planning officers said the proposals had gone through an “extensive” pre-application process and they were considered acceptable in terms of design quality and layout. When approving the application, the committee added some extra conditions which concerned the upkeep of the site’s green spaces.
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