There can be very few local people who are unaware of the proposed development in Windsor Grove. Following a brief interval the developers have re-submitted a slightly amended application; see the Lambeth Planning database and search for ref.: 20/01066/EIAFUL.

The proposals by Urban and Provincial / Southwark Metals, involves the development of a new metal recycling and management facility in Windsor Grove, a small already congested narrow road. This proposal is linked to the demolition of  the existing waste transfer station in Herne Hill and its replacement with a major residential development comprising of three blocks ranging from 5 -11 storeys in height, providing 217 residential units.

The Windsor Grove site, close to the West Norwood Sorting office, was until 2019 a small-scale car breakers’ yard with small local access roads - all of them residential; its not built to cope with the enormous volumes of heavy vehicles this would bring. The developers admit in their proposal that there will be more than 200 HGV lorries arriving every day and the impact of the increase in lorries and the attendant pollution, noise and traffic on a high street busy with pedestrians and nearby residential streets, will adversely affect their locality.

Apart from the terrible congestion resulting from the movement of these HGVs, the operation of this site is likely to result in considerable noise and atmospheric pollution endangering the lives of local residents and children attending nearby schools. Air pollution has been shown to have a terrible, and even life-threatening, effect on people's health especially that of growing children.

There are a host of new documents posted on and since 30 December 2020 covering both the Shakespeare Road and Windsor Grove applications:

• Transport assessment addendum (for ease of reference and at our request Lambeth Planners have extracted this from volume 3, appendix 3, annex 1 of the Environmental Impact Assessment).
• Environmental Impact Assessment (Volume 1 is the introduction (nearly 200 pages long) See summary in Chapter 13.
• Environmental Risk Assessment.

These seek to show that overall across the two schemes there is negligible traffic congestion and air pollution and benefits to ecology and biodiversity. We feel this conclusion lacks credibility, and most definitely so in respect of our local area, and will work with Norwood Action Group and Norwood Planning Assembly to reiterate the substance of our original joint objections (you can read our joint objection on the Lambeth planning database under the documents tab, see document uploaded on 1 June 2020).

This plan has attracted the opposition of all nine West Norwood councillors and MP Helen Hayes, whose constituency includes both the Shakespeare Wharf and the Windsor Grove sites. More than 1100 public objections have been made to Lambeth, but please do not think that this is enough.

We recommend you either:

• reregister your original objection with anything additional you now want to say; or
• register your objection now if you have not done so before

Please do this by the closing date of 8 February 2021 (extended from 3 February). Norwood Forum was advised of this extension by the Case Officer, Ben Oates.

Go to the Lambeth Planning database; enter the reference no. 20/01066/EIAFUL; click on the Comments tab/ then click on Make a Comment.