By Stephen Eighteen |
Regeneration
scheme plan for
homes and restaurants |
Millwall Believe that their ambitious
regeneration plans can kick-start a trend of
Bermondsey old boys returning to their roots. Michael
Sarch, the project manager for the football club's
South Bermondsey regeneration scheme, this week gave
the 'News' an exclusive preview of what the area may
look like in the next decade. He is convinced that the
new-look area will prove so attractive that many
former Bermondsey residents who moved to Kent -and
beyond - for a better life, will make a mass
homecoming to benefit the team they support. "At
one of the fan meetings I went to," he said,
"I spoke to a chap who moved up to the Midlands
in his 20s. "But when he retired he decided to
come back because he felt that every comer he turned
in London there was something going on. "If
you're a single guy or girl, or got married and have
children who have all grown up and left home, you
might want to live a more urban lifestyle that includes access to
cinemas, restaurants, local activities and being
switched on to the London scene.
"People never
used to have the opportunity to buy flats around the
Den because there was never much there - they were
more interested in having a private driveway and a
car. "But lifestyles are changing. People are
prepared to accept moving to an area they're
comfortable with that has good public transport.
"A proportion of people will move back to the
area. You get people in their mid 50s whose kids have
moved away. "They find the garden's a bit of a
chore and would rather have sports facilities close by
and be able to travel into town for shopping and
entertainment by public transport, rather than having
to go through pretty much endless traffic at an
expensive price." Sarch's argument is based on
the premise that the touted new East London Line
Station at Surrey Canal Road will, along with a
planned refurbishment of South Bermondsey Train
Station, improve the area's transport links. The club
believes these benefits, allied to their plans of
creating 2,500 new homes with new shops, a hotel,
restaurants, healthcare facilities, sports clubs and
expanding the youth acade-my, will help boost the area
as well as allowing Millwall to reap the financial
benefits
|

|
"We want a large
regeneration scheme around the ground with a lot of
employment, jobs, housing and other social structures.
We are hoping to have a three star hotel. We already
have conference facilities at the Den, which is
already only 90 seconds from South Bermondsey train
station. "The East London Line will help improve
that even more and we will try to increase the sport
offerings, possibly in the shape of indoor tennis,
squash, bowling and expanding the youth academy.
"It's the Sports City idea based at the football
club itself. Looking at clubs like Arsenal and
Chelsea, and clubs all over the world, there's a move
towards having stadiums as the focal point for
urbanisation and employment. "In Holland there's
a successful scheme where they've built around a
stadium and there's another in Sweden. Even the
coliseum in Rome has roots in this way of developing.
"At the Coors Stadium in Denver, America, they
have built workshops and offices around it. It
revitalises an area, giving it a more urban
feel." Education may also play a prominent part
in the new-look South Bermondsey in the form of
medical facilities and student accommodation. Yet with
regeneration schemes come the inevitable concerns from
local residents and businesses of gentrification.
South Bermondsey is a deprived mixture of council
estates - the Bonamy, Silwood and Bramcote area within
striking distance - and light industry. |
Sarch has quashed
speculation that some of the present buildings would
have to be demolished to make way for the new
offerings. He said: "Overall the area is capable
of taking 2,500 homes. Many local businesses would
remain. "We imagine that a lot of ground floor
space would remain or be reduced because there really
is a lot of land that isn't used economically.
"The idea is to complement and integrate what
these estates offer at the moment with good housing
stock. "In terms of gentrification, this is a
decaying industrial area. At one stage Surrey Canal
Road was actually a canal. "So everything moves
with the times and a lot of the surrounding industrial
buildings are past their shelf life. "We live in
a modern world where job opportunities have changed
dramatically. The club is one of the best employers in
the locality and to expand its influence and
activities, encourage good quality housing with
reasonably exciting architecture, would be a good
thing. "This area, situated between Old Kent,
Road, Bermondsey Spa and Rotherhithe is a little bit
forgotten and the pattern of land uses are changing.
"The council is doing their studies on the area,
and they very much echo our vision for the future.
"We have had discussions with the London Assembly
and have been given favourable feedback from them, and
have discussed it with local politicians and
councils." The club hopes the first outline
planning application is ready to be submitted by the
end of the year. |
|
|
|