Potters Bar - the dark land of the empire

Fri Oct 19 18:02:50 BST 2007

http://www.regen.net/bulletins/Regen-Daily-Bulletin/News/751596/Rival-plans-defy-Livingstone/

A council threatened with a CPO by London mayor Ken Livingstone has hit back with new proposals for the site in question.

Southwark Council has long stood against Berkeley Homes' plans for the riverfront Potters Field site, which the authority part-owns.

Now the council says it has received several new proposals from private developers, all of which it favours over the original plan.

But a spokesman for Livingstone said the mayor would continue to pursue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the site.

Council leader Nick Stanton told Regen.net: "We've now got some offers which on the face of it offer the way forward."

He said the new proposals all offer more affordable housing, better external design and better cultural space than Berkeley's plan.

And he said the new plans include space for a major cultural attraction on the scale of the nearby Tate Modern and Globe Theatre.

But he refused to say which developers proposed the schemes, to disclose detailed contents of the plans or even to say how many proposals Southwark had received.

Berkeley's proposal was approved by then-deputy prime minister John Prescott over three years ago. 

Livingstone threatened at the Labour Party conference to issue his first CPO to Southwark before October is out.

A spokesman for the mayor today said: "Planning approval already exists for a comprehensive and world class development at Potters Field that includes much needed new homes, as well as a major new cultural use for this key site.

"This has been held up for years because Southwark refuses to release their land to enable development to start.

"The mayor hopes that the deadlock will be broken, but if Southwark Council fails to bring its land forward for the Berkeley Homes scheme then he will continue to pursue compulsory purchase to get regeneration and development moving."

-------------

more here :

http://www.regen.net/bulletins/Regen-Daily-Bulletin/News/658219/Place---Potters-Fields-Park-South-Bank-London/

http://www.regen.net/bulletins/Regen-Daily-Bulletin/News/666144/Rows-likely-when-public-space-meets-private/

http://www.regen.net/bulletins/Regen-Daily-Bulletin/News/741621/Livingstone-threatens-council-CPO/