Re. Development at 747-759 & 765-775 Old Kent Road, London, SE15 1NZ & Land at Devonshire Grove SE15 (Southwark Council Planning Application: 19/AP/1239) Requests info including correspondence with Southwark, dates of meetings & minutes, consultation info etc

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Our ref: FOI-2186-1920/GH & FOI-2187-1920/GH

Thank you for your requests received by Transport for London (TfL) on 18 October 2019 asking for information about the development at 747-759 & 765-775 Old Kent Road, and the proposed re-alignment of highway at Devonshire Grove and Asylum Road.

Your requests have been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy.

I attach a copy of the stage 1 decision letter on the planning application sent by the GLA to Southwark, which includes TfL’s transport comments on the proposals. This also provided our response to the Council’s standard consultation letter on the application which we have previously received. Please note that in accordance with TfL’s obligations under Data Protection legislation some personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’.

There has been no meetings between TfL and Southwark Council on the submitted planning application nor any other correspondence. However over the past few years there has been a substantial number of meetings and exchange of correspondence on development, regeneration and transport matters in the Old Kent Road area including on Southwark’s planning policies for the area, the proposed Bakerloo Line extension and TfL’s Healthy Streets highways scheme for the Old Kent Road which would relate sites in the Old Kent Road area, including that of the planning application.  Providing the requested details of all these would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with requests if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’.  If you were able to refine your request to more specific questions we may be able to provide you with information within the time limit.

We assume that your reference to the proposed realignment is of Devonshire Grove as included in the above referenced planning application.

TfL is currently undertaking modelling work on options for the Healthy Streets scheme. This scheme includes the junctions along the Old Kent Road such as those within or adjacent to the application site. Before we can go out to formal public consultation on the Healthy Streets scheme we will need to have completed this modelling work together with other assessments and secure various approvals.  Consultation is therefore unlikely to take place before Summer 2020.  However, I can confirm that one of the options for the junctions in and adjacent to the site which is being modelled allows for the changes to the major and minor arms of Devonshire Grove as included in the planning application and to Asylum Road on the opposite side of the Old Kent Road as mentioned in the application. As is noted in the planning application any grant of permission would need to ensure that the development, notably the highway arrangements, would be compatible with the continued operation of the Old Kent Road as currently in the event that the ultimate Healthy Streets scheme did not include the different junction arrangement and/or implementation of the scheme was delayed beyond that of the development. Subsequent to any granted planning permission there would also need to be a s278 agreement with TfL to cover works to the Old Kent Road which are required for the application development.

As you will be aware Southwark Council are the highway authority for Devonshire Grove as well as the local planning authority. If you have not already done so you may wish to seek information from them as to the potential realignment of Devonshire Grove itself. 

If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Graham Hurt

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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