Ex-Grand Designs boss slams ‘insulting’ plans for 877 flats in 20-storey towers as ‘horror show’ for ‘low rise town’

A FORMER Grand Designs brag has claimed the plans for 877 flats successful 20-storey towers are an insult to the area.

Ann Lalic, who spent 10 years moving connected the hit Channel 4 show, called the proposals a "horror show" for the "low emergence town".

She told Southwark News: “On the show, you spot however a tiny location affects everyone successful the country and that’s what strikes maine astir this fearfulness amusement – the interaction connected everybody astir it.”

The 20-storey precocious towers volition regenerate the Aylesham buying Centre successful Peckham, South London, which is location to a Morrisons supermarket.

Ann said her clip moving connected the architectural programme opened her eyes to the "state" of the UK's lodging situation.

This has "clarified wherefore the Ayelsham improvement is truthful precise wrong," she said.

The decorator added: "The radical who are buying those houses won't beryllium buying successful Peckham, they are utilizing them to parkland their money."

Berkeley Homes, the developers, scaled backmost its archetypal plans for 27- storey operation blocks.

But campaigners stay acrophobic that the latest proposals volition inactive operation implicit the "historic low-rise" area, dwarfing iconic gathering similar Jones and Higgins.

The section store opened connected the country of Rye Lane and Peckham High Street successful 1867 and became a cardinal subordinate of the "Golden Mile" of shops that rivalled Oxford Street.

A petition launched by Aylesham Community Action (ACA) requesting Berkeley and Southwark Council rethink the plans has gathered implicit 3,000 signatures. 

The petition has demanded that existing shops beryllium protected, and much greenish abstraction and societal lodging are created.

The Southwark Housing and Planning Emergency has organised a march from Peckham to Elephant Castle adjacent successful protestation of the plans.

Southwark assembly said: "There is simply a immense request for much genuinely affordable homes successful Southwark, and it’s precise disappointing that Berkeley Homes has lowered its connection of affordable lodging connected the Aylesham Centre site.

“Peckham is 1 of galore areas successful our borough with a terrible request for genuinely affordable homes. There are much than 4,000 households successful Peckham and the adjacent country connected the waiting database for societal housing.

"Good homes alteration lives, and each affordable location not built is simply a mislaid accidental to springiness section radical a decent spot to live.

“The caller connection would besides spot the nonaccomplishment of a Community Land Trust, which would supply community-led lodging and is portion of the Local Plan tract argumentation for the Aylesham Centre site.

“We are wide astir our expectations that each readying applications successful Southwark indispensable conscionable the needs of our borough, including our policies and requirements for greenish space, section business, transport and genuinely affordable housing.

“This is simply a unrecorded readying exertion and I cannot remark further.”

Berkeley Homes has been approached for comment.

This comes arsenic different furious locals successful South London accidental their "beautiful" buying centre volition beryllium ruined by a 16-storey "massive splodge" operation artifact being built connected their precocious street.

Bustling Penge High Street volition beryllium successful the "shadow of darkness" according to acrophobic residents.

They're warring backmost against the developers and assembly who person fixed support for the physique to spell ahead.

Locals Mike Payne, 63, and Lee Knight, 70, assertion thousands of radical volition beryllium negatively affected by the tower.

Mike said they'd beryllium forced to unrecorded successful "perpetual darkness", portion Lee said homeowners would beryllium near with "worthless flats".

Lee said: "Everybody wants lodging but we don't privation this."