The builders merchants Elliott Brothers, Millbank Wharf, have a brick library. Their brick rep, Graham Jerrold, tel 07713 267213 will also call to match the bricks of your house.

Since the last Newsletter a planning application (No. 08/00081/FUL) has been submitted for development of the site containing the car park, housing office and youth club at Parkville Road. The developer, Care Capital plc, had been looking at a number of possible sites for a medical centre to replace the doctors’ surgery in Stoneham Lane. The rise in land prices has made it almost impossible to simply build a GP surgery and it needs to be funded by making it part of a larger development. One possibility would have been a modest development on the carpark. However the City Council wants a “gateway building” which will impress people as they enter the city along Stoneham Way. This requires the demolition of the housing office and youth club. The planned building includes an impressive residential tower, a retail outlet, a medical centre, pharmacy and community space. There will be an underground 72 space car park. There will be residential units above the medical centre, but ownership of these will be retained to allow for possible future expansion of the centre.

The housing office will be transferred to the Burgess Road Library building which is going to be upgraded. So far, a suitable site has not been identified for the youth club. A condition is that a replacement for the youth club must be provided. There is concern that this may not materialise. If approved, building work will take about 2 years. Decision day is 29 April.

Make a note in your diary of this not-to-be-missed annual event for residents. Our midsummer party will be held on Saturday 28th June from 3pm. Children’s games, a bouncy castle and a barbecue are planned.

A planning application has been submitted for development of the bus depot at Portswood. The development will provide a new Sainsbury’s supermarket with a 325 space car park, a medical centre with a 40 space car park, a public play area and 22 houses and 119 flats with 119 associated car parking spaces. The consultation period ends on 1st May.

Peter Sheridan, Netley Furze Joinery, Kanes Hill, Southampton, tel: 8040 2713, for the manufacture of wooden windows.
IRM Bristol Ltd, tel: 01454 321311, for supply of Crittall steel windows.

Local (Ethelburt Avenue) semi-professional Baby & Child portrait photographer, looking to build portfolio and offering free sitting and big discount for HCERA newsletter receivers. Contact Annya on 07846 979336.
2 Georgian paned Collins-style double-glazed wooden casement windows [new] 1200 wide x 900 mm high,

Reprinted from the Spring Review, 2007 of the City of Southampton Society.

Developments in Conservation Areas should preserve and enhance their character. There are two such areas in Southampton which have both been designed by one architect in the Garden Suburb style. Not all houseowners in them recognise the distinctive design features of a Herbert Collins’ property. The plans with a recent application for a rear extension and a new garage in Ethelburt Avenue showed no recognition of the Collins’ original design or that any additions should reflect this. The overlarge extension approx 7.4m x 4.7m filled a considerable part of the back garden of this modest semi-detached house. There were eight roof lights and a non-Collins’ window and door. These and the fact that the proposed new garage had no Collins’ design features were listed in the Society’s rejection. An improved application was later submitted, probably with help given by a planning officer.

As Shelley Anderson told us in the last Newsletter, an application was made for Monks Brook to be designated as a village green on the grounds that it has been used by the inhabitants to indulge in sports and pastimes as of right for not less than 20 years. It is certainly rare for residents to be able to put such a big spoke in the Council’s wheel. A travellers’ transit site would clearly be incompatible with village green status but even if the application is unsuccessful, the process will take at least 9 months and probably longer. The delay is estimated to add at least

Many houses already have extensions and we see much building work currently going on around the Estate. But for any one householder, having an extension is likely to be a novel experience and he may feel he is voyaging on uncharted seas alone.
It would be of great help, if people could share their experiences by writing a short article for the Newsletter. Include an account of preparing plans, the hurdle of getting planning permission, obtaining estimates and choosing a builder, how the work progressed and how satisfied you are with the result. Articles can be emailed to hcera.

When replacing much of your front garden with an impervious hard surface for cars, it is necessary to consider drainage. The rainwater cannot now sink into the ground and may flow out onto the pavement. The Council as the Highways Authority can take action and give notice to the occupier to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, surface water flowing on to or over the footway of a highway.

A good example of where drainage has been provided is 50 Bassett Green Road.