Hello,
Sharing this here as I received it in the post this morning.
EDIT (from Admin): Apparently the correct date for the consulation meeting is NEXT THURSDAY, 24th JUNE 2026 (see sjs website)
According to the leaflet, the proposal will be discussed tomorrow 18 June at The Signal Pub from 16:00 to 20:00
Oh, wow!! Thatās news to me. I didnāt get that leaflet and Iām only a few doors down.
Thanks so much for the heads up - I will be there!!
Interestingly (and probably because of the short notice), I see that the online version says this is now taking place next week instead, on 24th June
That would be a great location for an M&S Food, but I guess thereās a lot of them about and very few Morrisons in the local area. Always good to have new A1 retail in the town centre.
Disappointing that it isnāt being built with residential above. Iām not sure that we should be building single storey units in town centre locations, and with planning permission granted for a much taller building, it is possible that this is actually under-utilizing the site.
Ridiculous proposal for a site so close to the station to have no housing provision. As for the ālong vacant brownfield siteā bit, itās only because of the original proposal that it is vacant. I note the landowners have chosen to let the site run down, because itās cheaper and makes their proposals look better than the dereliction they have gifted the community. There wasnāt graffiti everywhere around the site before they decided to ignore the art on their hoardings for years.
I can see the upside of bringing a vacant site back into use, but Iām a bit concerned about the impact of the proposed Morrisons Daily, EV chargers and car valeting at 1 Waldram Park Road.
My main worry is traffic and safety. That junction already feels busy, and adding short-stay shop traffic, cars turning in and out, EV charging, and valeting bays could make it more awkward for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
Iām also concerned about noise, especially from engines, vacuums, pressure washers, deliveries and late-evening customers if the site is open until 11pm.
Iām not against improving the site, but Iād want to see proper traffic management, safe access, clear limits on valeting hours, and strong noise controls before feeling comfortable with it. Curious what others nearby think.
Great points all around
My immediate thought was also that it makes no sense to create a single storey solution here on such a major plot. You could easily have residential or even office space above and still have the exact same retail opportunities, but contribute much more to the local area.
I was never sold on this as a hotel location, in large part because they had no space in the design for delivery vehicles. The same concerns me here. A supermarket needs regular deliveries. I would like to have more details about how they plan to implement that safely as well, especially on the corner. I seem to recall coop lorries had to reverse in from the South Circular.
Iām not a fan of the valeting offering as it feels like wasted space and the potential for noise and pollution, but I do like the idea of EV charging as an offering at least ā¦ but Iām guessing that there will be few car parking spaces for the shop and so the chances of them being āICEādā (if youāre an EV driver, youāll know what I mean) is very high.
It is a shame that they are doing this with no images of the actual plans. Iām guessing that both the images on the fliers are stock images. It would be good to know if they actually have a potential Morrisons contract, or whether this might be made available to other brands (as we know that M&S and Boots are both looking).
Something to think about, and good to see movement on this plot
This is great news. While I had always thought a hotel would bring some good benefits to the community, especially our local night time economy - Iād be very happy with another grocery retail operationā¦ also selfishly as it is on my way home from the station.
The document does not reference a specific grocer so perhaps they would still be looking for a tenant.
Non-residental probably gives them (or future owners) flexibility to bulldoze the site and build something else in future. Easier to do with a single commercial occupant. Would that even be possible if it included residential?
Although this might be good news for consumers, we should remember that some local businesses might be concerned about competition, eg other convenience stores and the car wash place on Church Vale.
Iām fine with Morrisons over M&S lol. But agree that some residential above the commercial would be good for sure.
Definitely positive to see a charging hub locally, and maybe even bring a little passing trade for a few of the local shops too.
It will be interesting to see the finer details for sure. A quick reminder that this location was a petrol station and then small grocery store for quite a few decades before. Access for deliveries definitely needs consideration, but with a blank canvas maybe it can be done better than before?
The current situation with the hoarding makes it a nasty blind spot. Where previously there were lovely clear sight lines through the site, so access / egress was not a big deal. As for the art and graffiti. When it first went up it was adorned with beautiful art work. Shortly after it was painted over for the BLM movement, it is only recently that this has become covered in questionable art and graffiti.
I definitely think it would have an easier time in planning of they offer residential above, but know that the height of the last proposal came under fire, so maybe part of the reluctance?
Fast charging will be a positive I feel (slightly biased) The valeting part needs some clarification. Itās self service so I am imagining vacuums and not much more. Especially if the footprint of the store is anything close to the old Co-Op. With that in mind I imagine there will probably be 6 or 8 chargers max, unless the new building it set further back.
Time will tell, but it is definitely good news to see something finally happening with the site.
Oh side note, in fairness to the site owner, when the hoarding blew down, they had a digger on site the next day to clear the site, fill the holes and then fixed the hoarding quickly.
I would much rather it was a Lidl than a Morrisons I find the quality of food is way better in Lidl.
edited to add I agree with comments about the building should be designed with residential aboveā¦
I think the problem is the size of any potential store. It will be much reduced to a normal branch of any store. It seems some companies do local stores better than others with the limited square footage.
From recollection Co-Op at that location was pretty good, and really catered for passing commuters in the morning and evening. Something on par with that is what will thrive I think.
Whatever it is, a few floors of apartments above would tick a few extra boxes.
I took the liberty of snapping a few shots of the site earlier.
Also just highlighted how much of a difference to sight lines the hoarding makes, as well as the previously proposed hotel at the location which was going to use almost the entire footprint of the site.
PS I know I know.. Enough with the drone already 
Personally I wish the Co-op would return as itās a slightly longer walk from the town centre to their ānewā store, however Iām pleased the site appears to be returning to grocery retail.
Like others I have concerns over deliveries and would hope thereās allocated space for deliveries as they have at Esso in London Road for Tesco Express.
A agree with others who say that residential above is a must.
Iād be interested to know if The London Plan makes it a requirement for developers to show that theyāre doing their utmost to provide housing wherever possible?
I should add that although Iām a huge fan of affordable and social housing, especially as I was brought-up by my mother in 1960s halfway homes and LCC council estates, I donāt think every flatted development should be required to make an affordable provision because it could, possibly like in this instance, affect the viability of a scheme like this one could be.
This just popped up on my socials. Good timing eh. This is the sort of set up I was imagining for the proposal.
The company behind this proposal has a number of other forecourts, and specialise in the jetwash / valeting, so I assume this will be a fixture that will be fought hard for
You can see one of the installations in this post about the owner (Johnny Srikrishna). Theyāre quite big, so I canāt imagine theyād fit very many on the plot this size and still leave reasonable space for retail. As @Snazy pointed out, the coop used most of the site, and that was already not very large, so not sure how much could be put here and leave space for car-based services as well
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSSOIbdggm-/
And here is the plot as it used to exist, to give some context for those whoāve never seen it open
Interesting that the now fairly aged approval for the hotel was subject to a consultation by the owner/developers with Lewisham which, given its proceduaral nature, had to remain confidential. Whilst adhering to the strict non-disclosure requirement, Lewisham did announce that the revised development proposal, subject of the consultation, had been rejected outright.
This new announcement represents a major departure from the granted approval.
Perhaps the absence of an expression of interest from within Forest Hill to M&S, a party who had listed the area as a candidate target site for its expansion program, will prove to be significantly regrettable.
Did M&S invite expressions of interest from the citizens of Forest Hill (or their representatives)?
