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Newsletter February 2019Battersea Power Station – Past, Present, FutureCaroline Pook reports on the Society’s meeting on 10 JanuaryThe Past Jeanne Rathbone, a Battersearesident, local historian and tour guide, tookus on a romp through the early history ofBattersea. The land where the power stationwas developed was waterworks in the 1850s.They were abandoned in the early 1900s; theland lay barren. Until the late 1930s electricitywas supplied from small power stationsdedicated to a single industry or group offactories that sold excess electricity to thepublic. In 1925 Parliament decided that thepower grid should be a single system underpublic ownership, with a smaller number oflarge stations.chimneys (initially just two in the A Station).There were protests from those who felt thebuilding would be too dominant, an eyesoreand damage local buildings; the companyaddressed the concerns by hiring Sir GilesGilbert Scott to design the exterior. He used 6million bricks from Worcestershire tocomplete the fluted design; internally therewere art deco features, arcades anddecorative door panels. The building of thefirst phase was completed in 1935 and, untilthe construction of the B Station, the easternwall of the boiler house was clad incorrugated iron.In 1927 the London Power Companyproposed to use the Battersea site, close tothe river (for coal delivery and cooling water)and close to the population. There was strongopposition from both local residents and theKing, concerned about sulphur and otherpollutants. The initial designs had to includecomplex internal flues to ensure emissionswere minimised - hence the need for tallAfter the Second World War, the nownationalised electricity company beganconstruction of the B Station which came intooperation between 1953 and 1955. It mirroredthe floor layout for the A station, adding thefamiliar third and fourth chimney but withnone of Gilbert Scott’s decorations. Theextended power station met 20% of London’sneeds, was nationally the most thermally
efficient power station and one of the largestbrick buildings in the world. Pollutionconcerns about emissions from the coalfires in the era of the 1970 Clean Air Act ledto the power station’s decommissioning(1975-1983). The building was then generallyneglected while proposals for its futureemerged. Public pressure and local affectionfor the building led to Grade II listing in1980, upgraded to Grade II* in 2007. Overthis period the power station was not totallyunused: it had a rich cultural life; its iconicprofile made it a popular film and artsdestination for a wide range of artists, bothmusical (from Pink Floyd to the Beatles) andvisual.Since the station's closure, redevelopmentplans were drawn up by successive siteowners. Their ambitious plans included agiant indoor amusement park, a mega multilevel shopping centre and thousands ofhomes. The first project to have any tractionis the one we see now.The Present Alex Baker, Community andSustainability Manager for the BatterseaPower Station Development Company,described the site today. You can now enterdirectly from Battersea Park, BatterseaBridge Road or from Battersea Park Road tothe south. Circus West Village, launched in2017, grows all the time. There is a vibrantnew community of over 800 apartments,restaurants, shops, offices, a village hall,public open space with a water feature, anda pier in use by the Thames Clippers. In lastsummer’s heatwave the deck chairs andfamily events made this a very busydestination. Meanwhile the power station isa building site with 17 cranes currently atwork and too many people to countemployed on refurbishment, new buildingsand new tube line. With the four chimneysreplaced, the profile is back to what it was.The tradition of the site as an artsdestination continues, with an official artistin residence and support for a communitychoir.2The Future Alex went on to describe thefinal vision. Circus West Village (aka Phase1) will shortly see a cinema and furthercommercial lettings. Phase 2, under way fora few years now, is the re-building of thepower station. By 2021 there will be 540,000sq ft of offices (including a new HQ forApple), 100 shops and restaurants, eventand leisure space (highlighting the historicinterior of turbine hall A), as well as some250 homes. And, yes, you will be able to riseto the top of an 8 metre wide chimney to aviewing platform. Phase 3 which liesbetween Battersea Park Road and thepower station has also started on site andincludes a hotel, 1500 apartments, 40shops, some leisure and the tube station onthe Northern line extension which opens in2020.Phase 4, which has planning consent,includes 386 affordable Peabody homes, amedical centre, open space and somestarter employment units. The sitecontrolled by the Battersea Power StationDevelopment Company extends eastwardalong the river. This part of the site, Phase 5and beyond, for which detailed planningconsent is not yet in place, will include afurther 3 million sq. ft of buildings, of aheight which should not obscure views ofthe power station. There will also be anextension of the Thames path, with a bridgeover the existing Ransome Dock wastetransfer station, to meet the new footway infront of the Embassy Quarter buildings. Andwe shall then be able to walk or cycle fromthe heliport to the South Bank withoutobstruction!
February 2019Our Executive Committee, Societyofficers and sub-committee leadersChairMargaret Romanski30 Wandle Road, SW17 7DW07815 937779m.romanski@talk21.comVice-ChairDavid Kirk15 Aspley Road, SW18 2DB020 8874 9167davidcameronkirk@hotmail.comSecretary John Dawson210 Beechcroft Road, SW17 7DP020 8772 4282Treasurer Norman HolmesFlat 7 Tiffany Heights,59 Standen Road, SW18 5TF020 8877 9616Membership Secretary Gill GrayStudio 8, Royal Victoria PatrioticBuilding, SW18 3SX020 8870 4567Iain Gray (‘Bedside’ editor)contact details as for Gill GrayBruce St Julian-Bown (Open Spaces lead)39c Heathfield Road, SW18 2PH020 8874 6966A new era for the Society?!It is excellent news at the start of 2019 that theSociety now has a new website. Congratulations toMargaret Romanski, Caroline and Will Pook, PeterFarrow and others who have worked hard to get itlaunched. If you have not already done so, have alook at www.wandsworthsociety.org. There is ofcourse further work to be done on this project - butearly 'feedback' will be welcome.There is no doubt that our new website will changethe Society's public 'image' for 'visitors' (who cannow join the Society online). It may well changemembers' own perceptions. It will require moreeffort by the Society - preferably involving more ofour members - to keep the site up-to-date, and toengage and involve a wider 'audience' within ourmembership and beyond. In other words, weshould welcome something of a 'culture change'and the ability that IT gives us to involve moreSociety members more fully, if they wish, in ouractivities and in raising the Society's collectivevoice about our local environment - criticising thebad, but applauding the good. And of coursedebating what is bad and good!Events TeamCaroline PookMany younger people, concerned about our localenvironment, do not have time to go to Societyevents during the week. We need to cater for theirconcerns - and that means, in part, greater use ofsocial media. There will be much material, includingthe Society's views on eg planning and roads andother transport matters, and minutes of ourmeetings that we can put on our new website.Roads & Transport GroupHarry WaddinghamThis Newsletter reflects, we hope, the diversity ofthe Society's interests and the range of ourmembers' interests and enthusiasms.Philip Whyte (Planning Group lead)49 West Side, SW18 2EE020 8874 4745Other sub-committee leadscaroline@pookfamily.co.uk61 Magdalen Road, SW18 3NE020 8874 8784Society Subscriptions for 2019 were due on 1January (Individuals and Households 15; Senior Citizens 10; Organisations 30). If you pay by Standing Order,please check that this is set up for the right amount(many have not been updated since subscriptions wereDavid Kirkraised). It is a great help to us if you pay promptly - itsaves us time and energy in chasing non-payers. If youwould like a Standing Order or Gift Aid form, let Gill Gray,our Membership Secretary (details above) know.3
Riding the MundaBiddi Trail with 65Degrees NorthWS member Jonathan Thomson, a retiredRoyal Marines Brigadier, is best known to usas a local Clean Air champion on behalf of theSociety and an enthusiast for electric cars .He is also currently a patron of 65 DegreesNorth a very small outfit, shortly to become acharity, that invites wounded, injured or sickveterans of our recent wars to undertakevarious challenges aimed at Rehabilitationthrough Adventure. In October we cycledwith four men and one woman on the1,000km Munda Biddi Trail that runs fromnear Perth in Western Australia down toAlbany on the Southern Ocean. The ride was‘unsupported’: we carried all we needed.Our team consisted of Tam, ex-Scots Guards,badly wounded in the femur in Afghanistan;Mark, ex-Royal Marine who has a lower legprosthetic; Amy from the RAF who suffersfrom PTSD, as does Pete, a current Marine.The team was completed by Mark, anotherex-Marine, who was twice smashed up in4accidents. All were brave, tough anddetermined. They became a ‘team’.Munda Biddi means “Way through theForest” in a local Aboriginal language andWay through the Forest it was! We took 13.5days on this journey, living in waysideshelters and occasional ‘proper’accommodation, feeding off supplies boughton the way. The trail took in tiny paths,possibly made by kangaroos, open gravelroads and a very little tarmac. Being Spring,the forests were full of flowers of many hues,very quiet and eerily empty. At the end of thesecond day, when we had seen no otherhumans but lots of kangaroos, including bigones, we concluded that this was a landdeserted by humans and populated bystrange animals that hopped about, and evenstranger creatures that moved on well loadedtwo-wheeled machines. ‘Normal life’ as weknow it was not there.Of course, that wasn’t right. After a few dayswe started going through small townships,some that time had passed by. InJarrahwood, for example, once a centre forthe exploitation of the great ‘Jarrah’ forests (alovely hard wood, once used to pave Londonstreets), we found a small cluster of agingdwellings, aged and friendly people and amost comfortable little Community House
where we could sink as a soggy and tiredlittle group. From there we rode downRailway Line No 78 (now a fast track) - whichsuggests there were once at least another 77lines servicing the Jarrah industry. We wentto Quinninup, which once had a pub, burntdown quite recently and not replaced, so thelittle township, founded in 1924, now hasnothing. We went to Donnelly Mill, beside alarge lake, where we found a general store, a‘place from the past’ where the owner’s wifecooked delicious food to power us on ourway. An amazing journey places few peopleever see.Trails in Australia tend to be bedevilled bywhat’s known as pea-gravel, ball-bearingsized red gravel that causes bikes to slip,skid and crash. And sand pops up atinconvenient moments to cause crashes which we all experienced. Looking up as weprogressed south, we could see the hugetrees of the ‘Valley of the Giants’ and feltinsignificant amongst their grandeur.The days churned by. Moving south, wecame under the influence of weathergenerated by the Southern Oceans; the airwas colder, with not a lot between the shoreand Antarctica. On warm days we began tosee snakes, just waking up after their winter’ssleep, and hungry. Some, such as the Tigersnake, are extremely dangerous. We werewary and gave them a very wide berth ifpossible. Equally important, we got ournutrition right and were able to do 12-hourdays (103km our longest ride) – not a lot onan unencumbered road bike on a goodsurface, but on heavily loaded mountainbikes ‘across country’ it could be diabolical.It was not unusual for us to arrive at thenight’s shelter exhausted, just as the sun wassetting, knowing we had to be away at 6 amthe next day. Because of diversions forcontrolled burns in the forest we covered1,107km, rather more than the 1,000kmplanned for, and we climbed 49,000ft. Webroke one chain, two spokes and a ‘hanger’that keeps the gears at the back together.We trained for this and achieved repairs thatallowed us to carry on.The Munda Biddi is unique - lovely, tough,dangerous if taken for granted - butadventure aplenty for our little team, and anamazing experience!!Local newsOur Society and the Wandsworth HistoricalSociety were pleased to see the Council'sannouncement early last year that Councilfunding was being made available for therestoration of the fine tombstones at'Mount Nod', the Huguenot burial groundlocated behind Book House on East Hill.We could look forward, therefore, to the reopening of the cemetery and itsdevelopment as a 'pocket park'Mount Nod has lalways had a special placein the Society's heart. In 1985 we planted atree in the graveyard and unveiled a plaque(now scarcely visible to the public) tocommemorate the three hundredthanniversary of the revocation of the Edict ofNantes. Sadly, the tombstones, some ofthem listed monuments, have deterioratedseriously and the cemetery has had to bekept locked for many years, with onlyoccasional guided tours enabling publicaccess. We and the Historical Society havenow been asked by the Council to discusswith them and their contractor, Enable, thepossibility of our involvement in theestablishment of some form of 'supporters'group'. We shall be seeking some initialbriefing from Council and Enable officersshortly.At its January meeting our Roads andTransport group noted that there had beennothing more heard about the Trinity Road/Burntwood Lane road junction studies (withsignificant implications for Wandsworth continues on page 75
Debenhams (Clapham Junction) has a new landlordSociety member Cyril Richert, a member ofour Planning group, also runs the ClaphamJunction Action Group (CJAG). Its blogscan be accessed at cjag.org. We wereparticularly interested to read a piecewritten just before Christmas by DavidCurran, which CJAG was happy for us toreproduce in our Newsletter. The Societytoo will be taking a close interest in thefuture of local retail premises - and, indeed,the future of shopping in our area. Will thenew developments in Wandsworth Towncentre all prove viable?British Land has agreed to sell theDebenhams building in Clapham Junctionto an as-yet undisclosed buyer for 48million. They originally bought the buildingin 2005 amid the collapse of previoustenant Allders, and leased it on toDebenhams.British Land are one of the UK’s biggestowners of commercial property and untilrecently owned at least 24 Debenhamsstores across the country; this sale is partof their plan to sell off all the ‘freestanding’branches (i.e. high street branches thataren’t part of bigger shopping malls) inorder to reduce their exposure to the retail6sector in general, and Debenhams inparticular.To be clear – this doesn’t mean ClaphamJunction’s Debenhams is in danger. It’swell located in a wealthy and growing areaand it is, certainly by Debenhams’standards, consistently busy throughout theweek. We doubt that Debenhams wouldwant to leave Clapham Junction unlesseither their hand was forced, or they weremade an offer they couldn’t refuse.However British Land’s worries about overexposed to the department store chain areanother sign (as if we needed one) aboutgeneral fragility of British high streets.Debenhams’ CEO has recently announcedplans to close a third of the company’sstores – as he put it, “taking toughdecisions” on stores where financialperformance was likely to deteriorate overtime. With closures looming, we’re keenlyaware that we have two Debenhamsbranches within about a mile of each other– possibly the two closest branches in thewhole of the country – albeit the stronglocal economy means both are quite goodperforming ones by the standards ofDebenhams’ stores as a whole. If it didcome down to an either/or choice, we haveinformally heard that the Wandsworth
branch performs significantly worse in termsof sales, but the building layout there iscertainly more modern and may costDebenhams less to rent.With several of the Debenhams buildingsbeing touted as potential “redevelopmentopportunities” there’s also a risk that thebuyer goes for a quick return on their 48mand seeks to push Debenhams out and splitall the upper floors in to flats. It’s a bigbuilding (139,000 square feet), and BritishLand have a 25 year lease to Debenhamsfrom 2005 (some sources report 30 years).The initial rent was at 1.25 million a year,with 2.5% minimum annual rental increasesand five-yearly open market rent reviewsfrom 2015 – suggesting a decent return forthe buyer, but who knows?tenant in the wider shopping area, drawingtrade to the district as a whole andbenefitting the smaller traders: any changeto the use , especially any move away fromretail, would be very controversial. It’s alsoa major local employer (a typical largeDebenhams store employs 100-150 people).And alongside BAC it’s probably ClaphamJunction’s most recognisable building –though its listed status means we’re unlikelyto see much change to the exterior.Hopefully all this sale means is a change inlandlord – but we’ll be watching anydevelopments closely.Image by Edwardx / Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licenceWhat’s not in doubt is that, for all the upsand downs it has had in recent years,Debenhams is important to ClaphamJunction. Alongside Asda it’s the anchor Local news continued from page 5Common), featured in our NovemberNewsletter. We shall be seeking furtherinformation and have been assured by localCouncillors that there will be fullconsultation before any decisions aremade. The group was also concernedabout the implications the WandsworthTown 'gyratory' - another issue about whichthere had been little recent news - mighthave on traffic flows further south.Among other matters, the group agreedthat the Society should write to the CouncilLeader in support of the stance that theCouncil (and the borough's three MPs) havebeen continuing to take against theexpansion of Heathrow.airport.Ferrier Road industrial estate.(2018/5669).Among other applications we are also nowconsidering one for 190/194 St Ann’s HillSW18, the old postal sorting office nowvacated by the art restorers, Plowden andSmith (who have moved to Mitcham). Whilethe back of the building is being cleared forflats, the attractive and interesting façadeof the building will be retained. A threestorey developmentf will have implicationsfor Aspley Road residents, some of themalso Society members, and there will bediscussions with them before the Society'sviews are submitted to the Council.David Kirk (with the help of colleaguesduring Philip Whyte's absence on holiday)On the Planning front, the Society has nowsubmitted our objections to the proposalsfor Jaggard Way (application number2018/5413), which can be seen on theCouncil's planning website. We shall shortlybe submiting our comments and objectionsto the proposed re-development of the7
Tickets must be booked with Perter Farrow atwandsworth.society@mac.com or on 0208874 3274. Ticket are 15, including the costof a first drink.EventsThursday 14 March7.15 for 7.30pmWest Side ChurchAGM and 'Follies are Fun’Our Annual General Meeting (starting at7.30pm; hall will open at 7.15) will include theChair's annual report, the Society's annualaccounts and the election of its officers andother Executive Committee members. All arewelcome to attend both the AGM and the talkthat follows, but only Society members mayvote at the AGM.Follies Are Fun!an illustrated talk byIain K S Gray (Society Executive Committeemember and trustee of The Folly Fellowship),starting at about 8.30pmFollies, grottoes and landscape buildingsbecame enormously fashionable in the 18thcentury, notably decorating the estates of thelanded gentry. Almost by definition they’reeccentric, often reflecting the characters oftheir creators. They continue to enjoy greatpopularity. Like them, the subject of Iain'stalk will be fun!Sunday 17 February7.30pm for 8pmA solo harp recitalby Sunshine Lowho will play transcriptions of Bach, Spohrand Handel, together with some traditionalChinese music.Tickets must be booked with Perter Farrow atwandsworth.society@mac.com or on 0208874 3274. Ticket are 15, including the costof a first drink.Sunday 10 March7 for 7.30 pmPiano recital by Clifton Hughes.He will be performing works by Chopin,Scriabin, Prokofiev and Debussy.8Monday March 1811:30 am - 1:30 pmA visit to Langdon Down Museumof Learning DisabilityThe Langdon Down Museum of LearningDisability was the home and institutiondeveloped by the Victorian physician Dr JohnLangdon Down and his family where arevolutionary and enlightened approach wasdeveloped for the care of people withlearning disabilities. It shows exhibitionsabout his work, Normansfield and the RoyalEarlswood Asylum. The building alsocontains a Grade II* listed Victorian theatrewhich is a rare example of a private theatrewith original painted scenery and otherornate fixtures and fittings. The tour outlinesthe history and work of the centre and willcost 10. Booking required onevents@wandsworthsociety.org. Those whowish may like to walk in Bushy Park (with alunch stop) after the tour – no bookingrequired for the walk.Thursday 11 AprilWest Side Church7.45 for 8pmWe hope to arrange a presentation and Q&Adiscussion on the Thames Tideway project.Details to be announced.Friday 10 MayWest Side Church7.45 for 8 pmMusic for Mindswill be the Society's contribution to theWandsworth Arts Fringe festivalA presentation and interactive musicworkshop with the Wigmore Hall’s stimulating“Singing with Friends” choir, together with atalk by the Alzheimers Society branchresponsible for Wandsworth. Both work toenrich the lives of local families living withdementia
the construction of the B Station, the eastern wall of the boiler house was clad in corrugated iron. After the Second World War, the now nationalised electricity company began construction of the B Station which came into operation between 1953 and 1955. It mirrored the floor layout for the A station, adding the
