June 2008 Archives

 This is the strange story of Norton Folgate, which features a leading European real estate company, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, a late 70's ska band from Camden and an accidental discovery of some ancient documents in the Guildhall Library which could change the political map of London forever.

It all starts in August of 2007 when property developer Hammerson submitted a planning application for the redevelopment of a site on the edge of the City of London. The £700 million Bishops Place scheme was to include 87,754 sq ft of office space together with 279 residential units and a hotel, and the plans would have probably gone through unhindered if it wasn't for The Light.

 Built in 1893 as a power station to feed the Great Eastern Railway The Light is now a popular pub just off Shoreditch High Street. The problem was that the plans to redevelop the site included the demolition of The Light, a prospect the locals found unacceptable. A campaign was started and a number of people came out in support including Tracey Emin and (despite being tea total himself) local MP George Galloway  who held a protest meeting at the bar. All good stuff for the campaign but things were about to take a turn no one could have predicted.

One of the campaigners was Robin Stummer, an architectural expert who was doing research into St Leonard's church in Shoreditch. While going through the archives at the Guildhall Library his attention was drawn, quite by chance, to a series of maps and documents relating to a small 10 acre site on the boundary of the City of London called Norton Folgate. Intrigued he started reading, what he was about to discover would not only change the very nature of the campaign but also herald the possible emergence of a new independent state and if that wasn't enough Madness were going to write a song about it and name their new album after it. What Robin Stummer had discovered was The Liberty of Norton Folgate.

In the Chapter Library of St. Paul's Cathedral, in the court rolls for the years 1439 to1519 the name Norton Folyot or Foly appears for the first time. This small site linking Bishopsgate to Shoreditch was then in the precinct of St Mary Spital and even though most of the land reverted to the Crown during Henry VIII's Reformation a small 'liberty' remained under the control of St Paul's Cathedral. Norton Folgate was amongst a number of liberties and immune places in London at the time. Not exactly outside the law but not exactly law-abiding either, these were autonomous enclaves, paving their own roads, finding their own sources of power, abiding by their own rules, doing their own thing.

 In 1900 the 28 London metropolitan boroughs, forerunners of today's modern boroughs were created and The Liberty of Norton Folgate abolished...or so everyone thought.

What Robin Stummer had discovered that day at the Guildhall Library were documents which suggested that The Liberty was never abolished, it still existed, which not only meant that it was outside the controll of the London Borough of Hackney, but it would also have its own planning powers, nothing could be built or demolished in the area withought The Liberty's consent. But most important of all, right in the very heart of The Liberty of Norton Folgate stood The Light.

So what happens now? Well the documents have been handed over to the campaign's barrister who confirmed there could well be grounds for questioning the status of Norton Folgate.

And finally what about Madness, have they really written a song about and named their album The Liberty of Norton Folgate? Get over to the Hackney Empire next Thursday and find out for yourself, or failing that just listen to this.

No, I haven't Photoshopped this image; it's just one of those curious scenes you come across in London now and again. Horse in field, MI6 in the background

This is a story about the small French town of Rouen and how a decision it made in 2002 went on to halt the development of the Eden Walk Shopping Centre in Kingston and subsequently led to the re-issuing of tenders for the Stratford Island scheme in Newham. It all started when the town awarded the contract to build the local leisure centre to the Société d'Equipement du Département de la Loire (SEDL). But they hadn't put the job out to tender or held a competition to select the best design. This led to an EU ruling which states that a contracting authority cannot directly award a contract to a company that is privately owned, it has to go out to tender. In Kingston it meant that the council had to terminate its co-operation agreement with preferred developer Hammerson. In the case of the Stratford Island development, Newham and the LTGDC thought they were being fully compliant but due to a "technical glitch" the contract was not forwarded to all relevant parties and as such contravened the Rouen ruling. So now the £1bn mixed-use retail-led scheme has gone back out to tender. In the mean time here's a CGI of what those lucky Stratford shoppers can look forward to...

Barratt's 700+ unit development of St Andrew's Hospital in Bromley-by-Bow looked as though it was never going to start... and then one day you pass it and it looks like this!

This is the site of the proposed Helix-London next to Billingsgate Market , mentioned a few blogs ago, still very much in business...

Below is what's left of the William the Fourth Public House in Burgess Park after local school children and artists transformed it:

Apparently it's going to be developed into a young peoples' Juice Bar and Internet Café. Works are due to start soon on the Aylesbury Estate (opposite) as soon as the first batch of 500 residents from the 'Little' Bradenham section have been re-housed.