3 days Ago By [email protected] (Joe Coughlan)
South London residents living beside a derelict house plagued by graffiti and broken windows say they are 'miserable' because the building is a magnet for antisocial behaviour. Neighbours said Conifer House, on Southend Road in Beckenham, has been empty for the past three years, with a major fire having since destroyed the upper half of the building. Marko Spinks, 64, has lived beside the building for 20 years and said the site has fallen into disrepair in recent times.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "People have been in there trying to nick all the plumbing. There’s been people going there dumping all their rubbish then another van comes to take it all away. It's just getting worse.
It's a shame because it could be a beautiful block of flats if someone were to put money in it." He added: "There was a fire that took the roof off and then it started getting a bit dilapidated." A London Fire Brigade spokesperson told the LDRS that six fire engines and about 40 firefighters were called to a blaze at the building in May 2022.
They said the fire likely originated from a firework and completely destroyed the roof and second floor of the building. Another neighbour of Conifer House, who did not wish to be named, said they remembered calling the fire brigade when they first noticed the blaze. He told the LDRS: "They couldn't gain access, so they had to close this road and they had the biggest cherry picker that you have ever seen in the world.
" A planning application for Conifer House was submitted by the building's owner, Enfield High Street Limited, in 2022 and indicated that there are nine flats present in the building. The proposal sought to add two further storeys to the building to convert the structure into six renovated flats; this followed expired planning permission from six years earlier to expand it. However, Bromley Council's planning department refused the revised application, calling it an inappropriate overdevelopment of the site that would detract from the character and appearance of the area.
The resident said they had lived off Southend Road for over 25 years and that the final tenants of Conifer House moved out in December 2021 and the state of the building had declined since then. They said: "I had spoken to some of the residents and they had always complained. [They said] the communal stairway, which is in the middle of the building, was covered in black mould even then.
" The resident said the building is poorly maintained, with wooden panels at the front of the property frequently blowing into the road during stormy weather . A warning was issued by Bromley Council to the owner of the property on July 5 this year, requiring for the damaged wooden fencing panels to be replaced and all graffiti at the front of the building to be removed within two months. The neighbours said: "It's been a nightmare.
Effectively the building's been empty and it's become a magnet for youths doing various things...
All those windows have been smashed. They got into the top floor. They couldn't smash the windows from outside so in the summer they got in and managed to break into the flat above and throw bricks out from the inside.
" He added: "Every time there's a noise outside now, it sets my nerves on end." Lib Dem Councillor Chloe-Jane Ross, ward councillor for Beckenham Town and Copers Cope, said at a Bromley Council meeting on December 9 that she would like to see the council doing more to address long-term empty homes in the borough. She said neighbours of Conifer House had told her they were eager to see the authority tackle the issues that had arisen on the site.
Cllr Ross said at the meeting: "It's causing real misery to neighbours...
The residents are at the end of their tether. There's been a fire. There's people in there.
There's all kinds of problems." Conservative Councillor Yvonne Bear, Portfolio Holder for Renewal, Recreation and Housing, said in response that she was not aware of the problems at Conifer House. She added that the council would look into bringing long-term empty homes back into use but the priority was to identify suitable properties for affordable housing while employing the best use of available funds.
A Met Police spokesperson told the LDRS that the owner of Conifer House had been issued a community protection notice warning in the summer to make the site more secure. They added that no arrests had been made in connection to any alleged criminal activity in the building but officers remained committed to tackling inappropriate behaviour in the area. The spokesperson said: "Officers are continuing to work closely alongside the local council to combat antisocial behaviour and suspected drug use at a disused building on Southend Road in Beckenham.
" Bromley Council and Enfield High Street Limited were approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication. Have a story you want to share? Email joseph.coughlan@reachplc.
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